National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

In the fifth year of Wado (712), the Minister of the Bureau of Rites, Lord Nagaya, had six hundred scrolls of the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra copied in memory of Emperor Monmu, in accordance to the wishes of the emperor's younger sister, the princess Kibi Naishinno. Later, this set, which was systematically copied with seventeen characters to a line in a calligraphic style of Sui dynasty sutras, came to be known as the Wado Sutras. The paper is hemp paper, and its distinguishing feature is that it was not lined to demarcate the columns. It is valuable as a representative copied sutra of the early Nara period.