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

This drawing on a bast-fiber textile shows the area and scope of an estate owned by Tōdaiji Temple in Imizu District, Etchū Province (now part of northwest Toyama Prefecture). In the center of the rectangular map, a large grid indicates the coordinates of each plot, and the area of cultivated and uncultivated land is written in each section. Characters reading “border” mark the edge of the estate in certain areas of the drawing, and a red line can be seen near some of them, suggesting a red line likely originally encircled the boundaries of the estate. The only pictorial expression of local topography is a set of two black lines winding their way from the upper left to the center of the drawing. A pigment (perhaps blue-green) was applied between them to depict a waterway. The drawing’s title and total land area are written to the viewer’s right, and the date and signature of the creator are to the left. The official red seal of Etchū Province was stamped on each section with writing, including the notes in the grid, and appears a total of 98 times. As noted in the title in the upper right, this work is one of several titled Drawings of Fields Cultivated by Tōdaiji Temple. These drawings document the estates cultivated by Tōdaiji during the Nara period (710–794) and were stored at Tōdaiji for much of their history, but many are now in the Shōsō-in Repository. Some were passed to external collectors before being placed in the Shōsō-in, and a total of six such drawings are known to exist at present, including this one.