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

This is a sutra container in the shape of a Hoto (one-story pagoda) and displays a variety of metalwork techniques. The slim body is made of cast copper, which has convex belts on the shoulder and hips. On the cast copper lid in the shape of an Inro (literally a pillbox used in feudal Japan; an inlaid lid) is a sheet copper roof. This is a fancy container decorated with openwork metal fittings, green glass bead decorations and copper disks that hang under the eaves.
The chapter titles of the Lotus Sutra are written on the copper disks and the inscription written on the container body in sumi says that part of the Lotus Sutra was buried by Kanjin priests (a priest who promotes donations) for the repose of the souls of the parents of Tachibana Daigo(橘大子) and a priest on March 17, 1123.
While a number of gorgeous, decorative sutra containers were created in the twelfth century, there remain only several Hoto-shaped containers, including a copper sutra container excavated from Mt. Shitenoji Sutra Mounds with the inscription of 1116 and a talc sutra container excavated from the Inamoto Sutra Mounds in Munakata-machi, Fukuoka with the inscription of 1154.
Although a jar, an outer container of this sutra container, was excavated together with this container, it was lost during a war.