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

According to Kokon-mokurokushō (Literature on Prince Regent Shotoku, also includes the records of Hōryūji temple), this piece was originally kept in the reliquary hall of Hōryūji. It is written in ink on the wooden frame inside the podium that this piece was made in Hōen 4 (1138), under Kakugen's leadership, one of the five masters of Hōryūji at the time. This is a pagoda-style reliquary with an inverted bowl-shaped body with a decorative railing (kōran) on a two-layered podium, also with a hipped roof and a finial (sōrin) with a flaming jewel on the top. The entire piece, except for the wooden podium, is made of repoussed (uchidashi) gilt bronze plates. The practice of relic-worship rapidly became wide-spread among the Nanto (Nara) temples in the Kamakura period. This piece could be said to be a precursor of that movement.

Inscription in ink on the wooden frame inside the podium: "This stupa-shaped container for relics was built between the 16th and 27th of August, Hōen 4 (1138). With this container, blessings will come and the completion of Buddha-cause will certainly be achieved. One of the five masters, Kakugen."