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

Following the example set by his great-grandfather Regent Fujiwara Michinaga (966-1028), the Minister of Interior Fujiwara Moromichi (1062-99) buried a set of sutras on the sacred mountain Kinpusen. This segment from the Lotus Sutra with Gold Lettering on Indigo Paper, Chapter 8, comes from the set offered by Moromichi. In Japan, the age of the latter Dharma (Buddhist teachings), mappo, was thought to have begun in Eisho 7 (1052), and from Michinaga’s time on, many courtiers offered burial sutras and constructed sutra mounds. Fearing the extinction of the Buddhist teachings, these virtuous acts of burying copied sutras in the ground were meant to preserve the teachings for the future Buddha Maitreya (J., Miroku), who is said to appear 5.6 billion years after the death of the historic Buddha Sakyamuni. In addition to the Lotus Sutra in ten volumes, which was overwhelming popular among the buried sutras, the Amitabha Sutra, the Heart Sutra, and esoteric texts such as the Mahavairocana Sutra were buried. Although the segment here is slightly damaged and difficult to read, Moromichi’s postscript informs us of his wish to encounter the appearance of Maitreya.