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

This edition of the Lotus Sutra (J., Myohorengekyo, or commonly known as Hokekyo) has been copied with each character on a colorful lotus pedestal as if they represented buddhas. This set formerly belonged to Ryuko-ji Temple in Fukushima Prefecture (missing the opening and closing sutras The Sutra of Innumerable Meanings and The Sutra of Contemplation of the Dharma Practice of Universal Sage Bodhisattva, and volume 6) and was reputedly copied in the late Heian period (794-1185). The paper is lined with silver margins and the lotus pedestals are colored in green, ultramarine, crimson, yellow, gold, and silver paint.