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

Each scroll has a prayer written on the back of the first sheet of paper. These reveal the work was sponsored by the priest Shinzei (dates unknown) in the 6th month of Chōkan 1 (1163) to pray for his rebirth in the Pure Land. Originally, the set was comprised of ten scrolls that included the Innumerable Meanings Sutra, the Lotus Sutra, and the Samantabhadra Contemplation Sutra. Other extant scrolls from the set include the fourth scroll (private collection) and the Samantabhadra Contemplation Sutra (private collection).

The images on the frontispieces are the same as the left halves of the frontispieces in a 12th-century woodblock-printed edition of the Lotus Sutra (seven volumes) from China’s Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279) preserved at Rikkyoku-an Temple in Kyoto. This makes the work a rare example containing frontispiece illustrations copied from a woodblock-printed edition that had only recently been brought from China.

The frontispiece illustrations in the scrolls feature scenes from the sutras in richly fluid brushwork. The third scroll includes images of three kinds of medicinal herbs and two kinds of trees from the chapter “Parable of Medicinal Herbs,” the great king’s feast from the chapter “Bestowal of Prophecy,” and the illusory city of treasure from the chapter “Parable of the Illusory City.” The illustrations in the fifth scroll include the parable of the jewel in the robe from the chapter “Five Hundred Disciples,” monks reciting sutras from the chapter “The Dharma Teachers,” and Monju (Skt. Mañjuśrī) rising from the sea and the nāga princess gliding on a cloud from the chapter “Devadatta.” The illustrations in the fifth scroll follow those seen in the fourth volume of the aforementioned woodblock-printed edition from China.

Each line, ruled in silver ink, contains 15 jeweled stupas shaped like five-element pagodas. Inside each pagoda’s circular section representing the element water, a character from the sutra is written in gold ink.

An inscription concerning later repairs to the frontispieces reveals the sutras were formerly held at Anrakuju-in Temple, which was associated with Emperor Toba (1103–1156; r. 1107–1123) in Shōhō 3 (1646). They were later owned by Jizō-in, a subtemple of Hokkeji Temple in Harima Province (now southern Hyōgo Prefecture), before being dispersed.