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

The Petition of Mako no Shimanushi is a request for leave from work that was submitted by Mako no Shimanushi (dates unknown), a scribe responsible for copying sutras at a state-sponsored scriptorium in Nara. This petition is dated the 28th day of the 7th month of Tenpyō Hōji 2 (September 5, 758 [Julian calendar]). According to the document, a relative of Mako no Shimanushi—possibly his father’s sister—had fallen seriously ill two days earlier, on the 26th day of that month. The relative was too ill to live unassisted, and Shimanushi had been caring for them, but as they had still not yet recovered on the 28th, Mako no Shimanushi sought another four days away from the scriptorium.

There are many other petitions for time off penned by scribes at scriptoriums during the Nara period (710–794) that are still extant. The reasons offered for such requests are many and varied—the scribe had finished transcribing the sutras for which they were responsible; the scribe was in poor health; or there was a death in the family. The petitions are important historical sources preserving the voices of low-ranking officials from the distant past.

Finally, the reverse side of this paper was used as well once it had served its purpose as a petition. It contains part of a record on food rations at the Thousand-Scroll Sutra Transcription Bureau.