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

　　Each volume has a written prayer (gan mon) on the back of the first sheet of paper, which indicates that Shinzei Nyudo became a host of the prayer and produced hope for being reborn in the Pure Land in June, Chokan 1 (1163). Accompanying volumes include the fourth volume (owned by an individual) and The Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra (owned by an individual). Originally, this set was ten volumes in length including the Opening and Closing Sutras in two volumes.
　　The image on the endpaper is the same as the left half of the frontispiece of the woodblock-printed edition of the Lotus Sutra (seven volumes in length) of the Southern Sung dynasty period (the 12th century) handed down in Rikkyoku-an Temple in Kyoto Prefecture. It is a rare relic as it has a frontispiece copied from a woodblock-printed edition that was newly brought from China in the Southern Sung dynasty period.
　　In the frontispiece of the third volume, the parable of the three kinds of medicinal herbs and two kinds of trees in the chapter of the “Parable of Medicinal Herbs,” the episode of great king’s feast in the chapter of “Bestowal of Prophecy” and the parable of the phantom city and the treasure land in the chapter of the “Parable of the Phantom City,” etc., are drawn. In the fifth volume, the parable of the jewel in the robe in the chapter of “Five Hundred Disciples,” the priest reciting sutras in the chapter of “The Teacher of the Law,” Monju (Skt. Mañjuśrī) arising from the sea in the chapter of “Devadatta” and a dragon lady riding on cloud drift in “Devadatta,” etc., are drawn. The touch of all the drawings is very flexible. The illustration of the fifth volume is the one used in the fourth volume of the woodblock-printed edition in the Southern Sung dynasty period comprised of seven volumes in length.
　　The paper is ruled in silver paint (gindei) and 15 jeweled supas shaped the five element pagoda are drawn in each line in silver paint and each letter of the sutra is written within the watery circle (sui rin) of each pagoda in gold paint (kindei).
　　The inscription about repairs in the endpaper tells that these copies of sutras were kept in Anrakuju-in Temple, which was associated with Emperor Toba at the time of Shoho 3 (1646), followed by Jizo-in sub-temple of Hokkeji Temple in Harima Province. They then became scattered and were lost.