Pagoda with Darani sutra, from a set of 'One Million Pagodas', 767, Unknown Japanese, 8 9/16 × 4 1/4 × 4 3/16 in. ( × × cm), Japanese cypress (hinoki) and Cleyera ochnacea japonica (sakaki), Japan, 8th century, According to Japan’s earliest recorded histories, in the mid-760s, the Empress Shōtoku (718–770) commissioned the production of one million miniature scrolls printed with Buddhist incantations, each one enshrined within a small wooden pagoda. When they were completed, the empress donated 100,000 scroll-pagoda combinations to each of the ten major Buddhist temples in Nara

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Size: 3305px × 4225px
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Photo credit: © Penta Springs / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

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