HEIAN - KAMAKURA PERIOD (12TH-13TH CENTURY)

During the Heian and Kamakura periods, with the rise of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism there arose a strong belief in Mappo, the third age of Buddhism and its decline until the coming of Miroku [Maitreya], the future Buddha. Some believed that Mappo was imminent, while others held that it started in the year 1052. The practice of preserving the Buddhist Law against the coming of the future Buddha in the form of the written sutras became widespread during the 12th and 13th centuries. The sutras were placed into containers, of stone, iron, or bronze, which were then often placed within outer ceramic containers of similar form. They were then buried, usually in kyozuka [sutra mounds], the more elaborate of these being formed of stone chambers and concealed under a mound of earth on mountain tops, the grounds of temples, or other such safe places.

Among similar pieces with such a finial is the Important Cultural Property in the collection of Tokyo National Museum which is unusually decorated with glass beads and copper discs suspended from around the lid. An inscription states that extracts from the Lotus Sutra were placed in the container, and that it was buried in 1123.

The present kyozutzu contains the degraded remnants of a written sutra scroll. As an object which was intended never to be seen again by man until the coming of the next Buddha, it possesses a quiet dignity reflecting the selfless nature of the devout Buddhists who buried it.