鉱物と文明　

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,東京国立博物館

In Japan, 1052 was believed to be the beginning of the “end of the world,” triggered by the weakening of Buddhist law. After that, end-of-the-world chaos was believed would last over 5.6 billion years. Fearful that the sacred scriptures would perish in these eons of time, Heian aristocrats buried sutra manuscripts, preserved in special cases made of gilt copper, stone, earth, and more deep down in sutra mounds. As paper decays quickly, sutra makers devised methods to preserve the manuscripts, for example, by engraving them on copper plates, baked tiles, or talc tablets. Talcum, containing mainly hydrous magnesium silicate, was easily engraved. As all other extant talcum tablets, the exhibited eight tablets were excavated from sutra mounds in Northern Kyushu. They show texts transcribed from the Lotus Sutra on the front and the Heart Sutra on the back, and one out of the eight tablets shows the year 1119, along with the names of shrine officials and priests of Usa-Hachiman Shrine in Bungo Province (Oita Prefecture) who commissioned sutra copying. While being a rare and precious religious work of art, the Talcum Sutra also has historical importance and sheds light on the spread of the end-of-the-world concept.

願人 横山隆平/測量者 横山隆興,金沢ふるさと偉人館

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,Gift of Mr. Kamiya Denbei,東京国立博物館,Tokyo National Museum

<p>This string of fifteen goldfish is carved from agate. Each goldfish has large eyeballs and round bodies which give them a somewhat humorous appearance. The sculptor made skillful use of the red and white portions of the agate to evoke the mottled red and white scales of goldfish. In China, goldfish are popular as symbols of luck and abundant wealth because the Chinese word for “fish” has the same pronunciation as the word for “abundance.”<br /><br />During the Neolithic period (10,000–4,500 BC) in China, people developed the art of carving and polishing particularly striking stones, like jade and agate, to create containers, tools, and other objects. Decorative art objects that made the most of each stone’s natural coloring, like these goldfish, were especially popular during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). You could say that human ingenuity was used to further improve the already impressive natural qualities of the materials.</p><br /><p>Goldfish were symbols of wealth. Here, fifteen goldfish carved from agate are strung together.<br /></p>

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,東京国立博物館

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,東京国立博物館

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,東京国立博物館

In Japan, 1052 was believed to be the beginning of the “end of the world,” triggered by the weakening of Buddhist law. After that, end-of-the-world chaos was believed would last over 5.6 billion years. Fearful that the sacred scriptures would perish in these eons of time, Heian aristocrats buried sutra manuscripts, preserved in special cases made of gilt copper, stone, earth, and more deep down in sutra mounds. As paper decays quickly, sutra makers devised methods to preserve the manuscripts, for example, by engraving them on copper plates, baked tiles, or talc tablets. Talcum, containing mainly hydrous magnesium silicate, was easily engraved. As all other extant talcum tablets, the exhibited eight tablets were excavated from sutra mounds in Northern Kyushu. They show texts transcribed from the Lotus Sutra on the front and the Heart Sutra on the back, and one out of the eight tablets shows the year 1119, along with the names of shrine officials and priests of Usa-Hachiman Shrine in Bungo Province (Oita Prefecture) who commissioned sutra copying. While being a rare and precious religious work of art, the Talcum Sutra also has historical importance and sheds light on the spread of the end-of-the-world concept.

願人 横山隆平/測量者 横山隆興,金沢ふるさと偉人館

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,Gift of Mr. Kamiya Denbei,東京国立博物館,Tokyo National Museum

<p>This string of fifteen goldfish is carved from agate. Each goldfish has large eyeballs and round bodies which give them a somewhat humorous appearance. The sculptor made skillful use of the red and white portions of the agate to evoke the mottled red and white scales of goldfish. In China, goldfish are popular as symbols of luck and abundant wealth because the Chinese word for “fish” has the same pronunciation as the word for “abundance.”<br /><br />During the Neolithic period (10,000–4,500 BC) in China, people developed the art of carving and polishing particularly striking stones, like jade and agate, to create containers, tools, and other objects. Decorative art objects that made the most of each stone’s natural coloring, like these goldfish, were especially popular during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). You could say that human ingenuity was used to further improve the already impressive natural qualities of the materials.</p><br /><p>Goldfish were symbols of wealth. Here, fifteen goldfish carved from agate are strung together.<br /></p>

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,東京国立博物館

神谷伝兵衛氏寄贈,東京国立博物館