Description
This handscroll contains succession records known as <i>tetsugi shōmon</i> for a plot of land located at 1 tsubo, 5-ri, 5-jō, Naranaka Village, Soekami County, Yamato Province. This is in the vicinity of Nara Shrine in present-day Nara Town, Tenri City, Nara Prefecture. The scroll contains sixteen sales receipts, created after each transfer, which were attached to the previous receipt. From the Heian period (794–1185) onward, this practice of creating succession records served as proof of land ownership.
Along with the handscroll are three other documents. One of them, dated 1148, is a certificate of transfer, passing on ownership of the buildings and estates in Kōfuku-ji Tō-in Temple from Shinkyō to Kakuchō, two head monks. Another one dated 1249 is a receipt issued by Tōji Temple acknowledging offerings from Noto Province (present-day Ishikawa Prefecture). A 1271 document orders the recipient to borrow rice to feed the horses that were performing in a ceremonial ritual at Hie Shrine. On the back, sacred Buddhist text has been copied out.
Data source
ColBase
"ColBase: Integrated Collections Database of the National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan" is a service that enables a multi-database search of the collections in the four national museums (To...
Contents holder/Provider
Aggregator
National Institutes for Cultural Heritage
The National Institutes for Cultural Heritage (NICH) comprise four National Museums (Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto National Museum, Nara National Museum, and Kyushu National Museum) and two National Research Institutes for Cultural Properties (Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, and Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties), as well as the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) in Sakai City, for a total of seven institutions.
Last updated
July 20, 2026