Talcum Sutra 滑石経カッセキキョウ

Description

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.