Pagoda from the Hyakumantō (One Million Pagoda)

Original Language Title百万塔

CultureJapanese

Date764–770 C.E.

MediumWood with traces of gesso

DimensionsOverall: 8 1/2 × 4 1/8 inches (21.59 × 10.48 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number63-5/1 A,B

On View

On view

Gallery Location

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

Exhibition History

Lasting Impressions: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 5, 2025–July 6, 2025, no cat.

Gallery Label

This miniature pagoda comes from a set of one million commissioned by Empress Shōtoku in 764 C.E., the first year of her reign. She ordered the production of these objects as an act of gratitude for the protection of the court during a failed rebellion that occurred earlier that year. Ten temples that the empress deemed defenders of the court and the nation each received a set of 100,000 pagodas.

Each pagoda contained a miniature scroll printed with a dharani, or a passage from Buddhist scripture. These scrolls are among the earliest surviving examples of printing in the world.

Provenance

With Mathias Komor (1909–1984), New York, NY, before October 1962;

Purchased from Mathias Komor by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1963

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