Part 97 (of 100) of the sutra Yogācārabhūmiśātra [Ch.: Yuqieshidi lun; J.: Yuga shijiron; Treatise...
Trans. into Chinese by Xuanzang. Orihon (accordion) format (258 x 12,550 mm.), 28 joined sheets, 23 columns per sheet, mostly 17 characters per column, blockprint height: 201 mm.). Printed on grayish recycled paper. [Nara: published by the monk Kōei at the Kōfukuji Temple, 1213].
An extremely rare example of a Kamakura-era sutra printed in Japan on recycled grayish paper; this is the first specimen we have encountered. For an excellent discussion on the subject of recycled paper used in early Japanese printing, we have turned to the most interesting contribution of SOAS Prof. Lucia Dolce (“A Sutra as... More