Sutra Pages from Chuson-ji

Sankozo Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art

Two gold-on-indigo sutra pages are seen here. Above is a page from the Great Wisdom Sutra, originally from Chuson-ji but now in the Metropolitan Museum of art, depicting Buddha's First Sermon with disciples, Bodhisattvas, and deer in the park. The page below it, in the temple's Sankozo Museum, illustrates a Buddhist paradise with golden pagoda. Although difficult to see at the resolution of this photo, the text is cleverly written onto the pagoda itself.

Production of the Chuson-ji sutras was monumental: the complete set (a National Treasure) comprises over 5,000 scrolls of the Buddhist canon. Many of them, for example the Met page above, have been disbursed over time to other temples and museums.