|
Hyakumantō Darani
The , or the "One Million Pagodas and Dharani Prayers", are a series of Buddhist prayers or spells that were printed on paper and then rolled up and housed in wooden cases that resemble miniature pagodas in both appearance and meaning. Although woodblock-printed books from Chinese Buddhist temples were seen in Japan as early as the 8th century, the ''Hyakumantō Darani'' are the earliest surviving examples of printing in Japan and, alongside the Korean Dharani Sutra, are considered to be some of the world's oldest existent printed matter. Manufacture The production of the ''Hyakumantō Darani'' was a huge undertaking. In the year of her resumption of the throne, 764, the Empress Shōtoku commissioned the one million small wooden pagodas (), each containing a small piece of paper (typically 6 x 45 cm) printed with a Buddhist text, the ''Vimalasuddhaprabhasa mahadharani sutra'' (). It is thought they were printed in Nara, where the facilities, craftsmen and skills existed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nara, Nara
is the capital city of Nara Prefecture, Japan. , Nara has an estimated population of 367,353 according to World Population Review, making it the largest city in Nara Prefecture and sixth-largest in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara is a core city located in the northern part of Nara Prefecture bordering the Kyoto Prefecture. Nara was the capital of Japan during the Nara period from 710 to 784 as the seat of the Emperor before the capital was moved to Nagaoka-kyō, except for the years 740 to 745, when the capital was placed in Kuni-kyō, Naniwa-kyō and Shigaraki Palace. Nara is home to eight major historic temples, shrines, and heritage sites, specifically Tōdai-ji, Saidai-ji, Kōfuku-ji, Kasuga Shrine, Gangō-ji, Yakushi-ji, Tōshōdai-ji, and the Heijō Palace, together with Kasugayama Primeval Forest, collectively form the Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Etymology By the Heian period, a variety of different characters had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World Digital Library Exhibits
The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plurality of worlds". Some treat the world as one simple object, while others analyze the world as a complex made up of parts. In scientific cosmology, the world or universe is commonly defined as "the totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and will be". Theories of modality talk of possible worlds as complete and consistent ways how things could have been. Phenomenology, starting from the horizon of co-given objects present in the periphery of every experience, defines the world as the biggest horizon, or the "horizon of all horizons". In philosophy of mind, the world is contrasted with the mind as that which is represented by the mind. Theology conceptualizes the world in relation to God, for example, as God's creatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodcuts
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with Chisel#Gouge, gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that the artist cuts away carry no ink, while characters or images at surface level carry the ink to produce the print. The block is cut along the wood grain (unlike wood engraving, where the block is cut in the end-grain). The surface is covered with ink by rolling over the surface with an ink-covered roller (brayer), leaving ink upon the flat surface but not in the non-printing areas. Multiple colours can be printed by keying the paper to a frame around the woodblocks (using a different block for each colour). The art of carving the woodcut can be called ''xylography'', but this is rarely used in English for images alone, although that term and ''xylographic'' are used in connection with block books, which are small books contain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge Digital Library
The Cambridge Digital Library is a project operated by the Cambridge University Library designed to make items from the unique and distinctive collections of Cambridge University Library available online. The project was initially funded by a donation of £1.5 million GBP from Dr. Leonard Polonsky, with the purpose of developing the technical infrastructure and producing an initial batch of online content. The first step of the project, known as the Foundations Project, ran from mid-2010 to early 2014, and was themed around two main strands, Faith and Science. Faith Collection The "Faith Collection" will have works from many different religious beliefs, including Judaism, Islam, Christianity and Buddhism. The Library's collections include some of the earliest Qur'an fragments on parchment, a section of devotional works and mystic treatises, a unique copy of the Kitāb al-Tawhīd by al-Māturīdī, and the first known Qur'an commentary written in Persian. The Library also owns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of over 100 libraries Libraries of the University of Cambridge, within the university. The library is a major scholarly resource for members of the University of Cambridge and external researchers. It is often referred to within the university as the UL. Thirty-three Libraries of the University of Cambridge#Affiliated Libraries, faculty and departmental libraries are associated with the University Library for the purpose of central governance and administration, forming "Cambridge University Libraries". Cambridge University Library is one of six legal deposit libraries under UK law. It holds about 9 million items (including maps and sheet music) and, through legal deposit, purchase and donation it receives around 100,000 items every year. The University Library is unique among the legal deposit libraries in keeping a large proportion of its material on open access and in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed technique, rather than a photographic reproduction of a visual artwork which would be printed using an electronic machine (Printer (computing), a printer); however, there is some cross-over between traditional and digital printmaking, including risograph. Prints are created by transferring ink from a Matrix (printing), matrix to a sheet of paper or other material, by a variety of techniques. Common types of matrices include: metal plates for engraving, etching and related intaglio printing techniques; stone, aluminum, or polymer for lithography; blocks of wood for woodcuts and wood engravings; and linoleum for linocuts. Screens made of silk or synthetic fabrics are used for the screen printing process. Other types of matrix substrates ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fujiwara No Nakamaro Rebellion
The , also known as the Emi Rebellion, was a short-lived and unsuccessful Nara period military confrontation in Japan resulting from a power struggle between former Empress Kōken and the main political figure of the time, Fujiwara no Nakamaro from the powerful Fujiwara clan. Through the support of Emperor Shōmu and Empress Kōmyō, with whom he had family-ties, Nakamaro rapidly climbed the career ladder during the 740s and 750s achieving some of the highest ranks and court positions. During the early years of the reign of Emperor Junnin, whom he supported, Nakamaro ruled the country ''de facto''. Following the death of Kōmyō in 760, the retired Empress Kōken started to take government affairs into her hand resulting in a conflict between Nakamaro/Junnin on one side and Kōken and her close associate Dōkyō on the other. In order to restore authority, on the 11th day of the 9th month, Tenpyō-hōji 8 (October 14, 764), Nakamaro seized the signs of imperial authority and lef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hōryū-ji
is a Buddhist temple that was once one of the powerful Nanto Shichi Daiji, Seven Great Temples, located in Ikaruga, Nara, Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture, Japan. Built shortly after Buddhism was introduced to Japan, it is also one of the oldest Buddhist sites in the country. Its full name is , or Learning Temple of the Flourishing Law, with the complex serving as both a seminary and monastery. The temple was founded by Prince Shōtoku in 607. According to the ''Nihon Shoki'', in 670 all buildings were burned down by lightning. Reconstruction of the temple complex began soon after. Rebuilt at least 1,300 years ago, the Kondō (main hall) is widely recognized as the world's oldest wooden building. A tree ring survey conducted in 2001 revealed that the shinbashira of the five-story pagoda were cut down in 594, before it burned down in 670. On January 26, 1949, a fire broke out during the dismantling and repair of the Kondō. This heavily damaged the building and also destroyed a mural o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lathe
A lathe () is a machine tool that rotates a workpiece about an axis of rotation to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, deformation, facing, threading and turning, with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object with symmetry about that axis. Lathes are used in woodturning, metalworking, metal spinning, thermal spraying, reclamation, and glass-working. Lathes can be used to shape pottery, the best-known design being the Potter's wheel. Most suitably equipped metalworking lathes can also be used to produce most solids of revolution, plane surfaces and screw threads or helices. Ornamental lathes can produce three-dimensional solids of incredible complexity. The workpiece is usually held in place by either one or two ''centers'', at least one of which can typically be moved horizontally to accommodate varying workpiece lengths. Other work-holding methods include clamping the work about the axis of rotation using a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Empress Kōken
Empress Kōken (born Abe, known as Empress Shōtoku during her second reign; 718–770) was the 46th and 48th monarch of Japan according to the traditional order of succession. She was born to Crown Prince Obito (the future Emperor Shōmu) and his consort Fujiwara Asukabehime; seeking to protect the bloodline of Prince Kusakabe, her father proclaimed her the first crown princess in Japanese history in 738. She became the Empress Regnant in 749, after her father retired to become a Buddhist monk. With the backing of her mother (now Dowager Empress Kōmyō) and her mother's nephew Fujiwara no Nakamaro, she was able to outmaneuver a largely hostile (Council of State). Her father died in 756, and named a cousin unrelated to the Fujiwara as her heir; this outraged Fujiwara supporters, and Kōken replaced him with Prince Ōi, a close ally of her mother and Nakamaro. In 757, she headed off a conspiracy to overthrow her by Tachibana no Naramaro, and resigned the following year to s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
