Fascinated by the allure of ancient Japanese books? Our JPN 461 students certainly were as they delved into the riches of the UHM Japan Special Collection. A huge mahalo to our wonderful librarians, Mitsu Nakamura and Lynette Teruya, for making this possible!
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Note: the item in the last photos is a rare exemplar of Hyakumantō darani 百萬塔陀羅尼 (“The One Million Dharani Stupas”). Between 764 and 770, Empress Regnant Shōtoku commissioned the printing of dharani scrolls housed in little wooden stupas. Many of these stupas have dates inscribed on their bottoms, making the enclosed scrolls the oldest reliably dated printed objects in the world!

Check out the link for another rare scroll at UHM!

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