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Sumidera Heart Sutra (Sumidera shingyō 隅寺心経),
8th century
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8th century
Asia, Japan
The Sumidera Heart Sutra is traditionally said to be written by Kūkai 空海 (774-835), the founder of the Shingon 真言 sect of Japanese Buddhism. Kūkai purportedly transcribed the Heart Sutra, or Hannyashingyō般若心経, in the Kairyūōji海龍王寺. Because the temple is located in the northeast corner (sumi 隅) of ancient Nara, is came to be known as the Sumidera Heart Sutra. The Heart Sutra distills the true meaning of Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (Daihannyakyo 大般若経) down to only 260 characters. It was copied by hand numerous times, possibly as a ritual act as many times as twice a day at the temple, and it is possible that most were copied at the same scriptorium. There are about fifty surviving copies of the Sumidera Heart Sutra.
In this scroll, the first column at right is an abbreviated title for the Heart Sutra. After the title, there are 15 columns made up of 17 characters each, standard for Buddhist sutras of this period in China and Japan. In the 16th column there are 18 characters because this is a kind of special incantation: gyatei gyatei haragyatei harasōgyatei boji sowaka 揭諦揭諦,波羅揭諦,波羅僧揭諦,菩提薩婆呵. This incantation is always written whole in one column regardless of length. The final 3 columns include a type of blessing that explains the religious benefits of reciting the sutra. This last section is not part of the sutra and does not always appear on other copies of the Sumidera Heart Sutra.
The scroll is accompanied by a kiwame fuda, certification slip, dated 1754 by the calligraphy connoisseur Kohitsu Ryoen 古筆了延 (1704-1774), who was a leading connoisseur of ancient calligraphy. The temple which the sutra was dedicated to is not specified, however, the storage box has inscriptions by Yamaoka Tesshū 山岡 鉄舟(1836-1888), a vassal of the Tokugawa Shogunate at the end of Edo Period, who was also a philosopher, master of sword, zen, and calligraphy during the Meiji era. The name written on the box, Takayuki高歩, is another name of Tesshū. It is uncertain whether Tesshū personally owned this sutra or if he signed the box at the request of an individual or a temple who possessed the sutra at that time. The calligraphy in this manuscript copy is based on Chinese calligraphy for Buddhist sutras written during the Tang dynasty (618–907). This style was transmitted to Japan and used there before the Japanese developed their own calligraphic mannerisms and customs for copying sutras. The calligraphy on this sutra compares favorably to examples of Tang sutras in our collection.
