Pagoda from Darani of one million pagodas (Hyakumantō darani)

Unknown

Wooden pagoda from the 'Darani of one million pagodas' (Hyakumantō darani), made in Japan between 764 and 770. These one million miniature wooden pagodas (a religious building in the form of a tall tower) and the printed Buddhist invocations (darani) they contained, were created at the order of Empress Shōtoku (718-770) for dedication to ten major temples around the capital at Nara. Each printed prayer was rolled and placed inside a pagoda. These prayers remain the earliest known printed texts from Japan.