Email this article The Earliest Extant Example of Woodblock Printing: the Precept Certificate of the 29th Year of Kaiyuan (741 A.D.)
- Authors: Xingiang R.1
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Affiliations:
- Peking University
- Issue: Vol 18, No 3 (2021)
- Pages: 118-126
- Section: History and historiography
- URL: https://journals.eco-vector.com/1811-8062/article/view/77364
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.17816/WMO77364
- ID: 77364
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Abstract
In this paper, the present author focus on the three printed images of Buddha on the precept certificate from the Dayun Monastery of Dunhuang preserved in St. Petersburg (Дх.02881+Дх.02882). It is the earliest extant example of woodblock printing, with a definite date the 9th day of the 2nd month of the 29th year of Kaiyuan 開元 (A.D. 741), which has long been ignored by the specialists on the history of printing. The certificate was given the monk Daojian from the Great Anguo Monastery from the capital Chang’an, as the representative of the royal monastery. The precept certificate with printed Buddha images has great significance in the history of printing. Based on the facts that Sinicized monasteries in Central Asia and Japan should have the same institution as in Dunhuang and Chang’an, we can assume the certificate with the same woodblock printing was very likely to be spread to the Western Region (Central Asia) as well as to Japan.
About the authors
Rong Xingiang
Peking University
Author for correspondence.
Email: rxj@pku.edu.cn
Professor of History, FBA Department of History
China, PekingReferences
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Supplementary files
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Plate I: Precept certificate from the Dayun Monastery of Dunhuang preserved in Saint Petersburg (Дх.02881＋Дх.02882).
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Plate II: Three images of Buddha in printed on the precept certificate from the Dayun Monastery of Dunhuang preserved in St. Petersburg (Дх.02881＋Дх.02882)
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