The Hokke Mandara owned by the Tanzan Jinja in Nara is a set of ten kakemono, with the text of the eight chapters of the Hoke-kyô or Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapunṇḍarika-sūtra) tr. by Kumārajīva (Nanjo 134, Taisho 262) and two related sutras, the Muryôgi-kyô (Wou-leang-yiking, Nanjo 133, Taisho 276) and the Kan Fugenkyô (Kouan-p'ou-hien-king, Nanjo 394, Taisho 277), each copied in the form of a pagoda surrounded by paintings illustrating the purport of each chapter. That is to say, it is a sort of illustrated Hoke-kyô. Examples of Buddhist scriptures copied in the form of pagodas are very few. In Japan the only other example is the Saishôô-kyô (Suvarṇaprabhāṣa-uttamarāja-sūtra, Nanjo 126, Taisho 665) owned by the Chûson-ji Temple in Iwate which is similarly surrounded by paintings illustrating the text. Korea has one example of the Hokekyô believed to date from the end of the Koguryo Period (owned by the Kyôôgokoku-ji, Kyoto). In China there are three examples of the Hannyashin-gyô (Prajñapāramitā-hçdaya-sūtra) (collection of the British Museum, brought back by sir A. Stein, S. 4289, S. 5410). These are the only known examples of the kind. The Hoke-kyô sutra was widely revered in Japan during the Heian Period. This sutra expounds on the merit of various pious acts, among which copying of the scripture and buiIding of pagodas became especially frequent practices. The vogue of sutra-copying has left numerous decorative copies of the Hoke-kyô typified, for example, by the set known as the Heike Nôkyô (scripture donated by the Heike Family) in the Itsukushima Jinja, Hiroshima. On the other hand, to build pagodas is another meritorious deed much encouraged in the Hokekyô, which states that even a child who builds a pagoda of sand for fun will attain Buddhahood in the future world. As a result of the two vogues combined, it became a fashion to make copies of the Hoke-kyô in the ichiji ittô (one-character one-pagoda) form, with each character of its text accompanied by the illustration of a small pagoda; to make the same number of small clay pagodas as that of the characters of the text, each pagoda bearing one engraved character, and such-like. The Hokke Mandara discussed here is to be regarded as an example in which the practices of sutra-copying and pagodamaking were combined. Each of the ten kakemono of this Hokke Mandara has the text copied in gold on dark-blue paper and the surrounding illustrations in gold and silver. Red is used for the mouths of human and animal figures. Each kakemono has scores of paintings illustrating the various lessons, parables and biographies of saints described in the sutra. The meanings of the pictures are easily understood as each is accompanied by corresponding phrases extracted from the text.