The Empress Shotoku of Japan and

Her Million Printed Charms

ca. 764-770
 

THOiMAS FRANCIS CARTER

and
L. CARRINGTON GOODRICH
 

In the February issue of the Columns, Professor Porada described an
Akkad cylinder seal which is the oldest inscribed work of art in the
Columbia collections. In this issue, the story behind another "oldest
inhabitant" of the collections, the Empress Shotoku's charm, the
earliest known example of block printing on paper, is reprinted
from Thomas Frajjcis Carter's The Invention of Printing in China
and Its Spread Westward.*

editor's note
 

F
 

-N^ OR A CENTURY and a half before the making of the
first block-printed charms, Japan had been undergoing
a process of complete transformation under the influence
of China. It was a period similar to that which Japan passed
through during the latter half of the nineteenth century, except that
China was the model instead of the West. A steady succession of
Buddhist missionaries from China poured into Japan, and a steady
succession of Japanese students went to China for study and on
their return brought about sweeping changes in the customs of
their native land, bringing Japan gradually abreast of what was
then the world's most cultured country. In 701 the annual cele¬
bration in honor of Confucius began, and in 708 the first mint

* Second Edition, revised by L. Carrington Goodrich. Copyright 1955
The Ronald Press Company.