Tenjukoku Embroidery Record

Japanese: 天寿国繡帳 - てんじゅこくしゅうちょう

An embroidery work from the Asuka period, also known as the Tenjukoku Mandala. After Prince Shotoku's death, his wife Tachibana no Oiratsume commemorated the prince by having the court ladies embroider a sketch of Tenjukoku, where the prince had passed away. Originally, it was two large curtains embroidered on a thin, transparent cloth, and is thought to have been hung in a Buddhist hall. It was discovered in the Horyuji Tsunazo by Ama Shinnyo, who restored Chuguji Temple, in the mid-Kamakura period, and has been passed down to Chuguji Temple ever since. Currently, only a few fragments are pasted onto the base cloth along with new Kamakura period fragments of the embroidered curtains, but the original embroidered curtains are still vivid in color.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

飛鳥時代の刺繡作品で，《天寿国曼荼羅》ともいう。聖徳太子の没後，太子をしのんで，妃の橘大郎女（たちばなのおおいらつめ）が太子の往生した天寿国のありさまを下絵に描かせ，采女（うねめ）らに刺繡させたもの。当初は薄く透ける羅地に刺繡された大きな2帳で，仏堂にかけられたと思われる。鎌倉時代中ごろ，中宮寺の再興者である尼信如によって法隆寺綱封蔵から発見されて以来中宮寺に伝わる。現在はわずかな断片が鎌倉時代の新繡帳断片と混じって台裂に貼り合わされているが，原繡帳断片はいまだに色鮮やかである。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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