Buddha's Footprint - Bussokuseki

A stone engraved with the footprints of Shakyamuni. It is also called a Buddha's Foot Stone or a Buddha's Footprint. Before statues of the Buddha were made, they were worshipped in India as a representation of Shakyamuni, but this belief in Buddhist sites spread to China and Japan, and they were also copied in various places in southern countries such as Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Thailand. Usually, they are engraved with a depiction of a mysterious feature such as a thousand-spoked wheel (a wheel-shaped pattern on the bottom of the Buddha's feet). In Japan, the oldest one (National Treasure) is located in the Buddha's Foot Hall at Yakushiji Temple in Nara City. There is an inscription on the side of the stone explaining the origin of the image, and next to it stands a Buddha's Foot Stone Poetry Monument (National Treasure).

[Mori Sodo]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

釈尊(しゃくそん)の足跡を印刻した石。仏脚石(ぶっきゃくせき)、仏足跡(ぶっそくせき)ともいう。仏像がつくられる以前に、インドで釈尊の表徴として礼拝(らいはい)の対象とされたが、この仏跡信仰は中国、日本に及び、またセイロン（スリランカ）、タイなど南方諸国でも各地で模刻された。通常は千輻輪相(せんぷくりんそう)（仏の足の裏にある車輪状の紋様）などの妙相を描いて刻む。日本では奈良市の薬師寺の仏足堂にあるものが最古の作（国宝）。石の側面に図の由来を記した銘文があり、傍らには仏足石歌碑（国宝）が立っている。

［森　祖道］

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