Overview
The Heijō Palace Site Wooden Tablets are a collection of wooden tablets (mokkan) inscribed with characters, excavated from the site of Heijō Palace, the capital during the Nara Period. When paper was a precious commodity, these wooden tablets were used for diverse purposes: official records, shipping labels, calligraphy practice, and transmitting messages. Because they were buried in a damp underground environment, they avoided decay. These 3,184 preserved items are designated as National Treasures, offering an invaluable look into the daily life of the society at that time.
Historical Background
During the Nara Period, with the establishment of the centralized Ritsuryō state system, a vast bureaucratic administration developed. Heijō Palace served not only as the residence of the Emperor but also as the center for national governance, meaning massive quantities of wooden tablets were created and consumed daily. The tablets were essential tools supporting the entire administrative system—from internal government communications to shipping labels attached to tribute goods sent from local regions to the capital.
Large numbers of these tablets were discovered starting in 1959 (Shōwa 34), found in areas like trash pits and canal remains. This discovery revealed the true state of the Ritsuryō administration, which could not be understood solely through written historical records such as those from the Shōsō-in repository. The tablet groups excavated particularly from the residence site of Naya-ō are crucial for understanding both the political climate and the daily lives of the nobility during that era.
Features and Appeal
The Heijō Palace Site Wooden Tablets stand alongside the Shōsō-in documents as primary sources for studying the Nara Period, possessing several unique features:
- Realism of Daily Life: They provide direct insight into the everyday work and life of officials—including performance reviews, salary payments, meal menus, even graffiti or satire—details that are absent from official historical texts.
- Connection Between Local Regions and the Capital: The “shipping label wooden tablets” attached to local specialty goods record place names, products, and transportation methods. This material proves the existence of a wide circulation network and sheds light on the actual collection process of taxes like so-yō-chō.
- Cultural Transmission of Writing: Some tablets show evidence of calligraphy practice. They hold immense value for Japanese linguistics and calligraphic history, offering insight into the development of Man’yōgana (a phonetic script), the spread of Chinese characters (kanji), and early writing styles.
- Overwhelming Volume of Information: Tens of thousands of wooden tablets have been excavated from the Heijō Palace site to date. Of these, the 3,184 items designated as National Treasures allow researchers to reconstruct a detailed and three-dimensional picture of Japan in the 8th century through comprehensive study.
Source: Excerpted from the National Designated Cultural Properties Database (https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/index)