Radiocarbon Dating of Kohitsugire (Paper Fragments) Attributed to Japanese Calligraphists in the Heian–Kamakura Period

A kohitsugire is a paper fragment from an old manuscript written mainly in the Heian and Kamakura periods. Although they contain significant information for historical, literary, and paleographical study, because of their antique handwriting and description of historical incidents, there are many copies and counterfeits written several centuries later. In this study, radiocarbon ages of kohitsugire were measured by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). On the kohitsugire attributed to the famous calligraphists in the Kamakura period (Fujiwara no Sadaie and Prince Munetaka), 14 C dating indicated that they were not genuine and should be excluded from the materials for study of the calligraphists. Calibrated 14 C ages of the kohitsugire attributed to Fujiwara no Yukinari indicated the middle Heian period. This calligraphy was written on Tobikumogami paper, which has a billowing cloud pattern decorated with indigo-blue-dyed fiber. Although it was commonly accepted that the Tobikumogami is peculiar to the middle 11th to early 12th century, the results from 14 C dating also suggested that the origin of the Tobikumogami would date back to the last of the 10th or the early 11th century, when Fujiwara no Yukinari flourished as a calligraphist. Calibrated 14 C ages of the kohitsugire attributed to Nijo Tameuji and Reizei Tamesuke showed that they are fragments of old manuscripts describing lost tales and were written in the 13th–14th century. Consequently, 14 C dating clarified the existence of ancient tales which had been unknown and indicated their worth as a material for the study of classical Japanese literature

Ancient history · Antique · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Calligraphy · Middle Ages · Radiocarbon dating · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Japanese History and Culture · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

• INTCAL98 Radiocarbon Age Calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP

  Open Access•Minze Stuiver, Paula J Reimer et al.•Radiocarbon•1998

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