The “oldest paper” that exists in Japan, that is, the “Li Bai Document (Draft of a letter by Li Bai)” written in China in 328, and the “oldest paper written in Japan (615)”, that is, Prince Shotoku’s autograph “Hokke gisho (Commentary on The Lotus Sutra)”, those two cultural heritages are explained in this paper.
The raw material of the paper of “Li Bai Document” is apparent, because a part of linen cloth can be seen on the paper. On the other hand, the content of the document was extremely difficult to decipher, but at the end of the Meiji era, a Japanese researcher succeeded in the identification of Li Bai and also the deciphering the content, and the value of the “Li Bai Document” became known to the world.
Regarding “Hokke gisho”, it was reported by Nara National Museum in 1921 that the paper was dyed yellow. Until recently, the opinion that “Hokke gisho” was not written by Prince Shotoku was supported by the academic circles of Japanese History. In this article, it is explained in six items that “Hokke gisho” was written by Prince Shotoku, and one of the items is a research result by using a search system that digitizes almost all Buddhist texts (about 100 volumes). I will clarify the validity that “Hokke gisho” was written by Prince Shotoku.
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