shizai-cho

Updated: May 17, 2025

At the instance of Prince Shotoku and for the better performance of Buddhist services, various privileges were granted to the professors of the art. They were exempted from the discharge of official duties and their occupation became hereditary. These masks were introduced by Mimashi and are still preserved in the temple Horyu-ji. *The Horyu-ji Shizai-cho, composed in A.D. 747.

F. (Frank) Brinkley - A History of the Japanese People : From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era