Heijo Palace wooden tablet no. 2318
Tablet 2318 is a clear-sake label with a stated quantity. Its value is not just that it names a drink, but that it forces a careful reading of historical units.
Four to is not a modern shortcut
The preserved museum commentary interprets the quantity on the label as approximately 32.5 litres in present-day terms. Use that museum conversion rather than applying the modern value of a unit to an ancient inscription. The commentary also offers possible ways the liquid may have been separated from its solids; those are interpretations, not a surviving recipe.
Sources: ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
A small comparison with a large payoff
Compare 2318 with 2319: this label records quantity, while the latter may record a grade. The difference lets you ask how goods were distinguished in administration without inventing a single standard label format. These objects are evidence for particular acts of identification, not a complete inventory of palace drink production.
Sources: ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
Following the evidence further
Keep the collection reference 6AACVS15000215 with any notes. A subject search for “sake” is broader than this exact tablet, and a search for a number alone may match an unrelated catalogue. To investigate the writing itself, consult the institution’s tablet resources and the original record; this English guide is not an epigraphic transcription.
Editorial sources, scope and rights
The English reading guide and its stated sources only. Original source dates, rights, identity limitations and live-status fields remain separate.
Original GIZUMO editorial text and limited factual paraphrase. Linked reference pages retain their own rights; the source-data licence below does not license their text or images. No source photographs, film stills, scans or maps are reproduced.
- ColBase · Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties · via Japan Search; processed by GIZUMO
Identity and factual fields in the preserved dated source record; no new live-status verification
- ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
Selected factual points from the museum commentary retrieved with the original record; new English selection, not an official translation or full republication
Preserved source record and metadata
Original title: 平城宮2318号木簡 Collection reference: 6AACVS15000215 Object type: Wooden label (付札) Holding institution: Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties Period: 奈良時代 Creator: Not supplied Original designation: 国宝 Prior reviewed English display title retained only because the source ID and original title match exactly. Institution name expanded from the previously reviewed source holder reference code. Type labels are normalized editorially; missing English fields retain original wording. Designation is never inferred from the search keyword or service name. Source: ColBase via Japan Search (https://colbase.nich.go.jp/collection_items/nabunken/6AACVS15000215). Metadata selected/formatted by GIZUMO under the reviewed Government Standard Terms v2.0. Images are excluded. Current exhibition availability and physical display location are not verified.
- creator
- Not supplied
- period
- 奈良時代
- designation
- National Treasure
- holding Museum
- Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties
- object Type
- Wooden label
- collection Reference
- 6AACVS15000215