Heijo Palace wooden tablet no. 294
Tablet 294 is a shipping label for silk floss supplied as tax. It is a useful reminder that a familiar modern translation of a material can mislead when reading an ancient record.
Wata here is not cotton
The museum commentary explains that the material called wata in this record is silk floss made from cocoons. It identifies the contributing region as Fujitsu district in Hizen, around present-day Kashima and Tara in Saga. Translating the word mechanically as cotton would change the commodity and distort the historical point.
Sources: ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
Compare a regional pattern
The commentary places the label among contributions from the Kyushu region under Dazaifu and notes shared features of wording, format and broadleaf material. An editorial question is whether standardisation is visible across a group, rather than asking one label to represent all taxation. The broader comparative corpus is outside this ten-object sample.
Sources: ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot
Keep the kind of evidence clear
Compare this textile-related label with the ayu and hishio labels for the difference between goods and administrative functions. A label records an assertion about a shipment; it is not the shipment itself. Retain 6AABUS48001493 as the exact reference and consult the original for transcription conventions before using its written quantities.
Sources: ColBase museum commentary, preserved source snapshot · ColBase · Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties · via Japan Search; processed by GIZUMO
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294号木簡 Collection reference: 6AABUS48001493 Object type: Wooden shipping label (荷札) 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/6AABUS48001493). 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 shipping label
- collection Reference
- 6AABUS48001493