Although woodblock-printed books from Chinese Buddhist temples were seen in Japan as early as the 8th century, the Hyakumantō Darani are the earliest surviving examples of printing in Japan and, alongside the Korean Dharani Sutra, are considered to be some of the world's oldest existent printed matter.

In the year of her resumption of the throne, 764, the Empress Shōtoku commissioned the one million small wooden pagodas (Hyakumantō (百万塔)), each containing a small piece of paper (typically 6 x 45 cm) printed with a Buddhist text, the Vimalasuddhaprabhasa mahadharani sutra (Mukujōkō daidarani kyō (無垢淨光大陀羅尼經)[1]).

It is thought they were printed in Nara, where the facilities, craftsmen and skills existed to undertake such large scale production.

One is that of remorse and thanksgiving for the suppression of the Emi Rebellion of 764, and another is as an assertion of power and control over resources, but the act could equally serve both political and devotional aims.

[5] Either it was felt that printing as a technology had served its ritual purpose through the creation of the Hyakumantō Darani, or simply that the cost of this mass production proved prohibitive, but printing technology did not become widespread until the tenth century and the production, and distribution of books continued to rely heavily on hand-copying manuscripts.