Home » Images » 0002 Pictures From History » CPA0000586

China: Chinese script. Tang Period Buddhist Sutra Fragment from Dunhuang, Otani Expedition, Nantoyoso Collection, Japan

The Mogao Caves, or Mogao Grottoes (Chinese: Mògāo kū) (also known as the Caves of the Thousand Buddhas and Dunhuang Caves) form a system of 492 temples 25 km (15.5 miles) southeast of the center of Dunhuang, an oasis strategically located at a religious and cultural crossroads on the Silk Road, in Gansu province, China.

The caves contain some of the finest examples of Buddhist art spanning a period of 1,000 years. The first caves were dug out 366 AD as places of Buddhist meditation and worship. The Mogao Caves are the best known of the Chinese Buddhist grottoes and, along with Longmen Grottoes and Yungang Grottoes, are one of the three famous ancient sculptural sites of China. The caves also have famous wall paintings.

Count Ōtani Kōzui (27 December 1876 - 5 October 1948) was the 22nd Abbot of the Nishi Honganji sub-sect of Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism in Kyoto, Japan. He is known for expeditions to Buddhist sites in Central Asia. Between 1902 and 1910, he financed 3 expeditions to Central Asia although his participation was stopped for his succession. Ōtani was a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and played host to several of his fellow Central Asian explorers, such as Sven Hedin and Albert von Le Coq. His collection, often called the Ōtani collection, is still considered important in Central Asian studies, although it is today scattered in Tokyo, Kyoto, China and Korea.