What shuji means
A shuji is a single letter of the Sanskrit script used to represent a Buddha or bodhisattva. It is also written with a different second character meaning letter. The name, seed, is said to reflect the idea that the whole working of the deity is contained in the one letter. It is used in place of, or alongside, images and paintings as a form of the deity itself.
Each deity has its own letter. Saitama City explains that most seed syllables on itabi memorial stones are kiriku for Amida, with ban or ānku for Dainichi also found. An itabi of the Amida triad in Setagaya, Tokyo, has kiriku for the central Amida and, below it, sa for the attendant Kannon and saku for Seishi. Reading the syllables shows to which Buddha a monument or memorial was dedicated.
Reading the records and the monument
Seed syllables are carved on many stone monuments: itabi, Hōkyōintō, gorintō and Hōtō. On itabi of the Kanto region, a large syllable is usually cut high on a slab with a pointed top, with the date and a dedication below. The itabi of 1267 in Kawasaki has, beneath two incised lines, the seed syllable of Amida in Sanskrit on a lotus seat, with the date carved below it. On hōkyōintō the four faces of the square body usually bear one syllable each for four Buddhas; a stone hōkyōintō designated by Kakogawa, Hyogo, carries the seed syllables of the four Buddhas of the Diamond Realm on the four sides of its body.
Names of cultural properties sometimes include the term, as an Amida seed-syllable itabi or Amida triad seed-syllable itabi. Articles should confirm from the record or local commentary which deity's syllable is carved and where. On site, look for large single Sanskrit letters on the stone faces, though weathering often makes them hard to read.
References
- 与野の板碑｜さいたま市
- https://www.city.saitama.lg.jp/004/005/004/005/yono/yonokyodo_tenjikaisetsu/p081673.html
- 阿弥陀三尊種子板碑｜世田谷区
- https://www.city.setagaya.lg.jp/02059/3430.html
- 文永四年銘阿弥陀如来種子板碑の指定に係る諮問について｜川崎市
- https://www.city.kawasaki.jp/880/cmsfiles/contents/0000137/137430/040208gian39.pdf
- 石造宝篋印塔（加古川市指定）｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/229238
Last verified: 2026.09.27