Parrot Patterned Bronze Mirror

Nationally Important Cultural Property
Just as the name infers, this bronze mirror has 2 parrots drawn on the back.
It is highly valued for its craftsmanship, marked for its exceptionally elaborate mandala and its inscription that indicates that this mirror was offered by a female priest called “Heizan, the Female Disciple” in 997.
The mirror itself is believed to be made at the end of China’s Tang Dynasty and the mandala and writing were presumably inscribed after it was inherited.
A recent investigation confirms that the mirror was offered by the empress consort of Japan’s Emperor En’yu and that mirrors with the same inscriptions exist in China and at Nara’s Shosoin Treasure House.