In the reign of Emperor Shōmu, a good man whose name is unknown lived in the Sagaraka District of Yamashiro Province. To repay the four kinds of obligations, he copied the Hokekyō. He also paid one hundred kan of money for purple and white sandalwood, hired a craftsman, and had him make a wooden casket to store the roll of the sūtra which he had copied.

The man examined the casket which was too short for the roll. Lamenting, the man wished to have another casket made, but could not obtain more of the valuable wood. Distressed, although strong in his faith, the man invited many priests and had them recite the Hokekyō for thirty-seven days, paying for more valuable wood for a new casket.

Twenty-seven days had passed and the man tried to place the roll in the casket. Although the roll did not quite fit well, the casket appeared to be somewhat larger. Thinking this extraordinary, yet rejoicing, the man encouraged the priests to continue their prayers.

On the thirty-seventh day, the man tried to place the roll in the casket. This time it fitted into the casket perfectly. Seeing this, the people were marveling greatly. Wondering if the roll had become shorter or the casket had become larger, they compared the roll with the original copy of the sūtra. Both the new and the old rolls were of the same length.

However when they tried to put both copies together in the casket, they could easily insert the new one, but not the old one. Again the people were impressed and knew that this marvelous happening was in response to the miraculous power of the Mahāyāna scriptures and to the man’s deep faith. The story appears in the Ryōiki. (Page 124-125)