Radiocarbon dating of kohitsugire calligraphies attributed to Fujiwara Shunzei: Akihiro-gire, Oie-gire, and Ryosa-gire

Kohitsugire are ancient paper sheets containing graceful calligraphy. They were originally the pages of rare ancient manuscripts; therefore, they contain valuable historical information. However, among the kohitsugire attributed to famous calligraphists, many copies and counterfeits written several centuries later are also in circulation. We measured the radiocarbon ages of three kohitsugire (Akihiro-gire, Oie-gire, and Ryosa-gire) attributed to Fujiwara Shunzei. Among paleographers, it had been commonly accepted that Akihiro-gire was written by Shunzei in his youth. However, radiocarbon dating showed that Akihiro-gire is not Shunzei's work. Therefore, it is probably a page from an anonymous manuscript.