Sutra Engraved Ring 'Kyomon'

Wide open silver band engraved inside and out with the full text of a sutra

The whole sutra, inside and out. This wide open band is engraved on its outer face and its inner face with the full text of a short sutra in rows of small characters, darkened so they read against the bright silver, and split at the back so the ring can be turned and read. There is no other decoration; the text is the ring.

It is the ring in the collection with the most characters on it, and from a distance it reads as a texture, which is the point: the text is there for the wearer.

The name, Kyomon, is the sutra text, the words of the scripture, and the ring is covered in them.

The band is sterling silver, stamped 925 inside the band, about 10 mm wide, polished bright with the characters engraved fine and darkened. The split at the back is clean and the edges are rounded.

Wear it on the index or middle finger of either hand, and on its own. It goes with anything, because from across a room it is a silver band, and it is the ring for someone who wants the text and no picture.

The text is the short sutra on emptiness that every Japanese temple-goer knows by heart, and it runs in rows round the band so a turn of the ring reads a line. The outer face and the inner face carry the same text.

From across a table it is a wide silver band with a fine texture. From close the texture is rows of characters, the split its clean edge, and the polish its light. It is the ring for a person who reads.

Every ring in the collection is photographed on the same pale ground at the same scale, so the pages compare with each other: what looks big here is big on the hand. The measurements given are taken across the face, not round the finger.

Silver darkens with time and skin, and this ring is meant to: the recesses are already blackened so the relief reads, and the high points polish themselves against your hand. Wipe with a soft cloth; a silver cloth brings the shine back when you want it. Take it off for the sea and the shower.

The band is open at the back, so one size fits most hands: slide it on, then press the ends gently together or apart to set it. It is meant to be adjusted a few times, not every day; find the size and leave it.