Also zōzōki daiki 造像題記, zōzōmei 造象銘. A record that keeps track of the completion and repair dates of a Buddhist statue. Usually, it is an inscription on the statue itself, often found on the back, the foot, the pedestal, or the nimbus. The zōzōki is written in ink *sumi 墨, cinnabar ink, engraved, or molded. In the case of hollow wooden statues, the zōzōki is often written on the carved-out inner surface, or on where the foot is attached to the body. Sometimes a piece of paper or wooden card containing the inscription is placed inside the statue. It states the origin of the image, who the artist or artists were, who commissioned the work and why or who made donations toward its production, the date of production, and so on. Zōzōki originated in the Northern Wei Dynasty in the Three Kingdoms period in China. Inscriptions dating back to this period have been found in caves in Longmen (Jp: Ryūmon 龍門), where Buddhist images were enshrined or engraved in the cave. In Japan, inscriptions on Buddhist statues are found from the Asuka period onward, as for example on the gilt bronze Shaka sanzonzō 釈迦三尊像 in Hōryūji 法隆寺, Nara. In the Heian period, with the spread of wooden statuary and the influence of Esoteric Buddhism Mikkyō 密教, it was common to record not only the making of a statue but also details of its consecration ceremony and sections of the Buddhist scriptures inside the hollowed figure.