shizaichō 資材帳

1　Catalogs of temples and temple properties compiled from the year 783 by various state-sponsored temples, on the orders of the Imperial Court. The shizaichō included lists of the temple estates, statues, sutras, the history of a temple, as well as the number of monks.

2　The published records of a temple's property. During the Ritsuryō 律令 period, which began in the 7th century, peaked in the 8th, and declined gradually thereafter, there was a complex series of bureaucratic hierarchies designed to render total political and economic power to the the central authorities under the emperor. Shizaichō are a manifestation of this meticulous bureaucratic control in that all kanji 官寺 and jōgakuji 定額寺 that is official and government controlled temples were required to list and submit their inventories. All property, images, sutras and the origins of the foundation must be included. These records declined along with the Ritsuryō system and were no longer kept by the mid-Heian period.