Palimpsests on purpose: Rethinking intentional erasure and layers in manuscript culture

This contribution prioritises the visuality and materiality of Japanese layered manuscripts known as ‘letter sutras’ to explore the meaningful implica-tions of deliberately crafted palimpsests from a transcultural perspective. These letter sutras are palimpsests on purpose. Their investigation encourages new and different questions about the intentionality of this format with the potential to augment and extend the wider study of palimpsests. This contribution argues that by paying careful attention to the layering itself and the new texts that are created during this generative process, the written strata blanketing the original lower layers are not just something to be seen through. Instead, the very interaction of these scripts – materially, visually, and haptically – and their emplacement to-gether are significant, creating new meanings and experiences that each alone could no