The Earliest Examples of Japanese Block Printed Script are Printed on Silk

The earliest examples of Japanese printed silk in which the date forms part of the pattern are dated 734 CE.

"These dates [also 740] are the earliest examples in the world of block printed script, and it is not surprising to find that they antedate by only a few years the first block prints on paper from Japan" (Carter, Invention of Printing in China 2nd ed [1955] 195).