In Japanese Buddhism, the age in which the Buddha 's law will degenerate.
The period following the death of the Buddha is divided into three ages: the age of the true law, the age of the copied law, and the age of the latter law, or the degeneration of the law. A new period, in which true faith will again flower, will then be ushered in by the bodhisattva Maitreya (Japanese Miroku). Japanese Buddhists calculate that the age of mapp 014D; began in AD 1052. Since it is expected to continue for 10,000 years, the current era of human history continues to be the age of mapp 014D; .