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 mappō 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 mappō .