Kizil caves ［キジル石窟］ ( Kijiru-sekkutsu): The Buddhist cave-temples located about seventy kilometers west of Kucha, a city in the Sinkiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China. The Kizil Buddhist caves, more than 230 of them, are the largest such cluster of caves in the Tarim Basin. The wall paintings preserved in these caves are second in number only to the Mo-kao Caves at Tun-huang. These paintings depict legends of Shakyamuni’s previous births and events of his life, including his entrance into nirvana. Research conducted there in the early twentieth century made the Kizil caves a focus of attention. Although opinions differ as to the dates of their creation, it is generally thought that these caves were built over a period beginning in the fourth century and ending in the eighth century.