The Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra (Yakushiji Sutra)

The Great Wisdom Sutra of Yakushiji: 387 Scrolls from the Eighth Century

Unroll one of these scrolls and the first thing you meet is a round vermilion seal reading "Yakushiji." It was stamped there more than twelve centuries ago, when the scroll belonged to one of Nara's great temples. Today, 387 of these scrolls rest in the Fujita Museum in Osaka, where they were designated a National Treasure on June 15, 1967.

The text they carry is the Daihannya-kyo, formally the Daihannya-haramitta-kyo (Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra), the longest scripture in the East Asian Buddhist canon. The Chinese pilgrim-monk Xuanzang, famous as the model for the Journey to the West tales, completed its translation in 663. The full set runs to 600 scrolls.

This particular set was copied around 770, in the late Nara period. Collation colophons on the scrolls, checked against documents preserved in the Shosoin archives, show that the work was carried out at an official government scriptorium, the Hosha-issaikyo-sho, where professional scribes produced Buddhist texts on commission for the state. The set later entered Yakushiji in Nara, whose seals it still bears, and remained there for over a thousand years.

Tradition attributes the calligraphy to Asano no Uokai, a celebrated scribe of the Nara court, which is why the set is also known as the Uokai-kyo. Scholars no longer accept the attribution, but the nickname has stuck.

Why These Scrolls Are a National Treasure

Three things set the Yakushiji-kyo apart from the many sutra copies that survive from eighth-century Japan.

First, the calligraphy. The characters are written slightly larger than was usual for sutra copying, with a full-bodied, confident brush. Specialists regard the set as a defining example of the late Nara style practiced in and around the capital, which is precisely why later generations wanted to believe a master like Uokai had written it.

Second, the condition. Most of the Fujita scrolls keep their original brown covers and their distinctive plectrum-shaped roller knobs, finished in a white pigment technique called shiro-mitsuda that uses litharge, a lead compound. Sutra scrolls were working objects, read and reread for centuries, so a set of this size surviving in or near its original mounting is rare.

Third, the scale of what remains together. Of the original 600 scrolls, more than 470 are known to survive, scattered among Yakushiji itself (which retains 33 scrolls, separately designated an Important Cultural Property), the Nara National Museum, Kosanji temple in Hiroshima, and other collections. The Fujita Museum holds 387, well over half the original set and by far the largest single group.

The seals tell the story of ownership. At the head of each scroll sits the round red "Yakushiji" impression noted in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database; on the reverse of the first sheet, according to the museum, a black "Yakushiji Kondo" seal records the hall where the set was once kept. The scrolls left the temple in the modern era, and in 1916 this group passed to Fujita Heitaro, son of the industrialist Fujita Denzaburo, whose collection became the Fujita Museum.

What to Look For in the Gallery

The museum rotates its displays, so on any given visit you may find one scroll or several from the set, often opened to the head where the seal and the title appear. Scroll 500, to take one documented example, measures 28.1 centimeters high and stretches 1,118.2 centimeters, about eleven meters of continuous handwriting.

Stand close and follow a single column. Each character holds its weight evenly; the spacing between columns barely wavers across the full length. This was the product of an organized workshop with proofreaders and quality control, and the collation notes at the ends of scrolls record exactly that process.

Look also at the paper itself, dyed a warm tone and still supple-looking after 1,250 years, and at the white roller knob if the scroll is displayed rolled. These small physical details are what the National Treasure designation protects, as much as the text.

The Fujita Museum reopened in April 2022 after a complete rebuilding, and its single darkened gallery presents a small number of works at a time, each generously lit and uncluttered. The approach suits an object like this: a sutra scroll rewards slow looking far more than a quick walk-through. Exhibitions change seasonally, and the scrolls are not always on view, so check the museum's website before planning a visit specifically around them.

Around the Museum

The Fujita Museum sits in Amijima, Miyakojima Ward, a two-minute walk from Osakajo-Kitazume Station on the JR Tozai Line. Kyobashi Station, served by the Keihan Railway and the Osaka Metro Nagahori Tsurumi-ryokuchi Line, is about ten minutes on foot.

At the entrance, the Amijima Chaya teahouse serves dango rice dumplings and tea, a pleasant way to begin or end a visit. Admission to the galleries is 1,000 yen, free for visitors aged 19 and under, with cashless payment; the museum opens 10:00 to 18:00 and closes over the New Year holidays (December 29 to January 5).

Next door, the former Fujita family garden survives as Fujita-tei Ato Park, a quiet green space along the Okawa river. Osaka Castle and its park lie just across the water to the south, perhaps fifteen minutes on foot, making it easy to pair Japan's most visited castle with one of its finest private art collections in a single afternoon. In mid-April, the Japan Mint's famous cherry blossom walkway opens a short distance upstream along the river.