Chinese Books (Second Edition of Emperor Gao, 4th Remaining

An Eighth-Century Copy of China's Book of Han

Two paper scrolls held at Ishiyama-dera, a temple on the right bank of the Seta River in Otsu, carry text from the Hanshu, the official history of China's Former Han dynasty compiled by the scholar Ban Gu in the first century. One scroll preserves part of the "Annals of Emperor Gao," the chapter recounting how Liu Bang defeated his rival Xiang Yu and founded the Han in 202 BCE. The other holds the fourth chapter of the work's biographies, corresponding to scroll thirty-four of the standard text.

Both copies were brushed in Japan during the Nara period (710–794), which makes them roughly twelve centuries old. The two scrolls were almost certainly written as separate documents. Their handwriting and paper differ, and only one of them carries the reading marks that Japanese students later added.

Why the Manuscript Is a National Treasure

The Agency for Cultural Affairs designated the pair a National Treasure on March 20, 1954. Their value rests on two things: age and text. Almost no handwritten copies of the Hanshu survive from a date this early, even in China, where the work circulated for centuries in printed editions that quietly standardized older readings. A copy written by hand in eighth-century Japan therefore preserves a version of the text close to what Tang-dynasty scholars actually knew.

The scrolls also carry the commentary of Yan Shigu, the Tang scholar who produced the authoritative annotated edition of the Hanshu around 641. His notes run in smaller characters set in double columns and begin with the phrase "Shigu says." Finding his commentary copied so soon after he wrote it gives the manuscript unusual weight for anyone studying how the text was read and taught.

A Buddhist Text on the Reverse

Turn the scrolls over and a second document appears. On the back of both, a Heian-period monk named Gengo (914–995) wrote out the Kongokai nenju shiki, a set of private notes on esoteric Shingon ritual. Gengo studied under Junnyu, a figure central to Ishiyama-dera's history, and his decision to reuse an old Chinese history as writing paper says a great deal. By the tenth century the prized classic had been folded into the daily work of a Buddhist scholar-monk, its blank backs valued simply as a good surface to write on.

That reuse also explains why the two scrolls came to be kept together. They may have begun apart, but the same hand on the back of each ties them to one time and one place.

What to Look For

The manuscripts are fragile and rarely shown. When they or related pieces do come out, the place to see them is the Hojoden, the temple's treasure hall, which opens only during the spring and autumn exhibition seasons. Even then you might find a single scroll on view, or the Buddhist text on the reverse rather than the Chinese history itself.

If you do catch the Hanshu scroll on display, look for the tiny marks set beside the characters. Japanese readers of classical Chinese added dots and short strokes, called okoto-ten, to signal Japanese grammar and word order. Their presence shows the scroll was not stored as a mute relic but actively read and studied. The biographies scroll lacks them, one of the clues that the two had separate lives before they met.

Visiting Ishiyama-dera

Ishiyama-dera rewards a visit even when its manuscripts are locked away. Emperor Shomu ordered the temple founded in 747, and the monk Roben, who also led the building of Todai-ji in Nara, set its first hall on a vast outcrop of wollastonite, a pale crystalline rock now protected as a natural monument. The main hall and the two-storied pagoda, the latter donated by Minamoto no Yoritomo in 1194, are both National Treasures in their own right.

The temple sits close to the roots of Japanese literature. Murasaki Shikibu is said to have conceived The Tale of Genji while staying here, and the room linked to that tradition still survives inside the main hall. Plum, cherry, iris, and maple keep the grounds in color across the year, so the climb up the stone steps is worthwhile in any season.

From Kyoto, take a JR train to Ishiyama Station and a short bus ride to the Ishiyama-dera gate, or ride the Keihan line to Ishiyamadera Station and walk about ten minutes along the river. The gate opens at 8 a.m. and closes at 4:30 p.m., with the last entry at 4.