A sutra fragment with a date attached
Most early Chinese manuscripts reach us without a year. This one carries a date in its own colophon: the seventeenth day of the third month of the first year of the Ganlu era. That single line is what makes the fragment so valuable. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the year as 359 CE, placing the copy in China's Sixteen Kingdoms period, when a paper manuscript that names its own date is a rarity.
The text is the third scroll of the Faju Piyu Jing, the Chinese version of a work that pairs verses from the Dharmapada with short illustrative tales. The Dharmapada is one of the oldest collections of the Buddha's sayings; the Piyu, or "parable," recension wraps each set of verses in a story, which made the teaching easy to follow and helped it spread among ordinary readers. The Chinese translation is credited to the monks Faju and Fali. What remains here is a fragment, the surviving portion of scroll three.
It is held at the Calligraphy Museum in the Negishi district of Taito-ku, Tokyo. The museum grew out of the private collection of Nakamura Fusetsu (1866–1943), a painter and calligrapher who spent some forty years gathering material for the study of Chinese and Japanese writing, from oracle bones to stone-classic rubbings. This fragment sits among the earliest items in that collection.
Why it is an Important Cultural Property, and a note on its date
The fragment was designated on May 3, 1940. At that time designations were made under the older 1929 law; when the present Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties took effect in 1950, such items were carried over as Important Cultural Properties, the rank it holds today. Its worth lies in sheer antiquity: a dated specimen of Chinese sutra copying from the fourth century is among the oldest such manuscripts to survive, and it shows the hand of a copyist working long before paper Buddhist texts became common further east in Japan.
The date itself deserves a careful word, because the records are not perfectly consistent. The national database files the fragment under the Yao Qin (Later Qin) regime, yet the Ganlu era that the colophon names did not belong to the Later Qin, which was founded only in 384. The first year of a Ganlu era corresponding to 359 was that of the Former Qin ruler Fu Jian, and older publications read the same colophon as a Ganlu era of the still earlier Wei. The year given by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, 359, is the figure to rely on; the dynasty behind it has been understood in more than one way.
None of this lessens the object. If anything, the competing readings are a reminder that it stands at the very edge of what dated Chinese manuscripts can document.
What to look for, and where to see it
The appeal of the fragment is the writing. It belongs to the early sutra-copying hand, brushed when Chinese script was still moving from the squared, horizontal weight of clerical writing toward the regular style that later became standard. Reading the columns, you can sense a script in transition, formal but not yet fixed. The colophon at the end, with its era date, is the line that scholars return to again and again.
The Calligraphy Museum is a short walk from Uguisudani Station on the JR Yamanote Line. Nakamura Fusetsu built it from his own resources and opened it in 1936; his former residence on the grounds survives as a designated historic site of Tokyo. The collection holds twelve Important Cultural Properties and a wide range of early Chinese and Japanese material, so the fragment is best seen as one landmark within a larger story of writing.
Because manuscripts are rotated to protect them, the fragment is not on permanent view. Check the museum's exhibition schedule before visiting if seeing this particular piece is the aim.
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Q&A
- What is the Faju Piyu Jing?
- A Chinese Buddhist text that combines verses from the Dharmapada with short stories illustrating them. The narrative form made the teaching accessible to a wide audience.
- How old is it?
- Its colophon is dated to the first year of the Ganlu era, recorded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as 359 CE, during China's Sixteen Kingdoms period. That makes it one of the oldest dated Chinese Buddhist manuscripts.
- Why do sources give different dynasties for it?
- The era name Ganlu was used by several Chinese states. The national database files it under the Later Qin, while the Ganlu year matching 359 belongs to the Former Qin, and older readings proposed the earlier Wei. The year 359 is the reliable anchor.
- What is the Calligraphy Museum?
- A museum in Taito-ku, Tokyo, built from the private collection of the painter and calligrapher Nakamura Fusetsu. It specializes in the history of Chinese and Japanese writing.
- Is it always on display?
- No. Manuscripts are shown on rotation, so check the museum's current schedule before planning to see this fragment.
Basic Information
| Name | Faju Piyu Jing, Scroll 3 (fragment) |
|---|---|
| Location | Calligraphy Museum, 2-10-4 Negishi, Taito-ku, Tokyo |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (Calligraphy and Classics) |
| Date of designation | May 3, 1940 |
| Quantity | One scroll |
| Origin and period | China, Sixteen Kingdoms period; recorded as 359 CE (colophon dated Ganlu 1) |
| Owner | Taito City |
| Public access | Shown on rotation; confirm the museum's display schedule |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Faju Piyu Jing, Scroll 3 (fragment)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/166305
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/201/7417
- Calligraphy Museum, Taito City: Overview
- https://www.taitogeibun.net/shodou/overview/
Last verified: 2026.06.22