Abstract：The early photos of Dunhuang manuscripts taken in the first half of the 20th Century can be regarded as an academic rich mine. They not only preserve many original features of Dunhuang manuscripts but also provide information in the process of loss. The library of the Institute of the Humanities of Kyoto University has a set of early photos of the Dunhuang manuscripts. The photos are large in size, clear in image, clear in shooting time and collection source. These photos deserve the attention of researchers.The library collection catalogue records the collector of the Dunhuang manuscript as “Etou, Tokyo”, who is Etou Takao, a famous antique dealer in Modern Japan. The Etou Takao Dunhuang manuscripts collection is now stored in the National Diet Library of Japan, the collection number being WB32-1 （30）. This collection was little known for a long time until 2012 when Wang Ka mentioned and supplemented the WB32-1（30）manuscripts in the Daoist leishu (categorized writings) of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, which not only pointed out that its document nature is the fragment of Dao Yao but also further pointed out that the manuscripts can be combined with P. 2443 manuscripts preserved in France. It can be seen that this scroll is indeed from the Dunhuang Sutra Cave and has important literature value.In March 1908, Pelliot spent three weeks on a large-scale inspection of the documents of the Dunhuang Sutra Cave. Seven volumes of Dao Yao, including P. 2443, fell into Pelliot's hands. It can be inferred that P. 2443 and WB32-1（30）, which originally belonged to the same manuscript, had been broken into two as early as March 1908. Moreover, it cannot be ruled out that the WB32-1（30）manuscript had been dispersed from the Dunhuang Sutra Cave before the arrival of Pelliot (i. e. 1900-1908). Since the release of the Dunhuang Sutra Cave, the manuscript had been circulated among antique dealers and collectors for a long time until it was purchased by the National Diet Library of Japan in 1960.WB32-1（30）and P.2443 belong to the same manuscript of Dao Yao. However, these two manuscripts have no year title. For such Dunhuang manuscripts without exact time, we should first divide periods. Based on a comprehensive investigation of the shape of the manuscripts, the taboo characters in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the age of writing and the calligraphy style, especially considering that it is very likely that Taoists are deliberately not taboo under the influence of the Buddhist custom of “not worshiping the king”, it is appropriate to date the transcription of the manuscripts of Dao Yao, WB32-1（30）and P. 2443, to a period from the early Sui Dynasty to the prosperous Tang Dynasty (i.e. the late Sixth Century to the early Eighth Century). We cannot just push the copying age of the two manuscripts of Dao Yao forward to the “Six Dynasties” or narrow it down to the “Wu Zhou Period” based on the fact that it did not avoid the taboo words in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.When Wang Ka talked about joining together P. 2443 and WB32-1（30）, he made a full argument on the front part of Dao Yao, and did not involve the Buddhist practical text on the back, so it was not comprehensive. After careful examination of the images, we find that the two manuscripts of P. 2443 and WB32-1（30） have been trimmed and cut to varying degrees. The latter, in particular, has been handed over to antique dealers in China and Japan from the Dunhuang Sutra Cave. In order to improve the appearance and raise the price, the mercenary antique dealers cut the upper and lower ends of the original volume horizontally as a whole without harming the words of Taoist books on the front. It can be seen that when piecing together Dunhuang fragments, we should take into account various complex factors that may be encountered in the dissemination of the original manuscripts, such as cutting, repair, and trimming, and be as cautious as possible.
秦桦林. 日藏敦煌《道要》写卷研究拾遗[J]. 浙江大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2021, 51(5): 42-52.
Qin Hualin. A Study on Dao Yao Fragments in Dunhuang Manuscripts Collected in Japan. JOURNAL OF ZHEJIANG UNIVERSITY, 2021, 51(5): 42-52.
2021, Vol. 51 
