Sutra-copy Fragments in Calligraphy Albums

Abstract

In the early-modern Japanese genre of calligraphy albums called tekagami, fragments of copies of sutras are an outstanding presence, but that presence raises questions about their provenance, condition, status, and significance within such settings. This article delves into these and other questions, with a focus on a set of examples in Tekagamijo, an album in the collection of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscripts Library, Yale University. The author suggests that sutra-copy fragments (J. shakyogire) have undergone a transformation or ontological shift that replaces their original sacred character with a new, contextually constructed significance that can best be understood through comprehension of the attitudes of the album’s compilers toward their materials and their task.