According to the Chinese historical treatise Liang Shu, which was written in 635, five monks from Gandhara traveled to Japan in 467. At the time, they referred to Japan as the country of Fusang (Chinese: 扶桑, Jp: Fusō: "The country of the extreme East" beyond the sea), and they introduced Buddhism to the residents of the island nation:[a]
Fusang is located to the east of China, 20,000 li (1,500 kilometers) east of the state of Da Han [Korea] (itself east of the state of Wa in modern Kansai region, Japan). (...) In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist religion, but in the second year of Da Ming of the Song Dynasty (467), five monks from Kipin [Kabul region of Gandhara] travelled by ship to Fusang. They propagated Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people to relinquish worldly attachments. As a result the customs of Fusang changed.
—Monk Hui Shen (慧深) in the book Liang Shu, 7th century[b]