The movie was adapted from the 1959 novel Tun-Huang by Yasushi Inoue.

The backdrop of the plotline is the Mogao Caves, a Buddhist manuscript trove in Dunhuang, Western China, located along the Silk Road during the Song dynasty in the 11th century.

[2] It was chosen as Best Film at the Japan Academy Prize ceremony.

The Silk Road was the number one Japanese film on the domestic market in 1988, earning ¥4.5 billion in distribution income that year.

[5] As of 2013[update], the film has grossed a total of ¥8.2 billion in Japan.