diff --git a/graph/service.go b/graph/service.go
index ebdb881603..3201d6b994 100644
--- a/graph/service.go
+++ b/graph/service.go
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 package graph
 
 import (
-	"encoding/json"
 	"io"
 
 	"github.com/dotcloud/docker/engine"
@@ -136,7 +135,7 @@ func (s *TagStore) CmdLookup(job *engine.Job) engine.Status {
 	name := job.Args[0]
 	if image, err := s.LookupImage(name); err == nil && image != nil {
 		if job.GetenvBool("raw") {
-			b, err := json.Marshal(image)
+			b, err := image.RawJson()
 			if err != nil {
 				return job.Error(err)
 			}
diff --git a/image/image.go b/image/image.go
index b56cbf08ee..5c250947ce 100644
--- a/image/image.go
+++ b/image/image.go
@@ -149,6 +149,22 @@ func jsonPath(root string) string {
 	return path.Join(root, "json")
 }
 
+func (img *Image) RawJson() ([]byte, error) {
+	root, err := img.root()
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to get root for image %s: %s", img.ID, err)
+	}
+	fh, err := os.Open(jsonPath(root))
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to open json for image %s: %s", img.ID, err)
+	}
+	buf, err := ioutil.ReadAll(fh)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Failed to read json for image %s: %s", img.ID, err)
+	}
+	return buf, nil
+}
+
 // TarLayer returns a tar archive of the image's filesystem layer.
 func (img *Image) TarLayer() (arch archive.Archive, err error) {
 	if img.graph == nil {