Possible routes of embassy vessels to the Tang dynasty
TheJapanese missions to Imperial China werediplomaticembassies which were intermittently sent to the Chinese imperial court. Any distinction amongst diplomatic envoys sent from the Japanese court or from any of the Japanese shogunates was lost or rendered moot when the ambassador was received in the Chinese capital.
Extant records document missions to China between the years of 607 and 839 (a mission planned for 894 was cancelled). The composition of these imperial missions included members of thearistocratickuge andBuddhist monks. These missions led to the importation ofChinese culture, including advances in the sciences and technology. These diplomatic encounters produced the beginnings of a range ofschools of Buddhism in Japan, includingZen.
From theSinocentric perspective of the Chinese court inChang'an, the several embassies sent from Kyoto were construed astributaries of Imperial China; but it is not clear that the Japanese shared this view.[1]
China seems to have taken the initiative in opening relations with Japan. TheEmperor Yang of Sui dispatched a message in 605 which read:
The sovereign of Sui respectfully inquires about the sovereign ofWa.[2]
The court ofEmpress Suiko responded by sponsoring a mission led byOno no Imoko in 607. A message carried by that mission, believed to have been written byPrince Shōtoku, contains the earliest known written instance in which the Japanese archipelago is referred to by a term meaning "land of the rising sun."[3] The salutation read, in part:
From the sovereign of the land of the rising sun (hi izuru tokoro) to the sovereign of the land of the setting sun."[4]
TheJapanese missions to Tang China (遣唐使,Kentō-shi) are the best known; 19 missions were completed. A 20th mission had been planned for 894 (Kanpyō 6, 8th month), including the appointment of ambassadors. However, shortly before departure, the mission was halted byEmperor Uda because of reports of unsettled conditions in China.[5] The emperor's decision-making was influenced by the persuasive counsel ofSugawara no Michizane.[6]
Japanese envoys to the Sui court were received as ambassadors:
607: The first diplomatic mission was led by Japan's first ambassador to China. This Japanese envoy,Ono no Imoko, had the titlekenzuishi.[7] The delegation was received in the Imperial Court.[8]
608: Ono no Imoko leads a returning embassy to China.[8] This mission included two others with the titlekenzushi:Takamuko no Kuromaro (no Genri)[9] andMinabuchi no Shōan.[10] Kuromaro and Shōan, along with the Buddhist monk Sōmin[11] remained in China for 32 years before returning to Japan.
Japanese envoys to the Tang court were received as ambassadors:Three missions to the Tang court were dispatched during the reign ofEmperor Kōtoku.[12]Emperor Kanmu's planned mission to the Tang court in 804 (Enryaku 23) included three ambassadors and several Buddhist priests, includingSaichō (最澄) andKūkai (空海); but the enterprise was delayed until the end of the year. The ambassadors returned in the middle of 805 (Enryaku 24, 6th month). They were accompanied by the monk Saichō, also known by his posthumous name Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師), whose teachings would develop into theTendai school of Japanese Buddhism.[13] In 806 (Daidō 1, 8th month), the return of the monk Kūkai, also known posthumously as Kōbō-Daishi (弘法大師), marks the beginning of what would develop into theShingon school of Japanese Buddhism.[14]
New ambassadors to China were appointed byEmperor Ninmyō in 834, but the mission was put off.
836–839: The mission was postponed by a typhoon; but the ambassadors did eventually travel to the Tang court, returning in 839 with a letter fromEmperor Tang Wenzong.[15]
In China, a steady and conservative ConfucianistSong dynasty emerged after the end of the Tang dynasty and subsequent period of disunity during theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During this time, although travel to China was generally safe, Japanese rulers believed there was little to learn from the Song, and so there were no major embassy missions to China.
Ancient Japan was calledWa, which had a primitive culture when compared toTang culture.[citation needed] The Tang folks referred toWa as 東夷 (Eastern barbarians).
From 630 onward,Wa sent large groups of monks, students and government officials, up to 600 each time, to the Tang capital of Chang'an to learn the then advanced production technology, social system, history, philosophy, arts and architecture.Among many items adopted byWa:
Tang political system
Heian-kyō, the new Japanese capital established in 794, and was a laid out in a grid similar to that of Chang'an, the Tang capital.[16]
Culture, many Han Chinese characters (漢字) were borrowed from Tang civilization to build the Japanese culture.
Tang dress codes (known today as Wafuku 和服), eating habits were the fashion which was imitated and popularized.
Japanese envoys to the Ming court were received as ambassadors.[17]
1373-1406 (Ōan 6 –Ōei 13): Embassies between China and Japan.[18]
1397 (Ōei 4, 8th month): an Imperial ambassador is dispatched fromEmperor Go-Komatsu to the Ming Court.[19]
1401 (Ōei 8):Ashikaga Yoshimitsu sends a diplomatic mission to China as a tentative first step in re-initiating trade betweenJapan andMingChina. The formal diplomatic letter conveyed to the Emperor of China was accompanied by a gift of 1000 ounces of gold and diverse objects.[20]
1402 (Ōei 9): A letter from theJianwen Emperor of China was received by Yoshimitsu; and this formal communication mistakenly accords the title "king of Japan" to the Japanese shōgun.[21]
During Japan's self-imposed isolation in theEdo period (1603–1868), Japan's vicarious relationships with China evolved through the intermediary of theKingdom of Ryukyu. Japan's view of external relations was ambivalent.[17]
1853 (Kaei 6):Hayashi Akira completedTsūkō ichiran. The work was created under orders from the bakufu to compile and edit documents pertaining to East Asian trade and diplomacy; and, for example, it includes a detailed description of a Ryukyuan tribute embassy to theQing Chinese court inBeijing.[22]
Yoda, Yoshiie. (1996).The Foundations of Japan's Modernization: a comparison with China's Path towards Modernization. Leiden: Brill.ISBN978-9-004-09999-9;OCLC 246732011
