Imagining China in Tokugawa Japan

Legends, Classics, and Historical Terms

Wai-ming Ng

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781438473062, 9781438473079
• eBook ISBN: 9781438473086
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Asian History
• Index: History

Pioneering study of the localization of Chinese culture in early modern Japan, using legends, classics, and historical terms as case studies.

While current scholarship on Tokugawa Japan (1603–1868) tends to see China as either a model or "the Other," Wai-ming Ng's pioneering and ambitious study offers a new perspective by suggesting that Chinese culture also functioned as a collection of "cultural building blocks" that were selectively introduced and then modified to fit into the Japanese tradition. Chinese terms and forms survived, but the substance and the spirit were made Japanese. This borrowing of Chinese terms and forms to express Japanese ideas and feelings could result in the same things having different meanings in China and Japan, and this process can be observed in the ways in which Tokugawa Japanese reinterpreted Chinese legends, Confucian classics, and historical terms. Ng breaks down the longstanding dichotomies between model and "the other," civilization and barbarism, as well as center and periphery that have been used to define Sino-Japanese cultural exchange. He argues that Japanese culture was by no means merely an extended version of Chinese culture, and Japan's uses and interpretations of Chinese elements were not simply deviations from the original teachings. By replacing a Sinocentric perspective with a cross-cultural one, Ng's study represents a step forward in the study of Tokugawa intellectual history.

Part I

NATURALIZATION OF
CHINESE LEGENDS

1

XU FU AS CHINESE MIGRANT

THE STORY OF XU FU HAS LONG STIMULATED AND FED THE IMAGINATIONS of artists and discussions among scholars in both China and Japan. It is interesting to note that the Japanese have held very different images of Xu Fu, having generated more images and ideas than the Chinese. In China, Xu Fu is remembered as a court sorcerer who cheated the founding emperor of Qin and escaped from the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty (221–207 BCE). In Japan, Xu Fu has played a more important role in history, having been associated with several identities, namely, the transmitter of Chinese culture, a political refugee, and “the Other.” Xu Fu became a building block for the Japanese people to construct their own national identity.

Xu Fu has become a metaphor in Sino-Japanese intellectual and cultural exchange, being used by Chinese and Japanese intellectuals to discuss their bilateral cultural ties. Throughout East Asian history, scholars in China and Japan have made use of the Xu Fu legend for political and intellectual reasons. As time passed, more and more stories about Xu Fu were created in both nations. This study of the Xu Fu legend, I believe, has important intellectual implications in terms of understanding the development of national consciousness in Japan and the changing cultural relationship between China and Japan. Through a textual analysis of Tokugawa writings about Xu Fu, this chapter aims to examine how Tokugawa intellectuals overcame the dilemma of accepting Chinese culture without compromising their national and cultural identity.1

THEORIES ABOUT XU FU BEFORE THE TOKUGAWA PERIOD

It is highly debatable whether or not Xu Fu, a half-historical and half-legendary figure mentioned in the Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian; compiled by Sima Qian, 145–90 BCE), ever journeyed to Japan. The legend of Xu Fu appeared in Japan in the latter half of the Heian period (794–1186), and its associated texts and legacies increased gradually during the medieval period (1186–1603). The Xu Fu boom reached its peak in the Tokugawa period, when scholars, writers, and artists were actively engaged in this discourse, illustrating the rise of national consciousness and the complicated feelings toward China among Tokugawa Japanese.

After his first appearance in the Shiji, Xu Fu attracted the attention of Chinese historians and scholars. His story was retold and expanded in the Huainanzi (The Masters of Huainan) by Liu An (179?–122 BCE), Hanshu (Book of Han) by Ban Gu (32–92), Sanguozhi (Records of the Three Kingdoms) by Chen Shou (233–97), Hou Hanshu (Book of Later Han) by Fan Ye (398–445), and Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government) by Sima Guang (1019–86). In these writings, the story of Xu Fu’s preparation for his journey during the Qin period became increasingly detailed. None of these official histories, however, clearly states that Xu Fu travelled to Japan.

Beginning in the tenth century, a few Chinese prose writings and poems began to speculate that Xu Fu went to Japan with boys and girls, crewmembers, and artisans. Interestingly enough, these Chinese writers seem to have been influenced by the Japanese. Many Japanese Zen monks, merchants, and officials came to China during the Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) periods and introduced stories about Xu Fu. They maintained that Xu Fu and his people settled in ancient Japan, where they had a strong impact on Japanese culture, religion, and customs. Japanese before the Tokugawa period created three major theories about Xu Fu in Japan—the Mount Fuji, Kumano, and Atsuta Shrine theories. As Hayashi Razan (1583–1657) summarized: “Regarding Penglai [the legendary immortal mountain where Xu Fu supposedly landed] mentioned in Chinese texts, three places in Japan claim the title: Kumano in Kii, Fuji in Shunshū, and Atsuta in Bishū.”2

The Mount Fuji theory was perhaps the earliest version of the Xu Fu legend originating in Japan, and it was later introduced to China. Formulated in Japan by no later than the late Heian period, the Mount Fuji theory came to China during the Five Dynasties period (907–60). A Chinese Buddhist monk named Yi Chu recorded what he heard from the Japanese Shingon monk Kōjun about the legend of Xu Fu in Japan in his Shishi liutie (Six Models of Buddhism; 955, also known as Yichu liutie). Kōjun told Yi Chu that Xu Fu and five hundred pairs of boys and girls landed in Japan, after which they moved northeastward and settled in the area around Mount Fuji.3 The narrative demonstrates the utopian imagination of Japan, seeing it as a “lost horizon” for people seeking peace and harmony. Yi Chu wrote:

The nation of Japan is also called Yamato no Kuni. It is located in the Eastern Sea. Xu Fu brought five hundred pairs of boys and girls to this nation in the Qin period. Nowadays, its people and culture are like those in Chang’an. … More than a thousand miles in the Northeast, there is a mountain called Fuji, also named Mount Penglai. The mountain is high and is surrounded by sea on three sides. It is very high and smoke and fire come out from its top. In the daytime, treasures run down. At night, treasures run up. Music is often heard. Xu Fu settled down there and called it Penglai. Now, his descendants are named Hata [秦]. This land has never been invaded, and is protected by the dragon deity. Its laws have no capital punishment and criminals are exiled to an island. There are many scenic places and famous mountains in this area, but I have no time to introduce them.4

In the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Tendai monk Gentō wrote about the legend of Xu Fu on Fuji in his Sangoku denki (Legends of the Three Nations; c. 1407): “Penglai refers to Mount Fuji. Xu Fu lived in seclusion there. His descendants have become known as Hata.”5

In the late Heian period, the second theory—Xu Fu in Kumano—was created and became prevalent. Records of the Xu Fu Shrine in Kumano appeared in Japanese literature as early as the eleventh century. The Kumano gongen engisho (Book on the Origins of the Avatars of Kumano; 1075) mentions the Xu Fu Shrine and Penglai Island. This theory was prevalent in the medieval period and it is recorded that several Japanese spread this theory in China. For instance, a Japanese Zen monk told the Yuan poet Wu Lai (1297–1340) that Xu Fu landed in Kumano, a port in the southeastern part of Japan’s Kii province, where a Xu Fu shrine was built. Wu composed a poem entitled “Tingkehua Xiongyeshan Xushimiao” (Listening to the Visitor about the Xu Shi [another name for Xu Fu] Shrine on Mount Kumano):

In ancient Kii province on Japan’s shore,

There were thousands of rocks in the sea.

Xu Shi wanted to be immortal, but died there,

The aged purple ganoderma made people sad.6

Mugaku Sogen (1226–86), a Chinese monk who fled to Japan after the fall of the Song, visited the Xu Fu Shrine in Kumano. In “Xianxiang yu Jizhou Xiongye lingci” (Presenting Incense at the Shrine in Kumano of Kii Province), he found parallels between himself and Xu Fu:

Xu Fu came here to gather herbs, but did not return.

His motherland has undergone several rounds of changes.

Today I am presenting incense to remember my nation so far away.

This old monk also came here to escape from the Qin.7

The most famous advocate of the Kumano theory was a Japanese Gozan (Five Mountain) Zen monk named Zekkai Chūshin (1336–1405), who told the Ming founding emperor, Taizu (reigned 1368–98), the same story about Xu Fu in Kumano, pinpointing for Taizu the location of Kumano on a map.8 At the request of the emperor, he composed this poem:

The Xu Fu Shrine is located in front of Mount Kumano.

The mountain has plenty of herbs and the soil is fertile.

Now, the sea is calm.

For ten thousand miles, the gentle wind blows for an early return.9

It seems that, in the Ming and Qing periods, the legend of Xu Fu in Kumano was well known in both Japan and China. Many Japanese believed that Xu Fu brought Chinese herbal medicine and agricultural skills to Kumano. Xu Fu became a metaphor of Sino-Japanese friendship, used by Japanese and Chinese monks and scholars to open up dialogue and find areas of commonality. Korean minister Shin Suk-ju (1417–75) wrote the Haedong jegukgi (Chronicle of the Countries in the Eastern Sea; 1471) to record his visits to Japan, China, and the Ryūkyū Kingdom. On a trip to Kumano, he found that the local people treated Xu Fu as a Shinto deity:

In the seventy-second year of the reign of the Kōrei emperor [218 BCE], the founding emperor of Qin sent Xu Fu to look for a miracle medicine at sea. Xu Fu eventually arrived and settled in Kumano. In the seventeenth year of the Sujin emperor [81 BCE], Kumano Daigongen emerged. After his death, Xu Fu became a Shinto deity. He continues to be worshipped by the villagers to the present day.10

The Kumano theory added Shinto elements to the Xu Fu discourse. Xu Fu found a miracle medicine in Kumano and was worshipped as a local deity after his death.

The third theory—Xu Fu at Atsuta Shrine—appeared in the Kamakura period (1185–1333). It was not as influential as the Fuji and Kumano theories. In the Kamakura period, Atsuta Shrine was associated with the belief in Penglai (Hōrai). In 1313, Hiezan monk Kōen (1262–1317) wrote in his Keiran shūyōshū (Collection of Leaves Gathered in Tempestuous Brooks): “The Penglai Palace refers to Atsuta Shrine.”11 A Muromachi Zen monk named Ishō Tokugan (1262–1317) suggested in his Tōkai keikashū (Glorious Stories of the Tōkai Region; 1395) that Xu Fu and his people landed in Bishū, where Atsuta Shrine was built in his honor:

According to tradition, in the Qin period, Xu Shi wrote to the First Emperor, asking for five hundred pairs of boys and girls to search for elixir in the three heavenly mountains in the sea. He landed on an island and did not return. This marked the beginning of the Atsuta Shrine in Bishū in my country.12

Ishō himself did not explicitly identify the legendary Emperor Jimmu with Xu Fu. As Atsuta Shrine worshipped Emperor Jimmu, Ishō nevertheless created the association that Xu Fu was somehow related to the Japanese imperial family. However, this idea was not further developed in medieval and early modern Japan.13

These three theories of Xu Fu in Japan were neither fully developed nor widely known in the medieval period. They were used by some Japanese for various purposes on different occasions, such as opening dialogue with the Chinese whom they encountered in China, finding for Japan a respectable place in the Chinese cultural order, or stressing the importance of their home regions.

THE XU FU LEGEND IN THE TOKUGAWA PERIOD

The legend of Xu Fu reached its peak in the Tokugawa period. Xu Fu became a popular topic of discourse in Tokugawa Japan for three main reasons. First, the Tokugawa period was an age of Sino-Japanese cultural exchange and intellectual development. Following the large-scale importation of Chinese culture and books, the emergence of a vital and creative intellectual atmosphere, and improvements in publishing, transportation, and material life in the Tokugawa period, more references to Xu Fu appeared in Japanese writings. Different schools of thought and religion emerged and began to compete with each other. Xu Fu became an intellectual battlefield for scholars. Second, the Tokugawa was an age of historiography. Th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• A Note on Romanization
• Introduction: The China Factor in Tokugawa Culture
• Part I. Naturalization of Chinese Legends
• Part II. Appropriation of Confucian Classics
• Part III. Redefinition of Historical Terms
• Epilogue
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Back Cover