Hist3.6: The Beginning of Recorded Relations with China

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have entered “protohistory“. Our main evidence is still that which is dug up at archaeological sites, but we now have our first written documents giving us a commentary on the archipelago from the distant Han Dynasty in China.

The Hou Hanshuu is a Chinese dynastic chronicle from the 1st century A.D. It makes mention of “diplomatic delegations, ‘tribute missions’ in the terminology of the day, to the Han dynasty’s outpost of Lolang in northern Korea” (41); I believe, if my memory serves me right, that the first mention of Japan is for a 57 A.D. entry. These political missions were sent from chieftains (rulers of chiefdoms/political units/communities) in Kyushu. Interestingly, Totman notes that these chieftains “may well have been recent immigrants or their descendants” (41).

The next major mention regards Himiko “just before 250 CE” (41). Himiko deserves a post all to herself. In fact, she’s got a book all to herself: J. Edward Kidder, Jr.’s “Himiko and Japan’s Elusive Chiefdom of Yamatai“. No doubt a blog post on her will do her no justice — please check the book out.

The Song Dynasty’s chronicle, the Sungshuu, contains mention of the 5 Kings of Wa. In the 470s, “the ruler ‘Bu’ (the Kinai magnate Yuryaku of Japanese accounts) presented himself as a mighty but distant chieftain who sought the Liu Sung emperor’s support for his schemes of conquest, specifically requesting the emperor to appoint him

supreme commander of the campaign, with the status of minister, and to grant to others [among my followers] rank and titles, so that loyalty may be encouraged.” (41)

The complex nature of Wa (倭; Japan at this time was referred to as “Wo” by the Chinese; “Wa” is the Japanese rendering) relations with China are covered well (and quite enjoyably) in Wang Zhenping’s “Ambassadors from the Island of Immortals: China-Japan Relations In The Han-Tang Period“. The relationship had political, economic, and social dimensions. It was a quest for legitimacy on the part of the Japanese. It was a typical “border relation” on the part of the Chinese. Wang Zhenping explores the bilateral nature of the relationship. In return for sending these missions to his court, the Chinese emperor awarded military and political titles and lavish goods to the Japanese ruler (specifically I have Himiko in mind).

“During the [two centuries following the 470 A.D. reference in the Sungshuu] continental influence continued pouring into Japan. Immigrants provided expertise on matters political, military, and technological.”

This influence culminated in the late-7th -early 8th century Ritsuryou 律令 system、which greatly changed/restructured the Japanese political and military world. Therefore, these two centuries are going to be very important.

In my dating schema, I end the Yayoi Period at around 250 A.D., which makes Himiko a transitional figure, dying circa 248 A.D. Therefore, the tribute missions that began in the first decades (or, at least, began being recorded) after the birth of Christ began a relationship and process that would eventually channel Japan into the relatively centralized, learned, aristocratic court that sponsored Buddhism and the arts.