Introduction

Chinese sources on Japan to 1900

Early Chinese Dynastic Histories on Japan

According to the “Treatises on Geography” in the Hanshu 漢書, one of the official Chinese dynastic histories compiled in the 1st century AD, China and Japan had a documented relationship since the 1st century BC, when Japan occasionally sent tribute to China. But the first separate chapter in the Chinese dynastic histories especially dedicated to Japan (“Accounts on the Eastern Barbarians”) we can only find in the Hou Hanshu 後漢書 (5th cent.) that provides us valuable information on the so-called “wo 倭-people” (lit. “dwarfs”, old Chinese designation for the Japanese) and the land of the “wo”. After the Hou Hanshu, one separate chapter on history, geography and customs of the Japanese islands became regular part of the dynastic histories. These chapters described the Japanese at the beginning as “Eastern barbarians” (dongyi 東夷) from the land of the “wo” (Woguo 倭國), but later, around the 10th century, the name “Riben” 日本 became the standard term instead of “Woguo” for the land “Japan” (while the old term “wo” or “Woguo” remained in use, too). The early Chinese dynastic histories are extremely important sources in the case of Japan because Japan has no written sources before the 8th century. For research on ancient Japanese history from the 1st up to the 7th century these Chinese sources provide the only contemporary information and they serve, thus, as valuable materials for a comparison with Japanese sources, such as Nihon shoki 日本書紀, which was compiled only in the 8th century. After the establishment of official relations with China during the Sui (589–618) and Tang (618–906) dynasties Japan sent several official embassies to China between the 7th and 9th centuries. The dynastic histories provide valuable accounts on these embassies. In addition, an important source for this period is Nittō guhō junrei kōki 入唐求法巡禮行記, the diary of the Japanese monk En’nin 圓仁, that describes his experience and contemporary circumstances in Tang China.

The Song-Yuan Period

In the Song period (960–1279), sources on foreign countries were compiled in greater quantity than during the former dynasties. Most important among these are historical works, such as Song huiyao jigao 宋會要輯稿 and Wenxian tongkao 文獻通考, and encyclopaedias, such as Taiping yulan 太平禦覽 and Cefu yuangui 冊府元龜. These works – together with the official dynastic history, Songshi 宋史, also contain records on Japan and are useful for an investigation of Sino-Japanese relations in the Tang and Song periods. It should be mentioned in this context that the content of these works is sometimes very similar, because they used the same sources during compilation.

The 10-14th century is a very active period in the history of Japan and China. Many Japanese merchants and Buddhist monks travelled to China, and also many Chinese merchants arrived in Japan during these centuries. Mutual relations can be characterized as being dominated by free trade and Buddhist pilgrimage. Relevant sources we can find not only in dynastic-historical writings but also in Chinese literary and Buddhist works written by monks, literates or officials who had relationship with Japanese during their stay in China. Writings of Japanese monks on their stay in China, such as San Tendai Godaisan ki 參天台五臺山記, by Jōjin 成尋, or Tosōki 渡宋記, by Kaikaku 戒覺, are, however, also important sources for this period. This kind of private sources on the Chinese side (and as far as possible from the Japanese end) has still to be explored and described in much more detail.