tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2186213837616167361.post4270339737555876509..comments2022-12-12T14:47:11.471+01:00Comments on 天朝大國: Rìběnguó (日本國)賈尼http://www.blogger.com/profile/03207671300903490067noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2186213837616167361.post-33229416447339755962013-08-21T19:48:52.850+02:002013-08-21T19:48:52.850+02:00Contacts were limited to official embassies, thoug...<i>Contacts were limited to official embassies, though, of which there weren't many.</i><br /><br />There were 15 kentōshi (envoy missions) to China during the Tang period alone. These carried Japanese students and scholars of Tang civilization to and from China, some of whom remained on the continent 30 years or more before returning to disseminate the knowledge they learned. <br /><br />The success of the Tang missions is demonstrated by the great volume of knowledge they transmitted to Japan. By the end of the 9th century, the Japanese possessed at least 1700 Chinese texts including Confucian treatises on government and social harmony, as well as works of history, architecture, agriculture, poetry, divination, and medicine. <br /><br />Almost every aspect of the everyday life of "Joe Average" Japanese (whoever that was) was profoundly influenced by the adoption of Chinese institutions and practices. These included the written language (Japan had none before the adoption of Chinese characters -- "kanji"), Buddhism (Saichō and Kūkai were Japanese scholars who sailed as part of the 804 embassy to China. Upon their return to Japan, the former founded the Tendai sect of Buddhism, and the latter founded the Shingon sect, which were largely responsible for the spread of Buddhism in Japan), Confucian bureaucracy, city planning, irrigation systems, road systems, etc, etc. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2186213837616167361.post-55994651518885547352013-08-21T16:59:14.915+02:002013-08-21T16:59:14.915+02:00My bad. I should've written there haven't ...My bad. I should've written <i>there haven't been <b>M</b>any direct contacts</i>...<br /><br />Contacts were limited to official embassies, though, of which there weren't many. Joe Average (whether from China or from Japan) couldn't simply travel across the sea to the neighbouring land.賈尼https://www.blogger.com/profile/03207671300903490067noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2186213837616167361.post-40548008548702314642013-08-20T23:41:36.265+02:002013-08-20T23:41:36.265+02:00there haven't been any direct contacts between...<i>there haven't been any direct contacts between the East Asian peoples and the Japanese at the time periods covered by The Celestial Empire.</i><br /><br />Hmm. Especially since the Tang Dynasty, China had a <b>huge</b> direct influence on Japan. Many Japanese came to Tang China to study, and brought back Chinese science, technology, architecture, agriculture, bureaucracy, city planning, not to mention Buddhism and the writing system! The Japanese sent many diplomatic envoys to the Chinese court from the Tang onward. There is also a long history of direct Japanese-Chinese maritime commercial relations, in addition to the piracy issue you mentioned.<br /><br />See <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sino-Japanese_relations" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_embassies_to_China" rel="nofollow">here</a> for starters.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com