pear in Japan on swords, mirrors, coins, and funeral objects coming from
Korea. At the time, there were still no texts written in Japan. Because
printing presses were not yet available, one of the main tasks of the first Bud-
dhist monks going to China was to laboriously copy the Buddhist texts
and bring them home for Japa nese Buddhists to study. A document from
757 reports that the Japa nese court had at its disposal some 1,500 Chinese
works.
Texts were brought to Japan from vari ous localities in Korea and China.
Because of regional variations in pronunciation within China and Korea,
there was initially no standardized way to match written Chinese texts with
pronunciation. There was also widespread variation in writing style and con-
tent, reflecting the vari ous purposes for which language was introduced:
state building, enhancing legitimacy, communicating among those within a
. 15 .
china and japan
more complex administrative structure, writing poems to enrich the culture
and support the state, and propagating religious faith.
After 600, as Japan was setting up a centralized po liti cal structure and
beginning to use written documents for communication, Japa nese officials
began to standardize the language they used, and the number of written
works grew rapidly. Buddhists establishing monasteries and interacting with
monks from broader geo graph i cal areas also sought to standardize their
written language.
Between 712 and 760, compilations of three major collections of writings
were released to the public. These have become lasting cultural landmarks:
the Kojiki, 712, the Nihon shoki (also called Nihongi), 720, and the Manyoshu (Collection of poetry), completed in 759. The first two, histories written in
Chinese characters, were modeled after the Chinese dynastic histories. All
three works represented efforts to provide legitimacy for the emperor and a
common culture for the people living under his rule. All three also helped to
extend the emperor’s rule beyond the immediate area around Nara. Not
tightly integrated, they contain materials diverse enough to reflect a variety
of local perspectives. Many parts were from the oral tradition that had been
passed down through the generations, before literacy began to spread in the
seventh century. By writing down the ancient legends and including them
with the newly written materials, the compilers created the core of a common
culture that has persisted to the pre sent day. The introduction of woodblock
printing from China late in the eighth century and its wide use in the elev-
enth to the nineteenth centuries made pos si ble the distribution of these col-
lections of works to a broader audience.
The Kojiki, the first of the three to be published, was commissioned in
681. It was released two years after the capital was moved to Nara, with the
goal of providing a stable cultural base for a long- lasting capital. The Kojiki is
the oldest Japa nese document in existence. It is likely that in writing the his-
tory of the most recent de cades at the time, the compilers were able to draw
on documents, perhaps written by Koreans, that were quite reliable. But the
earlier periods are clearly mythical, and specialists who have examined the
documents and studied archaeological sites are skeptical about the reliability
of the sections of the Kojiki that concern the period before the sixth century.
The first part of the Kojiki is an account of how heavenly beings formed
the Japa nese islands and then, in 660 bc, sent Emperor Jimmu from the
. 16 .
Chinese Contributions to Japa nese Civilization, 600–838
Heaven to establish Japan. Scholars specializing in ancient Japan have con-
jectured that 660 bc was selected as the date Jimmu Tenno was said to have
descended from Heaven because it was twenty- one sixty- year cycles, or
1,260 years, before Prince Shotoku ascended to his imperial position.
Although some of the accounts recorded in the Kojiki were based on
oral legends, the Kojiki and the Nihon shoki remain the best available written
sources for Japa nese history prior to that time. In the later part of the twen-
tieth century, wooden tablets ( mokkan) discovered in grave sites provided
credibility for some of the accounts in the Kojiki. Since then, scholars con-
ducting research on pre-600 Japan have tried to combine archaeological evi-
dence with the Kojiki in order to understand Japan’s history before the
early seventh century. Whether legend or history, the reports by Prince Sho-
toku and other parts of the Kojiki are still taught to Japa nese schoolchil-
dren and remain part of Japa nese historical consciousness.
Unlike the Chinese dynastic histories that rec ord a separate history for
each dynasty, each written by historians of that dynasty who claimed that
their dynasty had received the “Mandate of Heaven,” the Kojiki pre sents an
uninterrupted continuum since Japan’s mythical beginning. The Kojiki pro-
vides accounts of succession strug gles— tilted, of course, to stress the
virtue of the winner, whose descendant was still ruling Japan. But each of
Japan’s emperors or empresses was assigned a place on a continuous line that
theoretically extended from the beginning of Japan.
After their writing system was developed, the Japa nese followed the Chi-
nese pattern of keeping official dynastic rec ords. The histories of events
after 712 are much more detailed and reliable than earlier histories. In ad-
dition, following the Chinese model, gazetteers ( fudoki) were compiled to
provide detailed accounts of local developments.
The Nihon shoki provides even more details than the Kojiki about all the
emperors and empresses, dating back to the fictitious Emperor Jimmu. It
also includes reports of relations with China and Korea. Although it em-
phasizes the continuity of the imperial line, it discusses the strengths and
weaknesses of vari ous emperors, as well as some of the cosmology and my-
thol ogy introduced from Chinese Daoist practices.
The Manyoshu is a massive collection of lit er a ture composed over the
centuries, including 265 long poems, more than 4,200 short poems, essays,
and stories. Most of the poems and essays in the Manyoshu were written at
. 17 .
china and japan
the time of Empress Suiko and Prince Shotoku or later. The work also in-
cludes 4 poems and 22 brief essays by Chinese writers. Compared with the
two books of history, this collection of lit er a ture expresses a much broader
range of human sentiment and is known for striking an emotional chord
with readers. There are writings by peasants and laborers as well as by the
literati of the day.
When Chinese written characters were first introduced in Japan, some
written texts used Chinese language. Gradually, Chinese characters were
matched with Japa nese pronunciations that had the same meaning as the
Chinese characters, but the characters were arranged according to Japa nese
sentence structure and some Japa nese grammatical ele ments were added.
This pattern of writing Japa nese with Chinese characters (k
nown as kun-
doku), used in compiling the Kojiki, became standard Japa nese. By the time
literary works were selected for the Manyoshu, some authors were using
kana, a system of abbreviated Chinese characters that signify a syllable,
making it pos si ble for the Manyoshu to include many vernacular Japa nese
expressions with their original Japa nese sounds.
The Manyoshu followed the tradition of the Tang dynasty’s Yiwen leiju,
a Chinese encyclopedia that brought together vari ous kinds of knowledge
for use by bureaucrats. Literary works that focus on the sovereigns and trace
the evolution of the imperial leadership, such as the Kojiki and Nihon shoki,
were used to support the legitimacy of the current national leadership. How-
ever, the compilers of the Manyoshu did not try to unify thinking, and many
of the poems are simple, direct expressions describing a variety of observa-
tions and feelings about everyday life, thus enriching Japa nese culture.
After the Manyoshu was compiled, the use of kana spread, allowing for
the growth of Japa nese lit er a ture that reflected the oral tradition, something
that had not been pos si ble with the use of standard Chinese characters,
which imposed constraints on the variety of pos si ble expressions. For cen-
turies there were no efforts to rationalize and unify these two highly dif-
fer ent writing systems (the syllabaries based on simplified Chinese charac-
ters to represent Japa nese sounds, and the use of Chinese characters to
signify their original meaning in Chinese), and the Japa nese language that
evolved is a complicated combination of both systems.
Like the Chinese, the Japa nese turned calligraphy, the writing of Chi-
nese characters with brush and ink, into an art form. They shared styles and
. 18 .
Chinese Contributions to Japa nese Civilization, 600–838
schools of calligraphy as well as a common evaluation system for ranking
calligraphers. Calligraphers in each country have long been aware of the
work of calligraphers in the other country, and the Chinese have been quite
complimentary of some of Japan’s most distinguished calligraphers.
Musical instruments and court music were introduced from China
during the time of Prince Shotoku. Instruments adopted by the Japa nese
included the koto (a large zither) and the biwa (a type of lute). These in-
struments and their music remain popu lar in Japa nese culture and are still
in use for formal occasions.
Japan has made great efforts to preserve historical trea sures, and Chi-
nese specialists visiting Japan have expressed appreciation for displays of an-
cient artifacts that make use of skills imported from China, some of which
are no longer found in China. The Shosoin Trea sure House on the grounds
of the Todaiji Temple in Nara, for example, protected by the imperial
house hold, is much appreciated by Chinese specialists. Although not ordi-
narily open to the public, some of the trea sures are displayed each fall at
the Nara National Museum. These include examples of fourth- century Chi-
nese calligraphy, judged to be among the best in Chinese history; musical
instruments, such as a five- stringed lute from the eighth century; and vari ous
Buddhist trea sures.
Buddhism
The Chinese originally learned about Buddhism from travelers who went
to India, and by the beginning of the fourth century Buddhism had devel-
oped deep roots in China. The Chinese court embraced Buddhism, Bud-
dhist temples were erected in vari ous localities, monasteries were estab-
lished, and training programs were set up to educate monks. By the time
Prince Shotoku began to introduce Buddhism in Japan, it was sufficiently
developed in both China and Korea that virtually no one from Japan went
to India to learn about Buddhism. The Japa nese learned about Buddhism
from the Koreans, who had learned from the Chinese, and through Japa nese
monks who traveled to China to study. For Japa nese Buddhists, China was
the holy land and well- known Chinese monks were their teachers. Chinese
mountains, with their famous temples, became their mecca, where they went
to receive enlightenment.
. 19 .
china and japan
Before Buddhism was introduced in Japan, the Japa nese expressed rev-
erence toward awe- inspiring natu ral phenomena and took part in rituals
designed to bring rich harvests, overcome natu ral disasters, and preserve a
long life. Some Japa nese writers described visits to wondrous natu ral spots
as shinto (the way of the gods), and appreciation of these natu ral spots was
later incorporated into the Shinto religion. But before the arrival of Bud-
dhism, Shinto beliefs were not part of a complex religious organ ization.
Shinto is not even mentioned in the Kojiki. Since there was no national re-
ligious institution in Japan before Buddhism was introduced at the time of
Prince Shotoku, there was little or ga nized re sis tance to it. And once Bud-
dhism was introduced in Japan it spread rapidly.
For national rulers in both China and Japan, Buddhism provided legiti-
macy through the teaching that the ruler was linked to the heavens. Prince
Shotoku had a Buddhist teacher, and thereafter Buddhist priests were in-
vited by other Japa nese rulers to assist in dealing with natu ral forces, par-
ticularly in obtaining appropriate weather to cultivate crops. There was a
clear distinction between those who had a religious role as monks and those
who had a secular role, and Buddhist priests could enhance their status by
invoking prayers to deal with the forces of nature. However, there always
was the risk that they would lose status if they could not control natu ral
disasters.
Central to Buddhist philosophy as introduced in Korea and Japan was
a belief in the overall harmony of the world and Heaven. Buddhism pro-
moted meditation to reach enlightenment and to control worldly desires.
Because it was a peaceful religion, it was attractive to Korean and Japa nese
po liti cal leaders, who were seeking not only a spiritual base to help preserve
national health but also a social base for a po liti cal system that would bring
peace and unity. When Buddhism first arrived in Japan, for example, it
spread as a result of sponsorship by the court and the leading clans. But it
gradually became popu lar among ordinary people, who believed that one
could attain rebirth in peaceful surroundings if one performed the proper
Buddhist rituals.
Some po liti cal leaders believed that the building of large Buddhist
temples would provide heavenly protection for their rule. The monasteries
trained and housed monks, who in turn recited sutras to help believers seek
Nirvana and control their desires. Buddhist organ izations could be used by
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Chinese Contributions to Japa nese Civilization, 600–838
po liti cal leaders for support against their opponents and factions, but mon-
asteries that owned their own land could also cut into the potential tax
base, creating difficult prob lems for the leadership. By the late Nara period,
some rulers found that the Budd
hists had strengthened their power so much
that they could not be easily be controlled.
By the middle of the sixth century, Korean Buddhist craftsmen began
going to Japan to join in the building of Buddhist statues and temples and
to train Japa nese craftsmen. With the help of Korean Buddhists, the Japa-
nese acquired skills that enabled them to duplicate the art and architecture
that they had seen in China and Korea.
Only a small number of Japa nese monks could make the voyage to visit
Chinese sites during the Sui and Tang dynasties. Such visits, which enabled
the Japa nese monks to enhance their learning of the sutras, were consid-
ered a special privilege. The Japa nese visitors enjoyed good relations with
the Chinese monasteries in which they lived while they studied with Chi-
nese masters. Throughout the period when Japan was learning from China,
Japa nese monks trea sured the opportunity to visit the respected Chinese
temples and monasteries to strengthen their understanding of the Buddhist
scriptures and sutras. Chinese monks, in turn, traveled to Japan to spread
their doctrine, conveying the message that believers could relieve suffering
and pave the way for rebirth in a Buddhist paradise. Once Buddhism began
to prosper in Japan, vari ous Buddhist sects, some headquartered in China
or Korea, became popu lar in Japan. A number of Buddhist sects, such as
the Pure Land Sect, had broad appeal among the masses.
Buddhism offered a more comprehensive system of belief than the tra-
ditional Japa nese expressions of reverence toward awe- inspiring natu ral
sites. After Buddhism arrived from China, the Japa nese attempted to or-
ga nize their beliefs and practices into a more comprehensive structure.
Buddhism did not replace traditional Japa nese practices, but it spurred those
practices to become more systematic. Thereafter, Buddhism and Shintoism
coexisted in Japan. Even in the Nara and early Heian periods when Bud-
dhism became the state religion in Japan, Shinto shrines continued under
the overall umbrella of Buddhism.
In China, after 845 there was a crackdown on Buddhist monasteries that
continued for more than a century, because the monasteries were not paying
taxes, but in Japan there was no such backlash. In addition to its growing
China and Japan Page 4