{"id":52119,"date":"2021-09-13T08:33:30","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T13:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52119"},"modified":"2021-09-13T08:33:30","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T13:33:30","slug":"chinas-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu\/nll\/?p=52119","title":{"rendered":"China's Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to this website<\/a> of stars with the surname Chu \u695a, Sara Chu was born in Japan, China:<\/p>\r\n

Ch\u01d4 J\u01d0n (Sara Chu), sh\u0113ngr\u00ec:\u00a0 1974 ni\u00e1n 10 yu\u00e8 29 r\u00ec (x\u012bngq\u00ed'\u00e8r), ch\u016bsh\u0113ng d\u00ec: Zh\u014dnggu\u00f3 R\u00ecb\u011bn, x\u012bngzu\u00f2: Ti\u0101nxi\u0113zu\u00f2<\/p>\r\n

\u695a\u8c28(Sara Chu)\uff0c\u751f\u65e5\uff1a1974\u5e7410\u670829\u65e5(\u661f\u671f\u4e8c)\uff0c\u51fa\u751f\u5730\uff1a \u4e2d\u56fd\u65e5\u672c\uff0c\u661f\u5ea7\uff1a\u5929\u874e\u5ea7
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

Chu Jin (Sara Chu), birthday: October 29, 1974 (Tuesday), place of birth:\u00a0 Japan, China, constellation: Scorpio<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

I've never heard of Sara Chu, and I've never heard of a place in China called \"Japan\", but it's possible that I missed both of them.<\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

The use of the formulation \"China's X\", where X is a place name, to lay claim to territories, some of which are contested, is ubiquitous.\u00a0 See the first item in the bibliography below.<\/p>\r\n

A respondent to a question on Quora<\/a> about whether Korea and Japan were ever part of China, Naoya Yamaguchi, answers as follows:<\/p>\r\n

The third chief General, Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, of the Muromachi dynasty, had the status of the king of Japan (\u65e5\u672c\u56fd\u738b) in foreign affairs, the status of a Chinese regional official subordinate to the Chinese emperor and the status of the general in chief serving the Japanese emperor.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\r\n

And then there is the famous \"King of Na\" (I wonder about this — see below for detailed discussion) gold seal:<\/p>\r\n

The King of Na gold seal<\/b> (Japanese<\/a>: \u6f22\u59d4\u5974\u56fd\u738b\u5370<\/span>) is a solid gold<\/a> seal<\/a> discovered in the year 1784 on Shikanoshima Island<\/a> in Fukuoka Prefecture<\/a>, Japan<\/a>. The seal is designated as a National Treasure of Japan<\/a>. The seal is believed to have been cast in China<\/a> and bestowed by Emperor Guangwu of Han<\/a> upon a diplomatic official (envoy) visiting from Japan in the year 57 AD. The five Chinese characters<\/a> appearing on the seal identify it as the seal of the King of Na state of Wa (Japan)<\/a>, vassal state<\/a> of the Han Dynasty<\/a><\/span>. The seal is currently in the collection of the Fukuoka City Museum in Fukuoka<\/a>, Japan.<\/p>\r\n

(source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n

The seal has been judged to be the one described in the Book of the Later Han<\/a><\/i>, a Chinese chronicle of the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty<\/a>. According to the chronicle, the Chinese Emperor Guangwu<\/a> conferred the seal on a diplomatic official visiting from Japan.<\/p>\r\n

Contemporary description of conferral<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n

The following is the original Chinese text from the chronicle:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n
\u5efa\u6b66\u4e2d\u5143\u4e8c\u5e74\uff0c\u502d\u5974\u570b\u5949\u8ca2\u671d\u8cc0\uff0c\u4f7f\u4eba\u81ea\u7a31\u5927\u592b\uff0c\u502d\u570b\u4e4b\u6975\u5357\u754c\u4e5f\u3002\u5149\u6b66\u8cdc\u4ee5\u5370\u7dac\u3002<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n

This passage can be translated into English as:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n
\"In the 2nd year of the jianwu zhongyuan<\/i> reign period [AD 57], the Na<\/a> state of Wa<\/a> sent an envoy with tribute. The envoy introduced himself as a high official. The state lies in the far south<\/a> of Wa. [Emperor] Guangwu bestowed on him a seal with a tassel.\"<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n

During the Han Dynasty, similar seals were bestowed on other regional sovereigns, in an attempt by the dynasty to bring these sovereigns into the Han ruling order<\/span>.<\/p>\r\n

(source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n

I don't think I've ever seen an exacting interpretation of the five characters on the base of the seal, at least not one that is satisfying to me, though there surely must be detailed Sinological and Japanological exegeses.\u00a0 Here's what Wikipedia has:<\/p>\r\n

The five characters engraved on the seal are (in the order in which they are to be read):<\/p>\r\n

\r\n
\u6f22\u59d4\u5974\u570b\u738b<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n

The meanings of these characters (in the context of this seal) are: \"Han\" (referring to the Han Dynasty<\/a> of China), \"Wa<\/a>\" (an ancient name for Japan), \"Na<\/a>\" (an ancient kingdom \/ state within Japan), \"state \/ country\", and \"ruler\". The last two characters, when combined, mean \"king \/ sovereign\". Altogether, the meaning of the seal inscription is: \"(seal of) the King of the Na state of the Wa [vassal?] of the Han Dynasty\".<\/p>\r\n

(source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n

That doesn't sound very precise or convincing.\u00a0 Hoping to elicit a more rigorous reading from Japanese specialists, I will go over the five characters, one at a time, but focusing on the two that are most problematic. The pronunciations immediately following the characters and separated by a slash are respectively Modern Standard Mandarin and Modern Standard Japanese:<\/p>\r\n

\u6f22 H\u00e0n \/ Kan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 name of Chinese dynasty (202 BC\u2013220 AD)<\/p>\r\n

\u59d4 w\u011bi \/ i\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 commission; appoint; entrust; depute\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n

Judging from the record in the Book of the Later Han<\/i> quoted above and in other sources, this would appear to be equivalent to:<\/p>\r\n

\u502d W\u014d \/ Wa, Yamato\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 name for early Japan<\/p>\r\n

But the Book of the Later Han <\/i>dates to the 5th century AD, whereas the gold seal is from the year 57 AD, so we need to take seriously the possibility that \u59d4 in the engraving on the seal has its primary meaning, especially since it constitutes hard, material evidence.<\/p>\r\n

\u5974 n\u00fa \/ nu\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 has a number of different pronunciations and meanings in later stages of Japanese, but the early meanings of the Sinitic morpheme that would be relevant for the time of the seal are \"servant; slave\").\u00a0 Although most modern sources seem to be taking \u5974\u570b as the name of a country, hence \"Na Kingdom, aside from this seal, what other 1st or 2nd century AD source provides evidence for the existence of a \"Na kingdom\" in Japan?\u00a0 In the Records of the Wei <\/i>(W\u00e8i zh\u00ec \u9b4f\u5fd7), ca. 297 AD, there are references to a N\u00fagu\u00f3 \u5974\u570b (lit. \"slave country\"), J. Nakoku<\/a> \u5974\u56fd, and even a G\u01d2un\u00fagu\u00f3 \u72d7\u5974\u570b (lit. \"dog slave country\"), Japanese Kunakoku, in the Japanese archipelago.<\/p>\r\n

(source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n

Here are relevant early pronunciations:\u00a0 Old Japanese dwo<\/i>; Late Han na<\/i>; Early Middle Sinitic nuo<\/i>; Late Middle Sinitic nd\u0254<\/i>; Go-on nu<\/i>; Kan-on do<\/i>; Nom no, n\u00f3<\/i>; Sino-Vietnamese n\u00f4<\/i>; Sino-Korean now<\/i><\/p>\r\n

From John R. Bentley, ABC Dictionary of Ancient Japanese Phonograms<\/i> (Honolulu:\u00a0 University of Hawaii Press, 2016), p. 53.\u00a0 See also Victor H. Mair, ABC Dictionary of Sino-Japanese Readings<\/i> (Honolulu:\u00a0 University of Hawaii Press, 2016), p. 108.<\/p>\r\n

\u570b gu\u00f3 \/ koku, kuni\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 country; kingdom<\/p>\r\n

\u738b w\u00e1ng \/ \u014d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 prince; king<\/p>\r\n

Historical context of the \"King of Na\" gold seal:<\/p>\r\n

The first mention of the Japanese archipelago<\/a> was in the Chinese historic text Book of Later Han<\/a><\/i>, in the year 57, in which it was noted that the Emperor<\/a> of the Han dynasty<\/a> gave a golden seal to Wa (Japan)<\/a>. The King of Na gold seal<\/a> was discovered in northern Ky\u016bsh\u016b<\/a> in the eighteenth century. From then on Japan was repeatedly recorded in Chinese historical texts, at first sporadically, but eventually continuously as Japan matured into a notable power in the region.<\/p>\r\n

There is a Chinese tradition<\/a> that the first Chinese Emperor<\/a>, Qin Shi Huang<\/a>, sent several hundred people to Japan to search for medicines of immortality. During the third century, Chinese travelers reported that inhabitants of Japan claimed ancestry from Wu Taibo<\/a>, a king of the Wu state (located in modern Jiangsu<\/a> and Zhejiang<\/a>) during the Warring States<\/a> era. They recorded examples of Wu traditions including ritual teeth-pulling, tattooing and carrying babies on backs. Other records at the time show that Japan already had the same customs recognized today. These include clapping during prayers, eating from wooden trays and eating raw fish (also a traditional custom of Jiangsu<\/a> and Zhejiang<\/a> before pollution made this impractical). Kofun<\/a> era traditions appear in the records as the ancient Japanese built earthen mound tombs.<\/p>\r\n

The first Japanese personage mentioned by the Wei Zhi<\/i> (Records of Wei<\/a>) is Himiko<\/a>, the female shaman leader of a country with hundreds of states called Yamataikoku<\/a>. Modern historical linguists believe Yamatai was actually pronounced Yamato.<\/p>\r\n

(source<\/a>)<\/p>\r\n

China's Japan or Japan, China — even less likely than for Vietnam to become part of China, despite the Central Kingdom trying for millennia to make that a reality.<\/p>\r\n

 <\/p>\r\n

Selected readings<\/b><\/p>\r\n