japan 101Japan
During the first centuries of their mutual acquaintance, the Chinese
referred to Japan as the Wo kuo or “Country of the Dwarfs” and to
its inhabitants as the “Dwarf Slaves”. Only from 702 do the Chinese
sources adopt the name of Jih-pen (Nippon). According to T’ang hui-yao
99:13a, the Japanese had requested this change of name themselves.
The Chinese historians did not at first realize that Wo and Jih-pen
were the same country, because Chiu T’ang shu 199A:14a has con-
secutive entries for them and states that the Jih-pen were a separate
tribe of the Wo.
Trade between the Japanese and Chinese had been lively as early
as Former Han times, but no official missions are recorded. The first
mission from the “king of the Wo slaves” is recorded for A.D.57. The
next mission arrived in 107, presenting 160 slaves.^1 During the Six
Dynasties, Japan sent ten missions to Eastern Chin and Liu Sung from
413 to 478.^2 The Chinese sources throughout refer to the Japanese
emperor as king.
In 600, envoys from the “king” of the Wo State arrived at the Sui
court.^3 The letter they brought addressed the Chinese emperor as “my
younger brother”. Emperor Wen ordered the responsible authorities
to question the envoys about their customs. They stated that their king
considered Heaven as his elder brother and the sun as his younger
brother. Emperor Wen remarked: “This is utterly improper”. He had
the envoys admonished and “ordered” them to change the terminol-
ogy (Sui shu 81:13b; Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao 324:46a). This naturally had
no effect.
In 607, envoys from the “king” of the Wo State led by Ono-no-
Imoko again brought gifts to the Sui court. The envoys were received
on Apr.9, 608. They supposedly stated that they had been sent because
China was ruled by a Son of Heaven who was a Bodhisattva uphold-
(^1) See my Restoration, vol.III, pp. 145, 148.
(^2) See my Six Dynasties, vol.II, pp.91-92. The entry for “460, 12th month” is there
inadvertently given twice.
3 This mission is not mentioned in the Japanese accounts. For Chinese-Japanese
relations see Tsunoda and Goodrich, Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories, pp.31-82.