Imagining China in Tokugawa Japan

Wai-Ming Ng

Description

While current scholarship on Tokugawa Japan (1603–1868) tends to see China as either a model or "the Other," Wai-ming Ng's pioneering and ambitious study offers a new perspective by suggesting that Chinese culture also functioned as a collection of "cultural building blocks" that were selectively introduced and then modified to fit into the Japanese tradition. Chinese terms and forms survived, but the substance and the spirit were made Japanese. This borrowing of Chinese terms and forms to express Japanese ideas and feelings could result in the same things having different meanings in China and Japan, and this process can be observed in the ways in which Tokugawa Japanese reinterpreted Chinese legends, Confucian classics, and historical terms. Ng breaks down the longstanding dichotomies between model and "the other," civilization and barbarism, as well as center and periphery that have been used to define Sino-Japanese cultural exchange. He argues that Japanese culture was by no means merely an extended version of Chinese culture, and Japan's uses and interpretations of Chinese elements were not simply deviations from the original teachings. By replacing a Sinocentric perspective with a cross-cultural one, Ng's study represents a step forward in the study of Tokugawa intellectual history.
Acknowledgments
A Note on Romanization

Introduction: The China Factor in Tokugawa Culture

Part I. Naturalization of Chinese Legends

1. Xu Fu as Chinese Migrant

2. Yang Guifei as Shinto Deity

3. Wu Taibo as Imperial Ancestor

Part II. Appropriation of Confucian Classics

4. The Mencius and Politics

5. The Xiaojing and Ethics

6. The Yijing and Shinto

Part III. Redefinition of Historical Terms

7. Names for China

8. Bakufu and Shōgun

9. Redefining Legitimacy

Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• China
• Asia
• Japan
• History of Asia

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 28 février 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438473086
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 11 Mo

Extrait

IMAGINING CHINA IN
TOKUGAWA JAPAN
Imagining China in Tokugawa Japan
LEGENDS, CLASSICS, AND HISTORICAL TERMS
Wai-ming Ng
Cover image: “Nanking in Chingku,” by Utagawa Yoshikazu, 1861.
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2019 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ng, Wai-ming, 1962- author.
Title: Imagining China in Tokugawa Japan : legends, classics, and historical terms / Wai-ming Ng.
Other titles: Dechuan Riben de Zhongguo xiang xiang. English
Description: Albany : State University of New York, [2019] | Translation with substantial revisions of: Dechuan Riben de Zhongguo xiang xiang. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018015531 | ISBN 9781438473079 (hardcover ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438473086 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Japan—Civilization—Chinese influences. | Japan—Civilization—1600-1868.
Classification: LCC DS821.5.C5 N4 2019 | DDC 952/.025—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018015531
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
TO MIHO AND MASASHI
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
A Note on Romanization
Introduction: The China Factor in Tokugawa Culture
PART I. NATURALIZATION OF CHINESE LEGENDS
1. Xu Fu as Chinese Migrant
2. Yang Guifei as Shinto Deity
3. Wu Taibo as Imperial Ancestor
PART II. APPROPRIATION OF CONFUCIAN CLASSICS
4. The Mencius and Politics
5. The Xiaojing and Ethics
6. The Yijing and Shinto
PART III. REDEFINITION OF HISTORICAL TERMS
7. Names for China
8. Bakufu and Shōgun
9. Redefining Legitimacy
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This is my second English academic book on Tokugawa intellectual history. After the publication of The I Ching in Tokugawa Thought and Culture through the University of Hawai‘i Press in 2000, I conducted research on Yijing studies in East Asia, Japan–Hong Kong relations, and Japanese popular culture. I was happy to return to my original path of Tokugawa studies a few years ago.
I have always been fascinated by the ways in which Tokugawa Japanese adapted Chinese culture into their own systems of thinking. My previous study on the Yijing in the Tokugawa period provides a good example of the indigenization of Chinese culture in Japanese thought. This study adds depth and dimension to this important theme in Sino-Japanese studies by examining the imagination of China and the localization of Chinese culture among Tokugawa Japanese from three different angles, namely, Chinese legends, Confucian classics, and historical terms.
My years at Princeton University and the University of Tokyo were truly rewarding and unforgettable. In the making of my academic career as a historian of Tokugawa Japan, I am deeply indebted to the late Marius Jansen, who has always been a source of inspiration to me. His idea of studying China and Japan from an East Asian context has become my own academic vision. Watanabe Hiroshi and Kurozumi Makoto have taught me how to define and conceptualize key issues in Tokugawa thought. My gratitude also extends to Joshua Fogel, Richard Smith, Martin Collcutt, Tam Yue-him, Douglas Reynolds, Shyu Shing-ching, Kevin Lam, Lin Shao-yang, and Wang Yong for their encouragement and support of my research on Tokugawa intellectual history.
This book first appeared in Chinese in 2015 and was published by the Tsinghua University Press, to whom I am grateful for allowing me to retain the copyright on the English edition. I have made substantial revisions in this English edition. Earlier versions of some chapters were published in the Journal of Asian History , Sino - Japanese Studies , and East Asian History . I am also thankful to the editors of these journals for permission to revise these articles and turn them into chapters in this book. My gratitude also goes to Christopher Ahn, Chelsea Miller, Jenn Bennett-Genthner, and the editorial staff and the production and marketing team at SUNY Press, as well as the two anonymous reviewers.
This book is dedicated to my wife, Miho and my son, Masashi, who are always by my side. My life would not have been so fulfilling without them.
Many things have happened in my middle adulthood, but my passion for research has never diminished. I feel so blessed to have chosen a career path that fulfills me in so many ways. To quote “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
This book serves as a record of footprints in my academic journey. You will see my hesitation and disorientation, but I am coming back to where I belong.
—Wai-ming Ng
A NOTE ON ROMANIZATION
This book uses the Hepburn system for Japanese and the Pinyin system for Chinese. All Japanese and Chinese words are italicized, with diacritical marks included where necessary. Certain Japanese words or place names that have been incorporated into the English language are left without italics or diacritics. All English translations of original Japanese and Chinese texts, unless stated otherwise, are my own. Original Japanese and Chinese characters are provided when necessary. Following the East Asian practice, Japanese and Chinese surnames precede given names, except for those Asian authors who have published their works in English.
INTRODUCTION
The China Factor in Tokugawa Culture
Although the Edo bakufu (military government) never established formal political ties with Qing China and trade with China was restricted to the port of Nagasaki, the Tokugawa period (also known as the Edo or early modern period, 1603–1868) was the heyday of Sino-Japanese intellectual and cultural exchanges. Tokugawa scholars engaged in Chinese learning mainly through imported classical Chinese texts, rather than direct person-to-person interaction. 1 To Tokugawa Japanese, China was a unique entity that played an important role in shaping Japanese thought and culture. Without China, Tokugawa intellectual life would not have been so flourishing and creative. Current scholarship on Tokugawa Japan tends to see China as either a model or “the Other.” This study aims to provide a new perspective by suggesting that China also functioned as a collection of building blocks. In other words, the people of the Tokugawa period appropriated and transformed Chinese elements to forge Japan’s own thought and culture. They selectively introduced and then modified Chinese culture to make it fit into the Japanese tradition. Chinese culture was highly localized in Tokugawa Japan. Chinese terms and forms survived, but the substance and the spirit were made Japanese. Hence, Sino-Japanese cultural exchange in the early modern period should be perceived as the interplay of the Japanization of Chinese culture and the Sinicization of Japanese culture. The three perceptions of China reflect different attitudes of Tokugawa intellectuals toward Chinese culture. These images of China could coexist in the same individual or intellectual school, serving as a reminder of the diversity and ambiguity in Tokugawa thought.
CHINA AS ROLE MODEL
Sinophilia was by no means a minor intellectual current among Tokugawa intellectuals, as it was not only embraced by Confucians and Sinologists, but prevalent in different schools of thought and culture as well. 2 Traveling to China was almost impossible, and Tokugawa Confucians and Sinologists could only visit China in their dreams. China became a nostalgic and blissful cultural homeland and utopian imaginary place. Fujiwara Seika (1561–1619) yearned to make a cultural pilgrimage to China, but the long distance and rough seas made the journey impossible. He wrote: “I always admire Chinese culture, and I want to see its cultural relics for myself.” 3 In 1600, he paid a visit to Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616) wearing his own homemade Confucian-scholar costume. Kumazawa Banzan (1619–91) and Kaibara Ekken (1630–1714) praised China as the shi - kuni (teacher-nation), expressing gratitude to China for enlightening different aspects of Japan. Banzan argued that the impact of Chinese culture on Japan was all-encompassing and far-reaching:
China is the teacher-nation for the four seas and has contributed tremendously to Japan. Rites, music, books, mathematics, architecture, costumes, transportation, agricultural tools, weapons, medicine, acupuncture, officialdom, rankings, military codes, the ways of archery and riding, and miscellaneous skills and technologies were all imported from China. 4
Ekken also acknowledged Japan’s indebtedness to China for introducing morality and etiquette:
Japan is pure and awesome in its social customs and is indeed a very fine nation. It is appropriate to refer to it as a nation of gentlemen. However, in uncivilized antiquity, Japan had neither etiquette nor law. There was no dress code, either. Wearing one’s hair down, folding the clothes to the left, and marrying one’s own sisters or nephews were very common. In the m