In China's famous classic book "Li Ji Xue Ji" once recorded: "Can be a metaphor, and then can be a teacher." This means that those who can be teachers can become teachers, that is, who will learn from whom. Looking at the entire history of Japan, we can't help but find that Japan is a country that is good at learning, japan learned from China when ancient China was strong, and Japan learned from the West when the modern West was strong. The Japanese changed the fate of the country through a series of studies and absorbed the advanced civilization system of the world at that time, and gradually developed into the first modern country in Asia.
It can be said that in ancient times, in order to obtain advanced systems, the Japanese sent envoys to China many times to learn the civilization and etiquette of the Central Plains, and voluntarily became a vassal state of our country and regarded China as the suzerainty. For China, the rulers of our country have also adopted a policy of gentleness, in line with the principle of "thin and thick exchanges", giving a large number of rewards to the tribute, and its value far exceeds the tribute items paid by the tribute. In the past, ancient Japan was always willing to pay tribute to China, but after all, At that time, Japan was a small uncivilized country, and there were no rare treasures when goods were scarce. Later, in order to pay tribute to China, ancient Japan actually paid a special "tribute", which really embarrassed the Chinese rulers!
For Sino-Japanese relations, we now have an almost exclusive term, that is, "one garment with water", which originally meant that China and Japan were separated by only one water, as narrow as the belt. It is precisely because the two countries are geographically separated by the sea, and the history of exchanges between China and Japan is also long,000, as early as the Warring States period in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", it is recorded: "The country of Gai is in the south of Juyan, the north of The Uighur, and the Uighur Yan." "According to historians, ''Gai'' refers to Gaima on the Korean Peninsula, ''Yan'' refers to the ancient Yan state, located in the north of present-day Hebei and western Liaoning, and '''Wu' refers to the Japanese archipelagos of today. (Woe genus Yan, meaning appendage)
In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the larger tribal kings on the Japanese archipelago wanted to use the authority of the powerful Han Empire to gain a position above other tribal kingdoms, so the king of the country sent envoys to hajj to the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. As the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han Guangwu, after learning of the purpose of the envoy, gave the title of King of Wunu to the chief of the Uighur State, and the Uighur State officially became a vassal state of the Han Dynasty. The Later Han Shu Dongyi Lie Biography once recorded: "In the second year of the Jianwu Dynasty (57 AD), the Uighur kingdom paid tribute to the pilgrimage, making people call themselves doctors, and the South Pole of the Uighur kingdom was also. Guangwu gave it a seal. ”
For this period of history, in addition to written records, there are more convincing objects, in the fourth year of The Ming Dynasty (1784) in Japan, a golden seal was unearthed on Shiga Island in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, with five seal characters inscribed on it. Later, this golden seal was donated to the Fukuoka City Museum in Japan in 1979, becoming the treasure of the town museum.
As the rulers of China, the rulers of the suzerainty have all been treated with an unruly attitude of "the king does not rule Yidi, the comers do not refuse, and those who go do not pursue" are treated with an attitude of non-rule, and in order to show the wealth and generosity of the "Heavenly Dynasty and the Kingdom", they always give a large number of rewards to the tributes in the spirit of "thin and thick exchanges". However, compared with the gifts given by the Chinese monarchs, the tribute of Japanese envoys to China to pay tribute is really a bit shabby, according to the Eastern Han Dynasty thinker Wang Chong's "On Balance and Strange Fiction": "When Changcao was born in Zhou, the world was peaceful, and the Wu people came to offer Changcao." Changcao is also a grassy thing, what is the difference with the Pisang Valley? Apparently, the ancient Japanese paid their "first" tribute to China, which turned out to be Changcao, an ancient raw material for brewing yuju wine.
Since the Uighur kingdom was subordinate to the Han Dynasty, it has since paid tribute to the suzerainty according to the custom, and the Han court has also been rewarded according to the system of the time, and its value far exceeds that of the japanese tributes. Of course, with the first tributary experience, the Japanese learned a little etiquette in the later tribute to China, and when they came back the second time, they carefully prepared a batch of gifts to win the hearts of the Emperor of the Han Dynasty. In addition to Japanese specialties, there are also a small number of jade and jewelry in these tributes to the emperors of the Han Dynasty, but there is a "tribute" in it that is really embarrassing. According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, "In the first year of Emperor An's reign, King Shuai of The Wu Dynasty offered one hundred and sixty people, and he would like to see him. The so-called "sacrifice of one hundred and sixty people", that is, the sacrifice of one hundred and sixty slaves to Emperor An of Han.
For Japan's tribute to China this time, it is very ironic, will the Tangtang Han Dynasty still lack people? But this is the case, the "tribute" of Japan to the Han Dynasty is the Japanese. Later, the Han Dynasty fell, the world was divided into three countries, and Japan was also in a situation of multi-country chaos. However, in this eventful autumn, the ancient Uighur kingdom did not interrupt the tribute. During the Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, the ancient Uighur state paid tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty in Luoyang five times in nine years, and for the first time opened a new chapter in the exchange of emissaries between China and Japan. At that time, the Uighur civil unrest, the various princely states recommended an elderly woman who did not marry as the head of the country, and this female ruler was the legendary queen of Japanese history, Beimihu.
As soon as Queen Beimihu came to power, she eagerly sent emissaries to Pay Tribute to China, and had been granted the title of Emperor of China to improve her status among the Japanese archipelagos. At this time, the rulers of Cao Wei were also very welcome to the envoys who came, and the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui shengli received them, and made him "Pro-Wei Wu Wang", and followed the precedent of Emperor Guangwu of Han, granted a golden seal and purple belt, and even enthusiastically replied to the queen. According to the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Zhi, and Wu Ren Biography", "Liu Xia sent an envoy to Send Ru Dafu Nan sheng rice, and the second envoy to the city NiuLi Feng Ru offered four boys, six girls, and two horses and two horses in Banbu." Ru is far away, but it is the contribution of the messenger, and it is the loyalty and filial piety of Ru, and I mourn Ru very much. ”
According to the Wei Luo (魏略) of the Three Kingdoms period, the wei ming emperor's harem was very numerous, "from the nobles below to Shangbao, and to the sweeping of the court, and the practice of singing, each with thousands." That is to say, in order to please Emperor Wei Mingdi, Japan specially selected six beautiful women to fill the harem, but among these Japanese who paid tribute, they also sent four men by the way, which is difficult to understand. Later, it is no wonder that japanese historians are reluctant to talk about this history, they are more ashamed and embarrassed, and some Japanese netizens even call it a great shame!
Through historical data, it is enough to prove that Emperor Cao Rui of Wei ming was not good at male style, but Emperor Wei, in view of the sincerity of Beimihu, finally praised the Japanese emissaries and gave back a large number of things. The "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Zhi, and the Biography of the Wuren" once recorded: "Three horses of Wenwen Jin, five pieces of Fine Banhua, fifty horses of white silk, eight two pieces of gold, two mouths of five-foot knives, one hundred bronze mirrors, one hundred pearls, and fifty pounds of lead dan, all of which were sealed with difficult rice, and the cattle profits were also recorded." "Japan is naturally very happy to exchange a small amount of things for so many items, and these advanced artifacts and technologies that Japan does not have have objectively promoted Japan's development."
After hundreds of years, the ancient Uighur state's admiration for Chinese culture has never diminished, but it has become more fond of it. However, when they initially understood Chinese culture and learned that the word "倭" was indecent, the Japanese hastily abandoned the "倭" and chose the "day" to ask the suzerainty for permission. In the third year of the Sui Dynasty (605 AD), the envoy of the Uighur king Ah Qi came to China to pay tribute, and his emissary said: "The son of heaven at sunrise is nowhere to be harmed." (The Uighurs regarded themselves as the land of the sunrise and China as the land of the sunset.) When the Sui Emperor heard this, he was very angry and immediately said to his ministers: "If there is rudeness in the barbarian book, do not let it be heard." "It can be said that the ancient Uighur state was persistent in requesting a change in the name of the country, and finally begged for decades, until the Wu Zetian period was able to give the name Japan. (The Tang Dynasty Zhang Shoujie's "History of Justice" records: "After the Wu Dynasty changed the Uighur Kingdom to the Japanese State.") ”）
Finally, we would like to say that although the Japanese people were ashamed and embarrassed to pay tribute to China in ancient times, and even regarded it as a great shame and humiliation, it was precisely because they sent emissaries to China many times to learn advanced systems and learn from China's canons and laws to carry out large-scale reforms. Through such reforms, Japan partially liberated the productive forces, improved the Japanese ruling system, laid the foundation for the development of Japan's country, and allowed Japan to transition from a slave society to a feudal society. Of course, for thousands of years, China's official history has also been uninterruptedly recorded for Japan, and these precious written records have also filled in the written history of the Japanese nation, so that its early national history has a written record!