In the spring of 219 BC, Qin Shi Huang, who had just completed the great cause of unifying the country, toured the east surrounded by a large group of people and horses. They crossed Mount Taishan, ran to the seashore, first to Yantai Zhifu Island, and then to the rongcheng mountain corner known as the "end of the sky", all the way to seal the Zen carved stones, sing praises and praises, and then came to the Yellow Sea on the shore of the Yaoyuetai.
Qin Shi Huang ascended to the south, looking high and far, the sea was vast, the sea was wide and the sky was wide, and he could see everything in front of him. He ordered the relocation of 30,000 households of Li Min to Lang Yue Tai, and then sealed the earth and built a platform on Lang Yue Tai in order to take the stage and watch the sea.
I heard that Qin Shi Huang went to Langyuetai to look at the sea, and a folk alchemist named Xu Fu ran to Langyuetai to write to Qin Shi Huang, saying that there were three immortal mountains in the sea, Penglai, Abbot, and Yingzhou, where there were immortals living there, and it was necessary to ask the fasting people to bring virgin boys and girls into the sea, and they could get the elixir of immortality.
Qin Shi Huang's eastern tour was not only to honor the world, but also to show merit and praise. Another important purpose is to seek the elixir of immortality. Hearing Xu Fuyi's words, Qin Shi Huang was greatly pleased, and then according to Xu Fu's request, he sent thousands of virgin boys and virgin girls to go to the sea with him to seek immortal medicine. Qin Shi Huang himself also stayed here, waiting for Xu Fu Jiayin.
However, what awaited was only Xu Fu returning empty-handed. Xu Fu claimed to have seen the sea god, who refused to give the elixir because the gift was too thin. Qin Shi Huang was convinced of this, so he sent 3,000 more virgin boys and girls, as well as craftsmen, technicians, and grain seeds, so that Xu Fu could go to sea again. Qin Shi Huang waited here for 3 months, and did not see Xu Fu's news, and then he returned with trepidation.
After this, Qin Shi Huang traveled east again, and Yu Zhifu came to Langyuetai for the second time, but he saw that Xu Fu had not returned from seeking immortal medicine, so he had to return disappointed.
In 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang made his fifth tour and came to Langyatai for the third time, but by this time Xu Fu had already returned. When Xu Fu went into the sea to look for immortal medicine, it had been 9 years, and he had been reporting back in the future, and Qin Shi Huang immediately sent someone to summon Xu Fu.
Xu Fuxian counted on the sea immortals for many years without success, spent a lot of money in vain, afraid that Qin Shi Huang would pursue his crime of deception, so he lied: "There are sea gods, but when going to sea, they often encounter fierce mackerel, so they cannot ask for medicine." It is recommended to send expert archers to go with them, and when they see a large mackerel, shoot it with a crossbow with a continuous shot. ”
Qin Shi Huang believed Xu Fu's words, and personally marched, took the archers and fishing gear for catching large mackerel out to sea, and when he set off from Lang Yue to the coast and went north to Rongcheng Mountain, and then advanced to Zhifu, he finally saw the big mackerel, the bow and crossbow were fired in unison, and the big dragon fish died of arrows and sank to the bottom of the sea. Qin Shi Huang thought that he would be unimpeded from now on, so he ordered Xu Fu to go into the sea to seek the elixir. From the second time, Qin Shi Huang never waited for Xu Fu's news, so where did Xu Fu go?
Later generations mostly say that it is Japan. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, Sino-Japanese exchanges have been frequent. It was clearly proposed that Xu Fu settle in Japan was the Yichu monk of the Zhou Dynasty five generations later. In his "Six Theses of Yichu", he wrote:
The kingdom of Japan, also known as the Uighur Kingdom, is located in the East China Sea. During the Qin Dynasty, Xu Fu stopped five hundred virgin boys and five hundred virgins in this country, and now the characters are like Chang'an. ...... In the northeast dry Yuli, there is a mountain name "Fuji" also known as "Penglai"... Xu Fu has been called Penglai until now, and his descendants are known as the Qin clan.
In 928, the Japanese monk Kuanfu came to China five generations later, that is, he talked to the Yichu monk about Xu Fu going to Japan to collect medicine.
Since then, many people have said that Xu Fu settled down in Japan. The Song Dynasty writer and historian Ouyang Xiu also believed that Xu Fudong had crossed to Japan, and he wrote in the "Song of Japanese Swords":
It is rumored that its country lives on the big island, and the soil is fertile and the customs are good,
First of all, Xu Fu deceived Qin Min and collected medicine to drown the old boy;
Hundreds of workers and five kinds of living with it, so far the instrument play is exquisite,
The book was not burned at the time of Xu Fuxing's journey, and a hundred Yishu books still exist today.
The poem states that Xu Fu came to Japan. The Yuan Dynasty people knew that there was a Xufu Shrine in Kumano, Japan. The Yuan Dynasty poet Wu Lai composed the poem "Listening to the Guest's Talk Kumano Xufu Temple":
Daying coast ancient state, mountain stone Wanyu inserted sea currents.
Xu Fuqiuxian still had to die, and Zizhi was old and sad.
There are many books in the Ming Dynasty that record Xu Fudong's journey to Japan. In the first year of the Ming Dynasty, that is, in 1368, the Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang summoned the Japanese monk Jekai Nakatsu, and they sang a poem and wrote a poem each. The poem of Nakatsu:
Xu Fu Ancestral Hall in front of Kumano Peak, full of yam herb rain and fertilizer;
Only because the sea is stable, the good wind must return early.
Zhu Yuanzhang and poems:
Kumano Peak front blood food shrine, pine root amber should also be fattened;
At that time, Xu Fu asked for immortal medicine, and until now he has not returned.
The poem states that there is a Xufu Shrine in front of Mount Kumano in Japan. Among the Ming writings that Xu Fu reached Japan include Chen Renxi's "Records of the Emperor's Ming Dynasty", Liu Zhongda's "Book of Liu Shihong", and so on. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, Li Shuchang, Huang Shuxian, and other ministers stationed in Japan all visited Xu Fu's tomb and wrote poems.
At the beginning of the 20th century, scholars from China, Japan and South Korea did a lot of research on the history of the Qin and Han Dynasties and the history of maritime transportation. Based on the archaeological data of underground cultural relics, they basically affirmed Xu Fudong's crossing to Japan. Lü Simian, Fan Wenlan, Lü Zhenyu, Gu Jiegang, Yang Kuan, and others all recounted and commented on Xu Fu's quest for immortality in their works. Ma Feibai also wrote a biography of Xu Fu in his "History of Qin Collection".
Zhai Bozan said in the book "History of Qin and Han":
Xu Fu and others went into the sea to find the Three Gods Mountain, and it was the merchants in the coastal area at that time who tried to open up commercial routes with the Japanese islands.
Historian Xu Songshi (1900-1999) said in The Origins of the Japanese Nation:
During the Warring States and pre-Qin period, a large number of people on the southeast coast of China immigrated to Japan, and the virgin boys and girls led by Xu Fu were one of the teams, "Xu Fu entered the sea and went east, there must be something real." ”
Hong Kong Wei Tingsheng (1890-1977) wrote "Xu Fu Entered the Japanese Founding Examination", believing that Xu Fu was the founder of Japan, Emperor Shinmu Nakada Xuan, and that he was the 29th grandson of King Xu Ju after the Emperor. Taiwanese scholar Peng Shuangsong wrote the book "Xu Fu is Emperor Shenwu" to further enrich Wei Tingsheng's views.
Later, there were landing memorials, former residences and Xu Fu tombs of Xu Fu's fleet in many places in Japan, such as the Tomb of Xu Fu and the Monument to the Seven Disciples of Xu Fu in the New Palace of Japan, and the Xu Fu Ancestral Hall in Kumano, Japan.
In Japan, equivalent to the Song and Yuan dynasties of the mainland, There is Xu Fu Ancestral Hall and Xu Fu Tomb in Kumano, Japan. In the last year of the Southern Song Dynasty of China, in 1279 AD, Zen master Zu Yuan went to Japan, and he dedicated a poem to Xu Fu's tomb:
Mr. did not return to the medicine, the country of mountains and rivers several degrees of Ess;
Today, Yixiang chatted far away, and the old monk also came to avoid Qin.
The earliest record of the legend of Xu Fu in Japan is the "Orthodox Record of the Divine Emperor", written by the Northern Relatives in 1339 AD. In Japanese written records, it is believed that Xu Fudongdu arrived in Japan in the "LinLuoshan Anthology", "Biography of Japan with Different Names", "Tongwen Tongkao" and other documents.
During the Edo period, corresponding to the end of the Ming Dynasty in China to the end of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Scholar of the Confucian Dynasty and the Confucian Physician Lin Shimomirin said in the "Biography of Japan with Different Names":
Yizhou and Lanzhou are both Japanese. Legend has it that there is a tomb of Xu Fu at the foot of Mount Kumano in Kii Kingdom. There is Penglai Mountain to the southeast of Kumano Shingu Shrine, and Xu Fu Ancestral Hall in front of the mountain.
In addition, there are some Japanese scholars who study the fact that Xu Fu and others crossed east to Japan from the perspective of history and culture, and the Japanese scholar Suyama Ichiki in the book "Research on the Que History of Japan" believes that the Qin people marched south from the Korean Peninsula in a big way, centered on 206 BC. Japan, on the other hand, produced the Yayoi culture after the Jomon culture. The Japanese scholar Kaneki husband believes that there were significant cultural changes between the Jomon period and the Yayoi period. With the advent of the Yayoi culture, new ethnic groups migrated to Japan.
Scholars believe that Xu Fudongdu has transmitted the progressive Qin culture, that is, planting, pottery, silkworm raising, textile, construction, and other technologies to Japan, thus promoting the development of Japan's ancient culture and enabling Japanese society to embark on the road of civilization. Xu Fu's exploits are naturally respected and loved by the Japanese people.
However, some scholars believe that Xu Fudong's crossing to Japan is only a legend, and there is no reliable historical document to prove it. Because it is not recorded in the Japanese history books "Ancient Chronicles" and "Japanese Secretaries". Some people believe that the legend of Xu Fudong's crossing to Japan is a product of Japan around the 10th century, and was not first proposed by Chinese. Xu Fu was only visiting the islands in bohai Bay at that time, and his deeds, relics, and cemeteries in Japan were all fictitious for posterity.
In addition, some scholars believe that in history, there was indeed a matter of Xu Fudong crossing, but Xu Fu did not go to Japan, but went to the Americas, because the time of Xu Fudongdu coincided with the rise of the Maya civilization in the Americas, and Japan and Chinese mainland were so close that they did not need to spend huge sums of money to arrive in a few years.
Some scholars even believe that the navigation technology at that time was backward, and Xu Fu's fleet encountered a big wind and wave, and all of them were destroyed. For more than 2,000 years, there has been no convincing answer to where Xu Fudongdu went, and it is still debated.
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