Before reading this article, please click "Follow", which is convenient for you to discuss and share, and brings you a different sense of participation, thank you for your support.
Introduction:
As the only ancient country among the four ancient civilizations that has survived to this day, China's influence on neighboring countries has existed since ancient times, with China as the center to spread the flame of civilization to surrounding countries, so that the entire East Asian civilization always has a feeling of the same root and origin.
As a brighter star in the East Asian cultural circle, Japanese culture can be said to have more shadows of Chinese culture. Those familiar with Japanese culture may know that there is a unique surname in Japan, that is, "Qin".
This surname is easily reminiscent of the long-standing legend in China and Japan, that is, Qin Shi Huang ordered Xu Fu to travel east to Penglai Immortal Island to seek the elixir of immortality.
Although this story seems absurd, many people still want to believe that the origin of Japan may come from this, and even Japanese scholars have taken the initiative to suggest that their first emperor, Emperor Jinmu, is Xu Fu himself.
Although this is only hypothetical, the Qin family may really be related to the Qin Dynasty in our history.
First, the evolution of the legend of the "Qin people"
There are many legends about Penglai Immortal Island in China, and the most famous of these legends is that Qin Shi Huang asked Xu Fu to take thousands of boys and girls east to Penglai to find the elixir of immortality.
And this story is also recorded in the history of Sima Qian's Qin Shi Huang.
"Qi Ren Xu Shi and others wrote a book, and there were three sacred mountains in the sea of words, known as Penglai, Fangzhang, Yingzhou, and immortals lived there. Please fast and ask for it with children and boys. So he sent thousands of men and women from Xu City into the sea to seek immortals. ”
The above is the description of Xu Fu going to sea to seek medicine in Qin Shi Huang's book, and later a monk named Yichu in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period made a hypothesis that many people in later generations believed.
The country of Japan is also known as the Wakoku, in the East China Sea. During the Qin Dynasty, Xu Fu put five hundred virgin boys and five hundred virgin girls to this country. Today's characters are just like Chang'an....... There are mountains more than a thousand miles northeast, named Fushan, also known as Penglai, its mountains are steep, the sea is on three sides, one is towering, there is fire smoke on the top, there are treasures flowing down in the day, but on the night, often listening to music. Xu Fu stopped here, called Penglai, and his descendants still know the Qin clan.
With the emergence of this hypothesis, many scholars have pursued it, such as the famous Great Confucian Ouyang Xiu during the Northern Song Dynasty, who expressed his belief in this hypothesis.
Later, during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, a Japanese monk Kukai also mentioned a Xu Fu Shrine in Japan to Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty.
Later, in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, some people studied this hypothesis and put forward a positive answer, but to this day, many people still believe this legend.
But as we continue to study and understand history, opinions begin to differ as to whether Xu Fu went to Japan or not.
Some people say that Xu Fu did not go to sea but went northeast to the Korean Peninsula to escape, while others say that Xu Fu miraculously arrived on the American continent after going to sea.
Second, how exactly did the "Qin people" arrive in Japan
If Xu Fudongdu and the arrival of the boys and girls in Japan are only legends after all, and there is no conclusive conclusion, then whether the Japanese Qin family is also made up by legends.
This is not the case, in Japan there are many branches of the Qin family alone, and there is such a favored courtier as Qin Hesheng under the famous Shotoku prince in Japan, and in the early days, there was the emperor Qin Jiu Duke (太秦公) who was specifically responsible for managing the Qin people.
And in the Yayoi period of Japan, there have been traces of the Qin people, who brought Japan a variety of advanced technical experience such as farming, sericulture, weaving, pottery, smelting, forging, construction, etc., and also laid the foundation for the cultural style of Japan.
So when and where did these Qin people arrive in Japan. We can look at the history of Japan.
Although it is a little rough and magical, it can finally provide a new idea for modern people. In the historical records of Japan, the Qin people did not come from the Central Plains, but migrated to Japan from the Korean Peninsula.
At that time, the leader of the Qin people was called Gongyuejun, and he led the "Qin people" of 120 prefectures from Baekje on the Korean Peninsula, arrived and annexed to Japan under the reception of the Japanese emperor at the time.
And where did these people come from, whether they are the people of my Central Plains, or are they Korean natives, the Three Kingdoms History, mentioned in the Wei Shu, the world rebelled against Qin, and the Yan, Qi, and Zhao people avoided tens of thousands of people in Korea.
From this sentence, we can have a general judgment that when the Qin Dynasty was established, the world was in chaos, the people were not living, and there were often wars, and the deaths and injuries were one city and one place, hundreds of people.
In order to avoid disaster, war and death, some people chose to leave their hometowns, leaving their homeland with their relatives and friends, and arrived on the Korean Peninsula, a place that the Qin army could not reach.
This better explains why these people were able to bring some practical skills to Japan at that time, because people who escaped disasters had to travel long distances.
Then those who can survive on the road will have certain technical means and those who have the ability to make ends meet will definitely account for the majority. And these displaced people have something to do with the Bow Moon Jun who moved to Japan after all.
This is evidenced by archaeologists who have excavated a large number of copper utensils and weapons forged by the craftsmanship of the Yan, Zhao and Qi kingdoms in Baekje and Japan.
This also proves the authenticity of the contents of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of Wei, and the excavation of these objects in Japan also indicates that some of those exiles also went to Japan to settle.
In addition to the doubtful Xu Fu, the only large number of displaced people who went to Japan at that time was Bow Moon Jun, who set out from Baekje.
It is also with this evidence that we can confirm that the Qin people already existed in Japan during the Yayoi period in early Japan, and laid a certain technical foundation for the development of later generations in Japan.
Later, under the order of Emperor Saga, Japan revised the "New Surname Record", which mentioned the Qin family and called him a descendant of Qin Shi Huang.
It's just that this statement has not been recognized among scholars, and it is believed that there is a big fallacy, but everyone agrees that the ancestors of the Qin family are from the Central Plains.
Third, the influence of the "Qin people" on Japanese culture
If you want to mention what kind of influence the "Qin people" brought to Japanese culture, we must mention what the Qin people brought to Japan, and we mentioned the technology brought by the Qin people before, among which smelting, forging, and construction are the biggest impact of the Central Plains culture on Japan.
The first is smelting and forging, in fact, these two technologies can be generally grouped into one category.
As we all know, the role of tools is undoubtedly the most important one in the development of human civilization, and advanced smelting technology is the key to whether a tool is useful and durable.
The Central Plains culture, which has experienced the baptism of the Warring States Period, has far surpassed the development of smelting technology than Japan at that time, and it is not an exaggeration to say that we have helped Japan save decades of development time in science and technology.
The second is the influence of the "Qin people" on Japan in terms of architectural style, and this influence has been used to this day. Anyone who has traveled to Japan or learned about Japanese culture may know a little about Japan's large temples.
What everyone does not know may be that in the history of Japan, such large-scale buildings were only after Gongyuejun led this "Qin people" to Japan, and they had such an architectural style.
In contrast, we can look back at ourselves, and the two most famous engineering marvels in Chinese history, the Great Wall and the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, both came from the reign of Qin Shi Huang.
It can be said that the first emperor at that time was very fond of huge construction projects, which was enough to affect the people and craftsmen at that time.
Facts also proved that after the "Qin people" crossed east to Japan, Japan at that time began to imitate the huge projects of the Qin Dynasty, such as the famous temple built by Qin Hesheng for the emperor at that time, Beeoka Temple (Guanglong Temple).
Another example is Nagaoka-kyo, which was built during the Nara period, which was built by Fujiwara seeds with the assistance of the "Qin people".
Later, the capital was moved to Heian-kyo, and the wife of Fujiwara Kokuro Mario, the first palace envoy, was the daughter of Qinjima Mari. And the surname Qin Island is one of the branches of the Qin family.
Examples abound, and behind Japan's tall buildings, there is always the shadow of the "Qin people".
Of course, when it comes to architecture, many people may still feel strange, so the Japanese belief in Inari God, I believe many people will feel more familiar, the belief in Inari God was the belief of all "Qin people" at the beginning.
Because of the important position of the "Qin people" in Japan and the image of a certain pioneer, the belief in Inari God was gradually accepted by all Japanese.
Gradually, with the development of industry and commerce in Japan, this former god of agriculture can also begin and be defined as the god of industry and commerce and the god of housing guardians.
And the belief in Inari God also gradually entered the city from the very beginning of the countryside, and became the faith of many samurai classes and even higher classes.
It was also under the multifaceted influence of the Qin people that Japanese culture became what it is now.
Epilogue:
The influence of "Qin people" on Japanese culture has been almost said, but people who are new to the term "Qin people" or Qin may still feel strange.
There are many Japanese surnames that we are familiar with, but few of the surnames we know have the shadow of Qin. As far as we know, such as the surnames Oda, Asakura, Miyoshi, Tokugawa, Toyotomi and so on during the Sengoku period of Japan.
However, no surnames with Qin characters were found, in fact, many "Qin people" with continuous intermarriage and the changes of the times, their surnames are not so obvious.
And those Japanese families who call themselves descendants of the "Qin people", their surnames will definitely have familiar existences, such as the Shimadzu clan, the Nagamune Ibu clan, the Haneda clan, the Hata, the Sanbayashi clan, the Nagaoka clan and so on.
Therefore, the speculation that the Japanese "Qin people" arrived in Japan and settled there from Xu Fudongdu to Gongyuejun. Such stories and legends, believe it or not, the benevolent sees the wise, here is just a family word, just take a look.
Bibliography:
"On the Migration of Chinese to the Korean Peninsula in Ancient Times and the Formation of the "Qin People" in Japan"
"History"
History of Qin
"New Surname Directory"