In October 107 AD, in the first year of Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the Empress Dowager Deng Sui was in power, a very special delegation came to Luoyang.
This mission came from the Wa Kingdom on the other side of the sea.
After the Japanese delegation arrived in Luoyang, the Empress Dowager Deng Sui and Emperor An of Han entertained them in accordance with normal diplomatic etiquette. For this Wa State, the Eastern Han Dynasty still has some understanding. Because as early as the reign of Liu Xiu, this Japanese state once sent an envoy to the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Moreover, when Liu Xiu met with them, he also gave them a 'Seal of the King of the Wa Kingdom'. This red gold square seal, which still exists to this day, is in the collection of the Fukuoka City Museum in Japan today.
Because the Wa Kingdom is too far away from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and there is also a sea in between. Therefore, it is not easy for the Japanese delegation to come to Luoyang. At that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty also gave a high-standard reception to the arrival of the Japanese mission.
However, after this mission came, the Eastern Han Dynasty was a little speechless. Because the gifts brought by this Japanese mission are really special.
Missions from other countries come and basically send some rare treasures, or things that can represent the culture of their own countries. Things may not be very valuable, but they must represent their intentions to befriend the Han Dynasty. For example, during the reign of Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, the country of Dunnin in Southeast Asia sent a rhinoceros and an elephant. On the rest side, lions and ostriches were sent.
And when Deng Sui was in power, Europe sent a very powerful magician through the Silk Road. And after this magician came, many of his methods also inspired acrobatics and tricks on the Chinese side.
But in comparison, the 'gift' brought by this Japanese mission is very speechless.
They sent 160 valets.
This incident was not made up by later generations, but was clearly recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty! Moreover, there are also relevant records in many historical materials of the same era.
There is no record of Deng Sui's reaction at that time. But obviously, the Eastern Han Dynasty still tried its best to understand. The Eastern Han Dynasty also knew that the Wa State was not a big country, but a small country on the other side of the sea. Perhaps, people really don't have any special products that they can get their hands on, so they can only send some servants over to express their hearts.
In short, in the end, the visit of the mission was quite successful. On the Eastern Han side, they accepted the worship of the Japanese envoys, and also gave a return gift afterwards. On the side of the Wa Kingdom, he also hugged the thigh of the Eastern Han Dynasty again and got a lot of benefits.
This is the general situation of the visit of the Japanese delegation in the middle of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
When it comes to the Wa Kingdom, because of many historical reasons, everyone basically has no good feelings. But what many people may not know is that as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Wa Kingdom had sent many missions to the Central Plains to worship. Later, during the Three Kingdoms period, the Wa Kingdom also sent an embassy to continue to worship the Cao Wei regime.
So what kind of country was the early Wa Kingdom in history? What is the history of the early Wa Kingdom in history? And how did the Wa Kingdom and the Central Plains Dynasty begin to interact with each other in the first place?
This history can start with the origin of the Wa Kingdom.
In fact, there has been a great deal of controversy in the historiographical circles about the origin of the people of Japan. At present, the most accepted view by archaeologists and anthropologists is that in the long history of antiquity, the nomadic peoples of Northeast Asia, the ancient Central Plains people, the Wuyue people in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Malays in small amounts, and the Indochinese people in Indochina have arrived in Japan.
Eventually, these ancient people merged with each other and eventually formed the Japanese.
Then, for a long time, because the Japanese region was isolated from the sea, it was difficult to communicate with other civilizations. Therefore, in the long history, the level of civilization in Japan has actually been relatively backward. Until the late Spring and Autumn period in the Central Plains, they did not develop a written language. Culture used to stick knots with rope as a way to make some basic expressions.
This period of history is known as the 'Jomon Period' in Japanese history.
According to the current anthropological standards, this level of civilization is generally classified as the 'Paleolithic civilization'. In other words, when the Central Plains had already selected the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons, and Confucius had begun to travel around the world, Japan was just about to come out of the 'Paleolithic Cultural Age' and enter the New Cultural Era.
And then, as the Central Plains entered the Warring States Period, the Central Plains fought every day. This has led to many low-level people, in order to live, have to go to sea to escape the war. In the process, many people from the Central Plains arrived in Japan. And after these Central Plains people passed, they also brought rice, writing, and some basic production technology.
Therefore, from the Warring States period onwards, the level of civilization in Japan began to rise rapidly, and gradually entered the stage of the 'new era of civilization'. If you put it on the Central Plains, it is equivalent to our tribal era.
In the history of Japan, this period of history is known as the 'Yayoi period'.
Then, around the time of the Han Dynasty, with the introduction of more and more production technologies, the level of civilization in Japan was raised again, and the concept of the state gradually appeared.
Of course, the so-called countries on the Japanese side at that time did not refer to the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, which were large unified countries. Rather, it is more similar to the Xia Dynasty or even before the Xia Dynasty, the kind of city-state that has just broken away from the tribal state is basically very small.
It was also at this time that some countries in Japan began to look across the sea.
Because they know that on the other side of the sea, there are more advanced production technologies that can make their lives better.
At this point, we have to pause for history and explain geography first. Otherwise, it is not easy for us to understand many of the historical situations that followed.
As an island nation, Japan is roughly divided into four large islands: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.
And these four large islands, the closest to the mainland, is actually Kyushu Island. On the island of Kyushu, the closest to the mainland is Fukuoka Prefecture, which houses the 'Golden Seal of the Wakuni Kingdom'.
On the map, Fukuoka Prefecture and Buzan on the Korean Peninsula face each other across the sea, with only one Tsushima Strait in between. And in the middle of the strait, there are also large islands such as Iki Island and Tsushima Island.
From Fukuoka to Busan, the distance in a straight line is only 200 kilometers. And in between, there are two large islands that can be docked. Therefore, until the Ming Dynasty, this passage was the only passage from Japan to the mainland.
And if the Japanese envoy wanted to go to the Eastern Han Dynasty to worship, it naturally had to take a boat first, through the Tsushima Strait, and arrive on the Korean Peninsula. Then from the Korean Peninsula, little by little, to Luoyang.
After understanding this geographical situation, we can easily understand a lot of the history that follows.
Excuse me, given that there are a large number of small countries in Japan, and the civilization level of these small countries is very backward, which place is the easiest to develop first? The answer is simple: the area around Fukuoka Prefecture, that is, the easiest place to reach the mainland.
At that time, it was said that dozens of countries existed throughout the interior of Kyushu. The largest of these countries is called Yamadai Province, which is located in the northeastern part of Kyushu Island. This Yamatai country is equivalent to the overlord of the entire Kyushu region.
And in the northwest of Kyushu Island, that is, in the area of Fukuoka Prefecture, there is also a 'slave country'.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was this slave country that took the initiative to send an embassy to the Eastern Han Dynasty for worship, and later met Liu Xiu. According to the literal meaning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, 倭 means 'Shun'er'. Therefore, for these people who came from afar and were very obedient, the Eastern Han Dynasty called them 'Wa Kingdom'.
Later, the name Wakoku was extended to the entire region of Japan. For the Central Plains Dynasty, all the countries in the entire Japanese region were 'Wa Kingdoms'.
One more thing to say here, before the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, the word 倭 did not have a derogatory meaning, it was just a simple literal meaning. It wasn't until the Ming Dynasty that many ronins from Japan crossed the sea to the southeast and made waves and became 'Japanese robbers'. From this time on, the word 倭 had a derogatory meaning.
This is a typical word, which was originally relatively neutral, but later became a derogatory term for historical reasons.
In this way, after the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Japanese delegation sent an envoy to the Eastern Han Dynasty and was received by Liu Xiu. Later, during the reign of Emperor He of Han, the Wa Kingdom sent an envoy again to meet Emperor He of Han and Deng Sui. And the king of the Wa country who came to visit at that time was called Shuai Sheng.
For many years after that, the Wa Kingdom in this area of Kyushu Island also sent envoys to the Central Plains many times to worship. Because at that time, on the side of Kyushu Island, Yamatai was the strongest. So later, it was basically this Yamatai country that sent an embassy to come and worship. Later, in the Three Kingdoms and the Western Jin Dynasty, there were records of the Yamatai Kingdom sending an embassy to worship.
But later, this Evil Horse Taiwan Kingdom gradually disappeared. Because there was no Xi of recording history in Japan at that time, we don't know how Yamatai didn't exist until today. Some people believe that the Yamatai Kingdom was later destroyed by the Yamato Kingdom. It is also believed that the Yamatai Kingdom later developed into the Yamato Kingdom.
In this process, a large amount of culture and production technology from the Central Plains region flowed into Japan, rapidly raising the level of civilization in Japan. At the same time, because the funeral culture of the Han Dynasty was particularly prominent, this culture was later brought directly to Japan.
So next, from the Three Kingdoms period to the late Northern and Southern Dynasties, a large number of ancient tombs were built in Japan during this period of history. So this period of history, in the history of Japan, is called the Kofun period.
In the Kofun period, these countries in the Japanese region began to fight each other as they grew stronger. During this period, a country called 'Yamato' gradually emerged. The original territory of this Yamato province was probably in the area of present-day Nara, Japan.
But later, this Yamato kingdom gradually rose. By the end of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Yamato Kingdom gradually unified most of Japan.
After the Yamato Kingdom unified Japan, it continued to send envoys to the Central Plains. In the next 100 years, on the Central Plains side, history developed from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Tang Dynasty. On the Japanese side, through many missions, they learned Xi the advanced culture of the Central Plains, and gradually shifted from a slave society to a feudal society.
With the transformation of Japan's social system, the so-called Kofun period ended, and the Asuka period began.
Especially in the early Tang Dynasty, in order to complete the social transformation, the Japanese region began to carry out large-scale social reforms, which is known as the 'Taika Reform' in Japanese history. In the course of this reform, Japan completed social reforms, but at the same time, it also intensified the contradictions between the old classes.
So then, the rulers of Japan at that time began to gamble on the fortunes of the country. In order to divert domestic contradictions, they began to start a foreign war. It happened that the Tang Dynasty was quelling the Goguryeo Rebellion at that time, so the high-ranking rulers of Japan began to mobilize the strength of the whole country at this time, entered the Korean Peninsula, and began to fight against the Tang Dynasty army.
As a result, this time, the Japanese army met the famous Tang Dynasty general Liu Renliang. After a battle at the mouth of the Shirae River, Japan was almost defeated and returned. After this war, for the next thousand years, until the unification of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Japan did not dare to go to war against the Central Plains Dynasty.
This is the general situation of the Japanese envoys to worship the Eastern Han Dynasty.