Why did Japan retain the culture of the Tang Dynasty, but China did? What exactly was Tang Dynasty orthodoxy? This is a highly controversial topic. The Japanese proudly proclaim that "the orthodoxy of the Great Tang is in Japan", while the Chinese do not think so. Did China abandon these cultures, or did Japan misinterpret Tang culture as it really was? Let's go back in history to find the answer to this mystery. The Tang Dynasty was indeed the golden age of Chinese culture, and the thriving capital city of Chang'an gave birth to countless amazing cultural treasures. Why have those once easily accessible lifestyles and entertainment methods disappeared into the land of China in the long years of precipitation? And why is Japan able to "pick up" and "preserve" these unique cultural factors?
1. The food culture nurtured in the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty
The Tang Empire, which was once prosperous, had a strong national strength and developed culture. At that time, Chang'an, the capital, was full of businessmen, rich in products, and very prosperous. There are all kinds of delicacies from the Tang Dynasty, and the most unforgettable of them is the Yusheng that originated in the previous dynasty but reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty.
Yusheng, as the name suggests, is a sashimi dish made from fresh, live fish. It can be traced back to ancient times, when the ancestors lived along the coast and made a living from fishing, and had to eat the fresh fish they caught alive to quench their thirst. Gradually, this way of eating spread and became an authentic folk snack. By the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, Yusheng had been refined and exported to the capital.
At that time, in Chang'an City, Yusheng was everywhere. Street stalls, palace imperial meals, all of which are based on this. The aristocratic families even regarded Yusheng as a status symbol, and rushed to provide Yusheng to guests to show off their wealth. Over time, under the praise of the poetry and praise of the literati and writers, Yusheng's reputation went from the folk to the scholars, and became a very prestigious delicacy.
Li Bai once described in his poem "Qian Tang Lifting Wine and Food" that when he and his friends were having a good time, the delicacies were placed on a table: "The raw fish and jade are flying red dust, and the palace flowers are stepping on the spring yin." The poet used the words "raw fish and jade" to describe the freshness and deliciousness of this dish and the pleasant taste. And another great poet Du Fu also wrote in "The Golden Wisp Garden: "The jade scales are fresh in spring, and the dragon and tiger stand on the golden hook." Both of them have a lot of praise for Yu Sheng, which shows the respect of his status.
In addition to the poets' praises, the cooking secrets of the imperial chefs in the imperial palace also have special records of the preparation method of yusheng. In addition to freshly caught fish, soy sauce and ginger are essential ingredients. Fresh fish is thinly sliced and served with condiments such as soy sauce and ginger. This seemingly simple dish actually requires a high degree of tenderness in the ingredients. If the fish is a little old and has a bad taste, it will be difficult to swallow.
2. Sending Tang Envoys: A medium for Japan to learn Tang culture
Since the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, China and Japan have carried out frequent cultural exchanges. Throughout the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese government sent Tang missions to Chang'an many times, hoping to take this opportunity to get a glimpse of the essence of the Central Plains civilization and introduce advanced systems and culture to the country.
The establishment of the Tang envoys originated in 607 AD, when Japan was in turmoil and wars were raging, and the government and the opposition did not want to be able to emulate the powerful Sui Dynasty and achieve national unity. Thus, under the auspices of Emperor Suiko, Japan sent Sui envoys to China for the first time. After nearly a year's journey, the Sui envoys finally arrived at Daxingcheng, the capital city at that time, and studied the system, culture and etiquette of the Sui Dynasty in depth. Due to the warm reception and favor of the Sui Dynasty, the Sui envoys returned to China and fully disseminated what they had learned and seen, which promoted great reforms in Japan.
Just when the Sui Dynasty had just been overthrown, Japan sent three more missions to the Tang Dynasty, namely in the Wude period, the vertical arch period and the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. Both the size of the mission and the length of the visit were unprecedented. Among them, the most famous is the Tang Dynasty mission sent in the twentieth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty (732). This group of envoys to the Tang Dynasty consisted of more than 100 people, including Gong Mu, the small vassal king of the Bohai Kingdom, and Chi'er of the same sect, who set out from Japan, passed through the Korean Peninsula, and finally arrived safely in Chang'an City three years later.
In Chang'an, the Tang envoys were sent to learn the advanced culture, systems and skills of the Tang Dynasty in an all-round way. Chang'an, as the cultural center of the East, has brought together countless talented people and given birth to a large number of cultural treasures. The envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty were eager to learn the knowledge of calligraphy, medicine, astronomical calendar, Buddhism and other fields, and at the same time asked the locals for advice on their way of life and studied the way of clothing, food, housing and transportation. Not only that, but they also brought back to Japan many objects and customs that were popular in Chang'an City, hoping to spread and promote them in their own countries.
In addition to humbly learning art from important members of the imperial court, the Tang envoys also visited many literati and nobles. Through daily exchanges and gatherings, they gradually became familiar with the living habits and customs of Chang'an people. During the banquet, they either appreciated poetry and songs, tasted delicacies, or observed skills and games, and had a clear understanding of the cultural life of Chang'an. On the eve of their final departure from Beijing, it is a pity that they can only take a small part of their daily necessities with them, while most of the cultural relics and skills can only be transmitted back to China through memory.
After three years of study and living experience, the Tang envoys had a mixture of love and hatred for Chang'an City, longing for the splendid culture there, but also fearing that they would never be able to experience it again after the passage of time. When he returned to Japan, what he had seen and learned was recorded in a detailed report, which led to a new cultural movement in Japan. From then on, Japan began to learn and introduce Tang culture on a large scale, whether it was clothing, food, architecture, poetry, games, and entertainment, all of which were borrowed from the Tang Dynasty, and this trend continued until the Heian period.
3. Japanese "Tang Style": Distorted Cultural Inheritance
Although the Tang Dynasty mission tried its best to spread the cultural essence of the Tang Dynasty to Japan, after passing through many time and space barriers, these cultural elements eventually underwent some mutations and distortions. Just as the Japanese "sashimi" is very different from the Tang Dynasty's "Yusheng", in other areas such as clothing, the Japanese "Tang style" has long deviated from the true Tang Dynasty fashion.
Sashimi dishes were popular in the capital during the Tang Dynasty and were expensive as a meal for guests, but in Japan, it shed its noble cloak and degenerated into a common snack. According to the practice of the imperial dining room in the Tang Dynasty, in addition to raw fish, the ingredients of yusheng also need to add soy sauce, ginger and other condiments, and the production is exquisite and elegant. Japanese sashimi, on the other hand, is rough and straightforward, simply slicing raw fish and simply topping it with soy sauce or sesame oil, and the taste is nowhere near as healthy and rich as yusheng.
In addition to this, even the combination of utensils is very different. The Tang people pay attention to the exquisite texture of the utensils, the shape of the utensils is ingenious, and the magnificent tableware makes the food delicious and ornamental; The Japanese, on the other hand, are known for their simplicity, and ornaments such as vinegar bottles and chopstick holders make the presentation of sashimi look a little rough. It can be seen that although the essence of both foods is "sashimi", the Japanese-style sashimi has completely deviated from the true face of yusheng, which originated in the Tang Dynasty.
In addition to the food, Japan's inheritance of the Tang system in terms of clothing is also distorted and biased. Although the "vibration sleeves" and "hinges" born in the Heian period are borrowed from the style of Tang costumes in appearance, they have gradually drifted away from the true meaning of the Tang system.
For example, the most popular clothing for women in the Tang Dynasty was a cross-collared straight jacket with a deep coat underneath and a jacket on the outside. The collar is buttoned at the front of the neck to cover the neck, and the blouse is split on the placket to cover the entire chest, which can be described as a rather conservative and dignified dress. However, the Japanese viri-sleeve has a collar that reaches the collarbone, exposing part of the snow shoulders, and the sleeves are long to the ground, and the shape is elegant and open, which is completely different from the simplicity and dignity of women in the Tang Dynasty.
Looking at the hinge buttons, it is a kind of men's belt designed by the Japanese to imitate Tang costumes. In the Tang system, this kind of belt mainly played the role of covering the lower body and fixing the clothes, so it was very simple and plain. However, in Japan, it was carved and inscribed with patterns that represented status, and it was more of a status symbol than clothing. It can be seen that although Japan imitated the old appearance of the Tang Dynasty in form, its internal aesthetic concepts and cultural connotations have gradually drifted away from those of the Tang Dynasty.
In addition to clothing and food, there are also many misinterpretations of the inheritance of the Tang system in the Japanese lifestyle. For example, the well-known "tatami mat" originated from the custom of the Tang people sitting on the ground. However, in order to save space in a small room, the Japanese have raised and strengthened the straw mats that can be used as cushions and couches, which has become a characteristic of Japanese homes. Although this practice comes from the tradition of "sitting on the ground", it has greatly deviated from the original intention of the Tang people.
Elimination and retention in the context of cultural progress
In the long course of history, the development process of any culture will inevitably experience obsolescence and preservation. Some cultural elements may be discarded because they are out of date, and some will be replaced by new things, and only those unique and profound cultural essences can penetrate time and space and continue endlessly.
It is for this reason that China and Japan have very different practices in preserving the cultural heritage of the Tang Dynasty. In China, many of the customs of the Tang Dynasty will eventually be replaced by new things in the flood of the times, but in Japan, due to the remoteness of its geographical location and the influence of cultural conservatism, it has been able to retain the Tang style relatively intact.
It is not difficult to find that the culture of the Tang Dynasty existed almost as a "living fossil" in Japan, but it has long been smoothed out on the land of China. The root cause of this phenomenon can also be traced back to the development of China after the Tang Dynasty.
After the Tang Dynasty, after the division and unification of five dynasties and ten kingdoms, China ushered in a new round of cultural development during the Northern Song Dynasty. At that time, the mansion and the streets of the city were full of tables and chairs, and the old habit of sitting on the floor on the floor gradually disappeared. At the same time, some new utensils with ingenuity also came into being during this period, such as tables and chairs, all of which subverted the lifestyle of the Tang Dynasty.
Due to the great change in lifestyle, the food culture also quietly changed during this period. Wine-making technology reached its peak in the Northern Song Dynasty, and wine and delicacies became a part of people's lives. At the same time, the requirements for the dishes themselves are also getting higher and higher, and cooking techniques such as frying, vinegaring, and sugar stewing are emerging in an endless stream. In contrast, the prevalent yusheng and the way it was made in the Tang Dynasty naturally seemed slightly monotonous, and was gradually abandoned by the new era.
Time passed, the Northern Song Dynasty was immediately destroyed by the Jin people, the Great Song Dynasty changed several times, and the cultural development was also blocked. By the Yuan Dynasty, under the influence of Mongol rule, a series of new things followed, and the aftermath of the Tang Dynasty had disappeared without a trace. New delicacies such as barbecue, hot pot, and sauerkraut have become popular in the world, with a unique flavor of the Yuan Dynasty.
In Japan, a distant island country, people have been conservative in preserving the culture of the Tang Dynasty and have never been able to break through the framework of that era. Perhaps it is this stubborn conservatism that allows us to find some clues of Tang Dynasty culture in Japan today. Although these relics may no longer have their original appearance, they have also exuded a unique charm and yearning for them over time.
5. Time and space barriers: Japan's limitations in borrowing from Tang
Looking at the huge differences between China and Japan when they borrowed from the culture of the Tang Dynasty, it is not difficult to find that the gap between time and space is the root cause of this phenomenon.
The remoteness of the geographical location has led to a significant lag in the transplantation of Tang in Japan. At the height of the Tang Dynasty, the culture of the Central Plains had reached an unprecedented peak, but it took a considerable amount of time for this cultural wave to eventually spread to the distant Japanese archipelago. It often took several years from the departure of the Tang envoys to their return to China, and they may not be able to understand the changes of the Tang Dynasty in time during this period.
In addition, the process of cultural transmission itself is also full of many obstacles, such as language barriers, differences in living environments, etc., which make it difficult for the Tang envoys to learn Tang culture. Even if they tried their best to ask the people of Chang'an for customs and etiquette in the Jijiying camp, they could not completely restore the original appearance of the Tang Dynasty. Taking a step back, even if they had experienced it in Chang'an for a long time and knew the way of life of the Tang people well, when they returned to Japan, these experiences would inevitably be distorted and deformed under the influence of national culture.
In addition, the lag in the development of Japanese culture is also the reason for the limitations of its transplantation of Tang Dynasty culture. As the most advanced ancient civilization in the world, the Tang Dynasty was far ahead of Japan in the development of science and technology and culture. Although the envoys sent to the Tang Dynasty had the enthusiasm to learn, they would inevitably be unable to fully digest and absorb the essence of the Tang system due to the constraints of their own cultural development level.
For example, the development of medicine during the Tang Dynasty was quite advanced, but due to the serious lag of medical theory in Japan at that time, it was difficult for them to fully grasp the subtleties and mysteries when learning Tang Dynasty medical techniques. For example, the printing and papermaking techniques of the Tang Dynasty had been perfected at that time, but in Japan, these skills still remained at the level of small workshops of handicraft workshops. The various cultural development gaps have led to insurmountable obstacles for the Japanese to borrow from the Tang Dynasty civilization.
In the final analysis, Japan's ability to retain the traces of Tang culture is more due to its geographical isolation and cultural conservatism, rather than the conscious preservation of this cultural treasure. In contrast, the Chinese were aggressive, brave in innovation, constantly absorbing and assimilating advanced civilizations, and on this basis, pushing through the old and innovating, and finally making the culture of the Tang Dynasty lose its original trace in the torrent.