ABSTRACT
JAPAN AS DESCRIBED IN CHINESE HISTORY.-Though the conquest of the eastern districts by the Emperor Jimmu marks the beginning of the chronicles of the Japanese people, the history of their civilization must be said to have commenced from about A.D. 300, when the Emperor Ojin located his temporary palace at Osaka, and the next emperor, Nintoku, selected the same place as his capital. In the early stages, when Korea had not yet consolidated into a kingdom and chieftains were ruling independently over their respective tribe, the southern part of the peninsular, afterwards called Mimana, and comprising the districts now covered by Fusan, Kinkai, and Shinshu, was Japanese territory. Shiragi on the north, Kudara on the east, and Koma at the northern extremity were all in awe of Japan and preserved friendly relations, in consequence of which frequent and close intercourse followed. The influence of Chinese civilization reached no farther than Peking in the north, and Japan and Korea, with the extensive wild plain of Manchuria lying between, remained untouched. But with the establishment of order, and with the progress attained by the Chinese people under the Han Dynasties, their civilization gradually found its way through northern Korea. In course of time it invaded Japan, where a commingling of the refined continental civilization with the primitive native civilization was effected. However, this was not the first occasion on which Japan came into touch with China; in his chapter on " The Eastern Barbarians," Fan Kua, a Chinese historian who flourished early in the 3rd century, writes thus of Japan ;-
VOL. I. B
The above description may furnish a rough idea as to the conditions of the Japanese people living a primitive mode of life consisting chiefly of hunting and fishing. In the same book mention is made also of the King of " Idsu," to the effect that the Emperor Kobu formally conferred upon a chieftain the title of king in compensation for the homage which he paid by special envoy to the Emperor of Han in the 2nd year of Chung Yuan. As Idsu is supposed to be at the southern end of Japan, it may correspond with the districts now covered by Higo and Chikuzen Provinces and their neighbourhood.
