Directory_and_Chronicle_1850 — Page 159

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Notices of Japan in the Hai-kwok Tú Chí. MARCH,

A Notice of Foreign Countries, illustrated with Maps and De- signs. Chapter XII.

The Book of the Southeastern Ocean; in which the insular states omitted in the original work are supplied.

Here follows an abstract of history, regarding the Japanese Islands. Nothing has been transcribed from the annalists of the dynasties pre- ceding the Ming, as they have no reference to the maritime defenses. Chronicles of the Ming.

Jih-pun (Japan) was in ancient times the dependent state of

Wo

o; in the period Hánhang of the Tang dynasty, A. D. 670, its name was changed to Jik-pun (the Day-spring), from its proximity to the rising of the sun in the Eastern Ocean. It is a land surrounded by water; and only in its north-eastern extremity are there high mountains. It contains five ki or principalities,† seven circuits or departments, and three islands, which are subdivided mito 115 prefectures, comprising 587 districts: The smaller states [adjoining it] are all subject to its rule: the lesser of these are 100 ♬ in extent, the larger not above 500; the least populous have 1000, the most, 10,000 or 20,000 inhabitants. The sovereignty is hereditary, ‡ and the ministry also hold place by virtue of descent.

Until the time of the Sung dynasty (950—1280), there had been communication under every dynasty between the Central Kingdom and Japan, which had paid tribute regularly, without any interruption; but after this, although the founder of the Yuen (Kublai khan) sent envoys several times to require it, it did not arrive, and he according- ly gave orders to Fán Wan-hủ and others to take a fleet with a hun- dred thousand men, and reduce Japan to subjection; these got as far as Wú-lung shin, where they encountered a gale in which the whole force was lost, and there was then no more intercourse between the two countries, until the close of the Yuen (1366).

At the commencement of the Ming, the Japanese availed themselves of the circumstance of the troops of the Central Kingdom being other- wise engaged, to make frequent piratical descents upon the maritime districts. In the 2d year of Hungwú (1368), an envoy was dispatch- ed with an imperial letter [of greeting], who was withal to inform

*

Hanhang. In the reign of Káutsung, during which the name of the period was changed thirteen times. Christianity is supposed to have been introduced into China by the Nestorians under this monarch, A. D. 654—678.

↑ Kf in classically the domain of the Emperor, 1000 in extent.-See Book

of Odes.

¦ Lit. the sovereign is hereditarily surnamed w. ng, the king.