Chinese influence on Japanese culture refers to the impact of Chinese influences transmitted through or originating in China on Japanese institutions, culture, language and society. Many aspects of traditional Japanese culture such as Taoism, Buddhism, astronomy, language and food have been profoundly influenced by China over the course of centuries.
The conflicts caused by Chinese expansion in the later stages of the Jōmon Period, circa 400 BCE, led to mass migration to Japan. [1] The migrants primarily came from Continental Asia, more specifically the Korean Peninsula and Southern China, which brought over "new pottery, bronze, iron and improved metalworking techniques", which helped to improve the pre-existing farming tools and weaponry. [1] [2]
The influence of Chinese culture was an indirect effect of communications by Korea, around the 1st to the 5th century AD Korea had already incorporated major elements of Chinese civilization into its own culture and from there mediated the interchanges between China and Japan. [3]
The traditional Japanese kimono can be traced back to the 7th century when the Japanese Imperial Court started to wear garments adapted from Chinese clothing styles. [4] [5] Gofuku, a term for silk kimonos, refers to the dress of the ''Go'' (呉), or ''Wu'' in Chinese, which recalls the Wu dynasty. [6] [5]
The Han Shu written in 82 AD (also known as The Book of Han or History of Han) states that the Wa sent envoys and tribute to the Jùn (Chinese commandery) in northern parts of Korea. [1] To expand further, the Wa was a confederation of minor southern and western states of Japan, with an emphasis on the state Yamato. According to the Han Shu, this was the first textual reference made to Japan in reference to Sino-Japanese interaction. Another Chinese source that documents Chinese influence on Japanese culture is Wei Chih, written in 297 AD (also known as History of Wei ). It states that Chinese and Japanese interactions of tribute originates back to 57 and 107 AD. Prominent figures of authority, such as Queen Himiko, sent Japanese ambassadors to parts that belonged to the Chinese in around 189–248 D. [1] That continued in the Kofun period, as envoys continued to be transmitted from Japan into China. In 502 AD, eleven new envoys were sent to China. That was, according to Mark Cartwright, the emergence of Yamato Japan as an international diplomatic state. [1]
In comparison to Korea, Japan controlled its intake of cultural influence from China, also known as "cultural borrowing". This meant that it "acknowledged the cultural superiority of the Chinese Middle Kingdom" but always held onto its political independence. [3] In addition to controlling the process of cultural borrowing, Japan also remained selective in considering the ideas and institutions that it wanted to adopt.
China's continued influence on Japanese culture can be perceived in modern times perhaps most clearly in the field of gastronomy of which Japanese Chinese cuisine is an example. Influence from Taiwan was also felt with the popularity of bubble tea in the late 2010s.[ citation needed ]
Daoism/Taoism is a set of religious and philosophical beliefs that explores the ideas of rituals, scriptures all while the Dao/Tao is considered. It can be traced back to the 3rd century BCE. [7] As a product of Chinese philosophers, it has made its way to Japan and thus was significantly changed as it became in contact with Japanese Culture. Originally, as Daoism developed in China was complex, multifaceted and a continuous recreation of new and old ideas. [8] Its form as it became integrated into Japanese culture was introduced as a part of the ritsuryō state. As a result, through textual pieces, Daoism marketed its way gradually into Japanese culture but differently from its original influence, which was Chinese Daoism.
There have been debates regarding which undefined elements of Daoism within "the Japanese religio-political landscape" belongs to history and traditions of China and which are merely an aspect of Daoism itself. [8] Author and research associate Gaynor Sekimori, argues that aspects such as cosmology, yin and yang, Wu Xing (the five phases), divination, astronomy/astrology and the Yijīng were originally a part of Chinese cultural heritage, which thus influenced Daoism.
There has also been a level of uncertainty regarding Daoism on whether it is mostly Chinese culture or was only influenced by Daoism. Jonathan Smith claimed to distinguish what is part of Chinese heritage and that of Daoism itself and that some elements are "Daoist" and "Taoist-flavoured".
Building on the concept, the Japanese philosopher Miura Kunio distinguishes specific elements of Daoism as either belonging to the Chinese culture or as aspects transferred into the Japanese culture after the introduction of Daoism. [8] Kunio further claims that elements that were presented to Japan in the seventh century, such as "calendar-making, astronomy/astrology and divination", belonged to the Chinese culture. Elements such as beliefs of immortality, Daoist scriptures and the Kōshin cult were transferred into Japan as part of Daoism.
Now one of the largest world religions, Buddhism first emerged from India around 6th century BC. Buddhism has three major branches, which include Theravada ("Lesser Vehicle" Buddhism), Mahayana (or 'Greater Vehicle' Buddhism) and Vajrayana (Esoteric Buddhism or 'Diamond Vehicle'). Buddhism was brought over to Japan through China and Korea in 552 CE. [9]
Furthermore, Buddhism was encouraged by those in power, such as Prince Shōtoku. He argued that Buddhism was essential in "promoting Chinese ideas". Out of the three branches of Buddhism, it was the Mahayana that first became rooted in the Japanese culture. In particular, Chan Buddhism, a Chinese school of Mahayana, spread to Japan as Japanese Zen.
Another example of Chinese influence on Japanese religion is the introduction of Vajrayana Buddhism. In the early the Heian period, several Japanese monks who had studied religion in China returned and established Vajrayana Buddhism by the creation of Buddhist sects. [10] Specifically, two scholar monks, known as Saichō and Kūkai, helped to create the Tendai sect and Shingon sect. The Tendai sect was created in 805 by Saichō following his return from the Tang dynasty of China, and he helped to establish Vajrayana firmly.
Saichō then traveled to China for eleven months in 804 on the quest for the T'ien-t'ai (or Tiantai), the Chinese Buddhist School. [10] Saichō wanted to transfer the idea of the T'ien-t'ai Dharma heritage into Japan but to keep the authenticity of the original Chinese-based Buddhist school. In his final month in Ming-chou, Saichō went to Yüeh-chou to gather further religious texts concerning esoteric Buddhism (Vajrayana). There, he essentially met the priest Shun-hsiao, who informed and instructed him on Vajrayana Buddhism. After his visit to Yüeh-chou, Saichō retrieved Buddhist instruments related to rituals, paintings of the goddesses of Vajrayana, and 38 religious texts related to Mikkyō. In accordance to several pieces historical research, "both inside and outside the Tendai school demonstrates that Saichō encounter with Mikkyō in China was rather accidental". [10] Furthermore, according to the Japanese historian Kōyū Sonoda, Saichō's original plan was sending two disciples to do his research on the T'ien-t'ai, but it was changed last minute since Emperor Kanmu was able to persuade Saichō to pursue and lead the journey personally.
From there, Saichō helped to "pave the way" for the Shingon sect to be introduced in 806 by Kūkai. For both founders to benefit from the introduction of Buddhism, Saichō stood behind Kūkai and helped him get the mountain temple of Takaosan-ji, northwest of Kyoto, and make it into the original Shingon School. In return, Kūkai helped educate and train Saichō and his followers Vajrayana rituals. Furthermore, Kūkai also shared his Mikkyō texts, which he had gotten during his final trip to Yüeh-chou, China.
A professor at Doshisha University, Kazuhiko Miyajima, argues that Japan was heavily influenced by Chinese astronomy and astrology. [11] The Japanese learned about Chinese astronomy first from the Koreans, who had learned it directly from the Chinese. The influence of astronomy took roots in government offices as a direct influence of the Chinese model, which became known as "Onmyo no tsukasa". That office was in charge of specific information related to both astronomy and astrology, the same fields being part of Daoism. The four departments of the office were "divination by celestial omens, calendar-making time-keeping and yin-yan divination". [11] The responsibility of the departments was similar to the Chinese equivalents: T'ai shih chu and T'ai-pu shu.
In terms of cardinal direction, the orientation of the main streets in cities like Naniwa no miya and Heijo Kyo was achieved by "learning the Chinese way of surveying". [11]
In addition, Japanese star maps were influenced by Chinese astronomy, as several star maps in Japan held the same Chinese star names. They were created as direct copies from the Chinese, but only a few still remain popular. Shibukawa Harumi, known as the "first official astronomer of the Edo period", published two kinds of star maps, which were adapted from the traditional Chinese model, which came from Korea. [11] Some star maps were created by Takahashi Kageyasu and Ishizaka Joken and are still inspired by western astronomy, which essentially landed in Japan through China by the book "T'ienching huomen". The book's popularity in China was short-lived because of its simplification, excessive mistakes and inaccuracy, but it was immensely popular in Japan.
Kanji is the term for adopted Chinese characters used in written Japanese. The Chinese writing system influenced spoken Japanese language first and thus "provided key vehicles for intellectual creativity". [3] Its origin in Japan dates back to the Kofun period, and its introduction is believed to be between 300 and 710 AD. [12]
It is believed that the Japanese writing system came under influence by the Chinese through its written language. In the beginning, most writing in Japan was done by immigrant clerks who wrote in Chinese. [13] One individual in particular, known as Wani, helped to introduce the Chinese characters into Japan. Wani was a scholar that had arrived sometime during the late 4th century from one of the Korean kingdoms, Paekche (also known as Baekje). [12] He supposedly brought 11 volumes of Chinese writings with him to Japan. Wani remained in Japan and helped to inspire groups of scribes that later became known as the Fumi-no-obito. Literacy was rare and was limited to immigrant groups and their families during the 5th and the 6th centuries. The act of writing and learning Chinese was instigated in Japan in the early 5th century.
Within the 7th century, Japanese scholar-aristocrats began to learn Chinese reading and writing with the purpose of doing business. [13]
The adoption of Chinese characters was said to be challenging, but its outcome allowed Yamato Japan to establish a bureaucracy. It also helped Japanese authority figures gain control of clans and peasants. Moreover, the introduction of Chinese into Japanese broadened Japan's access to educational texts on ranging subjects, such as science, religion, art, and philosophy. Consequently, as Japanese students began to master Chinese, they could travel to China and thus continue to learn about the language and culture. [3]
It has been said that the introduction of Chinese characters and learning in the 4th century AD highlighted a grand "turning point in Japanese cultural development". [3]
Nakatomi no Kamatari created the clan known as Fujiwara in 645. It stayed in power until the 11th century, when the military class (or the samurai) assumed its position. After the Fujiwara clan, the Taika reforms were created in 646 and helped to create a new system of government, which was influenced by the Chinese model. [14] Land became purchased by the state and thus was to be redistributed fairly to all. The land reform was a gateway for "introducing the new tax system that was also adopted from China".
 | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2020) |
Many cultural items are part of Sino-Japanese heritage: here are a few examples:
Vajrayāna, also known as Mantrayāna, Mantranāya, Guhyamantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Tantric Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism, is a Buddhist tradition of tantric practice that developed in the Indian subcontinent and spread to Tibet, Nepal, other Himalayan states, East Asia, and Mongolia.
The Heian period is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō. Heian (平安) means "peace" in Japanese. It is a period in Japanese history when the Chinese influences were in decline and the national culture matured. The Heian period is also considered the peak of the Japanese imperial court, noted for its art, especially poetry and literature. Two types of Japanese script emerged, including katakana, a phonetic script which was abbreviated into hiragana, both unique syllabaries distinctive to Japan. This gave rise to Japan's famous vernacular literature, with many of its texts written by court women who were not as educated in Chinese as their male counterparts.
The Japanese missions to Imperial China were diplomatic embassies which were intermittently sent to the Chinese imperial court. Any distinction amongst diplomatic envoys sent from the Japanese court or from any of the Japanese shogunates was lost or rendered moot when the ambassador was received in the Chinese capital.
Kūkai, born Saeki no Mao, posthumously called Kōbō Daishi, was a Japanese Buddhist monk, calligrapher, and poet who founded the esoteric Shingon school of Buddhism. He travelled to China, where he studied Tangmi under the monk Huiguo. Upon returning to Japan, he founded Shingon—the Japanese branch of Vajrayana Buddhism. With the blessing of several Emperors, Kūkai was able to preach Shingon teachings and found Shingon temples. Like other influential monks, Kūkai oversaw public works and constructions. Mount Kōya was chosen by him as a holy site, and he spent his later years there until his death in 835 C.E.
Tendai, also known as the Tendai Lotus School, is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese monk Saichō. The Tendai school, which has been based on Mount Hiei since its inception, rose to prominence during the Heian period (794–1185). It gradually eclipsed the powerful Hossō school and competed with the rival Shingon school to become the most influential sect at the Imperial court.
Buddhism in Japan was first established in the 6th century CE, derived from Chinese Buddhism. Most of the Japanese Buddhists belong to new schools of Buddhism which were established in the Kamakura period (1185－1333). During the Edo (Tokugawa)-period (1603–1868), Buddhism was controlled by the feudal Shogunate. The Meiji-period (1868–1931) saw a strong response against Buddhism, with persecution and a forced separation between Buddhism and Shinto.
Saichō was a Japanese Buddhist monk credited with founding the Tendai school of Buddhism based on the Chinese Tiantai school he was exposed to during his trip to Tang China beginning in 804. He founded the temple and headquarters of Tendai at Enryaku-ji on Mount Hiei near Kyoto. He is also said to have been the first to bring tea to Japan. After his death, he was awarded the posthumous title of Dengyō Daishi (伝教大師).
In Vajrayana Buddhism, the Womb Realm is the metaphysical space inhabited by the Five Compassion Buddhas. The Womb Realm is based on the Mahavairocana Tantra. The name of the mandala derives from chapter 2 of the sutra, where it is said that the buddha Mahāvairocana revealed the mandala's secret teachings to his disciple Vajrasattva from his "womb of compassion". In other translations, the term Matrix Realm or Matrix Mandala is used.
Mikkyō, also known as Himitsu Bukkyo, is a Japanese term for the Vajrayana practices found throughout Japanese Buddhism. Mikkyō rituals and practices are found in many Japanese Buddhist schools, including Shingon, Tendai, Kegon, Hossō and Zen. There are also similar esoteric teachings found in the syncretic religion of Shugendō and may also be practiced in independent lineages of holy men (hiriji) and also Japanese New Religions.
The schools of Buddhism are the various institutional and doctrinal divisions of Buddhism that have existed from ancient times up to the present. The classification and nature of various doctrinal, philosophical or cultural facets of the schools of Buddhism is vague and has been interpreted in many different ways, often due to the sheer number of different sects, subsects, movements, etc. that have made up or currently make up the whole of Buddhist traditions. The sectarian and conceptual divisions of Buddhist thought are part of the modern framework of Buddhist studies, as well as comparative religion in Asia.
Honzon, sometimes referred to as a Gohonzon, is the enshrined main image or principal deity in Japanese Buddhism. The buddha, bodhisattva, or mandala image is located in either a temple or a household butsudan.
Vajrabodhi was an Indian esoteric Buddhist monk and teacher in Tang China. He is one of the eight patriarchs in Shingon Buddhism. He is notable for introducing Vajrayana Buddhism in the territories of the Srivijaya Empire which subsequently evolved into a distinct form known as Indonesian Esoteric Buddhism.
Buddhism's rich history spans over 2,500 years, originating from the Indian subcontinent in the 2nd century AD. Teachings of the Buddha were introduced over time, as a response to brahmanical teachings. Buddhism relies on the continual analysis of the self, rather than being defined by a ritualistic system, or singular set of beliefs. The intersections of Buddhism with other Eastern religions, such as Taoism, Shinto, Hinduism, and Bon illustrate the interconnected ideologies that interplay along the path of enlightenment. Buddhism and eastern religions tend to share the world-view that all sentient beings are subject to a cycle of rebirth that has no clear end.
Sokushinbutsu are a type of Buddhist mummy. In Japan the term refers to the practice of Buddhist monks observing asceticism to the point of death and entering mummification while alive. Although mummified monks are seen in a number of Buddhist countries, especially in South Asia where monks are mummified after dying of natural causes, it is only in Japan that monks are believed to have induced their own death by starvation.
Abhisheka is a religious rite or method of prayer in which a devotee pours a liquid offering on an image or murti of a deity. This is common to religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
Huiguo (746–805) was a Buddhist monk of Tang China who studied and taught Chinese Esoteric Buddhism, a Vajrayana tradition recently imported from India. Later Huiguo would become the teacher of Kūkai, founder of Shingon Buddhism, a prominent school of Buddhism in Japan.
The Tachikawa-ryū (立川流) was a branch of Shingon Buddhism founded in the early 12th century by Ninkan, a monk of the Daigo-ji lineage of Shingon who was exiled in 1113 to the province of Izu after being implicated in a plot to assassinate the then reigning emperor of Japan, Emperor Toba.
The Six Schools of Nara Buddhism, also known as the Rokushū 六宗, were academic Buddhist sects. These schools came to Japan from Korea and China during the late 6th and early 7th centuries. All of these schools were controlled by the newly formed Japanese government of Nara. These schools were installed to mimic and expand upon already existing mainland Asian Buddhist thought.
Chinese Esoteric Buddhism refers to traditions of Tantra and Esoteric Buddhism that have flourished among the Chinese people. The Tantric masters Śubhakarasiṃha, Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra, established the Esoteric Buddhist Zhenyan tradition from 716 to 720 during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. It employed mandalas, mantras, mudras, abhiṣekas, and deity yoga. The Zhenyan tradition was transported to Japan as Shingon Buddhism by Kūkai as well as influencing Korean Buddhism and Vietnamese Buddhism. The Song dynasty (960–1279) saw a second diffusion of Esoteric texts. Esoteric Buddhist practices continued to have an influence into the late imperial period and Tibetan Buddhism was also influential during the Yuan dynasty period and beyond. In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) through to the modern period, esoteric practices and teachings became absorbed and merged with the other Chinese Buddhist traditions to a large extent.
Mountain worship is a faith that regards mountains as sacred objects of worship.