Fusang

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『日本餘噍 據扶桑以逋誅』

"The refugees of Ilbon (日本; referring to Paekche) safely retreated with the help of Busang Kingdom (扶桑; referring to Japan) from the invaders (Silla–Tang alliance)."

— Excerpt from "Yegun's Epithaph", 678 CE

According to Chinese historian Lianlong Wang (王連龍), the characters of "日本" are referring to the kingdom of Paekche as Japan was referred to as Busang Kingdom (扶桑國). [7] Historically, "Busang (Fusang) Kingdom" was reserved for the "farthest east kingdom" depending on the nation that used it (i.e. Korea was a "Fusang Kingdom" from China's perspective) similar to Cheonggu/Qingqiu. However, since the individual was Korean, "Busang Kingdom" in the context of his epitaph was directing it towards Japan (then Yamato Kingship) as the kingdom of Japan was farthest east from Korea's perspective, while Ilbon (日本; 일본) was dedicated to Paekche, his home nation. [7] Japanese historian Haruyuki Tono (東野 治之) also made a similar conclusion, stating that the term Nippon (日本; にっぽん) originally meant "Paekche" before being adopted by the Japanese. [9]

The term Fusang would later be used as a designation for 'Japan' in Chinese poetry. Since Japanese name Nihon (日本, lit. 'Root [i.e. source, birthplace, origin] of the Sun') or the Chinese name Riben was a name of Japan, some Tang dynasty poets believed that Fusang "lay between the mainland and Japan." For instance, Wang Wei wrote a 753 farewell poem when Abe no Nakamaro (Chinese Zhao Heng 晁衡) returned to Japan, "The trees of your home are beyond Fu-sang." [10]

Fusang is pronounced Fusō in Japanese, from classical Fusau, and it is one of the names which is used as a designation for ancient Japan. Several warships of the Imperial Japanese Navy were named Fusō (the Japanese ironclad warship Fusō, or the World War II battleship Fusō). Several companies, such as Fuso, also bear the name.

Gustaaf Schlegel believed that Fusang was most probably "the long island of Karafuto or it was Sakhalin". Joseph Needham added that "if Kamchatka and the Kuriles may also be considered, there is no better means of identifying it at the present day." [1]

Note that there was an ancient province of Japan which was named the Fusa-no kuni (the 'Country of Fusa') in eastern Honshū, which encompassed all of the modern-day Chiba Prefecture as well as the southwestern part of the modern-day Ibaraki Prefecture.

The Americas

This 1753 map by the French cartographer Philippe Buache locates Fusang ("Fou-sang des Chinois", 'Fusang of the Chinese') north of California, in the area of British Columbia. Buache1753Map.jpg
This 1753 map by the French cartographer Philippe Buache locates Fusang ("Fou-sang des Chinois", 'Fusang of the Chinese') north of California, in the area of British Columbia.

According to some historians such as Charles Godfrey Leland and Joseph de Guignes (Le Fou-Sang des Chinois est-il l'Amérique? Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, tome 28, Paris, 1761), the distances which are given by Huishen (20,000 Chinese li) would mean that Fusang is located on the west coast of the American continent, when the ancient Han-period definition of the Chinese li is taken into account. Some 18th-century European maps locate Fusang north of California, in the area of British Columbia. An American location does not match with the claim that horses were sighted (because horses did not exist in either North or South America at that time) nor does it match with the claim that deer were domesticated and milked. [11]

Fusang was mentioned in a map of Marco Polo's voyages to the Far East which was supposedly made (or copied) by his family, the map includes the Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska. The map has been dated to the 15th or 16th century, which means that at best, it is a copy of the original map. However, the ink wasn't dated, so it's also possible that Alaska could've been added later on when the existence of it became known. [12]

Descriptions of Fusang

Mention of Fusang ("Fousang des Chinois") on a 1792 French world map, in the area of modern-day British Columbia. 1792FrenchWorldMapWithFusang.JPG
Mention of Fusang ("Fousang des Chinois") on a 1792 French world map, in the area of modern-day British Columbia.

According to the report of Huishen to the Chinese during his visit to China, which is described in the Book of Liang : [13]

Fusang is 20,000 li to the East of the country of Dàhàn (lit. 'Great Han'), and located to the east of China (lit. the 'Middle Kingdom').

On that land, there are many Fusang plants that produce oval-shaped leaves which are similar to paulownia and edible purplish-red fruits which are like pears. The place was rich in copper deposits and it also contained traces of gold and silver but it did not contain iron. The native tribes in Fusang were civilized, living in well-organized communities. They produced paper from the bark of the Fusang plants for writing and they also produced cloth from the fibers of the bark, which they used for robes or wadding. Their houses or cabins were constructed with red mulberry wood. The fruits and young shoots of the plants were one of their food sources. They raised deer for meat and milk, just as the Chinese raised cattle at home, and they also produced cheese with deer's milk. They traveled on horseback and transported their goods with carts or sledges which were pulled by horses, buffalo, or deer. [14]

On the organization of the country:

An emperor, or a main chief, with the help of several officials, governed the country. The majority of the people were law-abiding citizens. The country had no army or military defense but it did have two jails, one jail was located in the north and the other jail was located in the south of the country. Those people who had committed serious crimes were sent to the north and they stayed there for their entire lives. However, these inmates could get married. If they got married and produced children, their sons became slaves and their daughters became maids. [14]

On the social practices:

The marriage arrangement was relatively simple. If a boy wanted to marry a girl, he had to build a cabin next to the home of the girl and stay in it for a year. If the girl liked him, they would get married; otherwise he would be asked to go away ... When a person died in the community, his or her body would be cremated. The mourning period varied from seven days for a dead parent to five days for a dead grandparent and three days for a dead brother or sister. During their mourning periods, the people were not supposed to consume food, they could only drink water. They had no Buddhism. [14]

The Book of Liang also describes the conversion of Fusang to the Buddhist faith by five Buddhist monks who were from Gandhara:

In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist religion, but in the second year of Da Ming of the Liu Song dynasty (485 AD), five monks who were from the Kipin (Kabul region of Gandhara) traveled to that country by ship. They propagated the Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people to relinquish their worldly attachments. As a result, the customs of the people of Fusang changed.

It is also reported that 1,000 li (415 km, 258 miles) beyond of Fusang, there was a Land of Women, where "its female inhabitants were completely covered with hair, walked erect, and chattered a lot among themselves but were shy when they saw ordinary human beings. They gave birth to their young after six or seven months of pregnancy and nursed them on their backs. The babies were able to walk within 100 days and were fully grown in three or four years."

See also

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Joseph Needham; Ling Wang; Gwei-Djen (1971). "Pt. 3, Civil engineering and nautics". Science and civilisation in China. Vol. 4, Physics and physical technology. Cambridge University Press. pp. 540–542. ISBN   978-0-521-07060-7.
  2. ↑ Joseph Needham (1976). "Part 3, Spagyrical discovery and invention : historical survey, from cinnabar elixirs to synthetic insulin". Science and civilisation in China. Vol. 5 : Chemistry and chemical technology. Cambridge University Press. p. 19. ISBN   978-0-521-21028-7.
  3. ↑ 《梁書•諸夷列傳》 (Collective Biographies of Foreign Countries, Book of Liang): 扶桑國者，齊永元元年，其國有沙門慧深來至荊州，说云：“扶桑在大漢國東二萬餘里，（……）” （The country of Fusang, in the year Yongyuan 1 of the Qi Dynasty, a Shramana monk from there called Huishen came to Jingzhou, and said: "Fusang is 20,000 li to the East of the country of Dahan，(......)"
  4. ↑ "Was America The Wonderful Land of Fusang?". AMERICAN HERITAGE. Retrieved 2022-01-01.
  5. ↑ Clements, Jonathan (2007). The First Emperor of China. Sutton Publishing. ISBN   978-0-7509-3960-7. p. 150
  6. ↑ Tsunoda Ryusaku, tr. (1951), Japan in the Chinese Dynastic Histories: Later Han Through Ming Dynasties, ed. by Carrington C. Goodrich, South Pasadena: P. D. and Ione Perkins, 5.
  7. 1 2 3 王, 連龍 (2011). 百濟人祢軍墓誌考論 (in Chinese) (第7期 (總第193期) ed.). 社會科學戰線. pp. 123–129.
  8. ↑ 東野, 治之 (2012). 百済人祢軍墓誌の「日本」 (in Japanese). 岩波書店. pp. 2–4.
  9. ↑ 東野, 治之 (2012). 百済人祢軍墓誌の「日本」 (in Japanese). 岩波書店. pp. 2–4.
  10. ↑ Schafer, Edward H. (1989), "Fusang and Beyond: The Haunted Seas to Japan," Journal of the American Oriental Society 109.3: 379, 394.
  11. ↑ Kenneth L. Feder, Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis To The Walam Olum, page 117 (Greenwood, 2010). ISBN   978-0-313-37919-2
  12. ↑ "Did Marco Polo Visit Alaska? - HISTORY". 2021-01-26. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
  13. ↑ Book of Liang , Scroll 54 (in Chinese).
  14. 1 2 3 Chow, Lily (2001) Liang Shu, in Chasing Their Dreams. Chinese Settlement in the Northwest Region of British Columbia, Caitlin, ISBN   978-0-920576-83-0.

Bibliography

  • Leyland, Charles Godfrey (1875) Fusang; Or, The Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century, New York: Barnes & Noble, 1973. Reprint: Forgotten Books (2010), ISBN   978-1-4400-7044-0.
  • Vining, Edward P. (1885) Inglorious Columbus; or, Evidence that Hwui Shan and a Party of Buddhist Monks from Afghanistan Discovered America in the Fifth Century, A.D.. New York: D. Appleton and Company, ISBN   978-0-217-68056-1
  • Williams, S. Wells (1881): Notices of Fu-sang, and Other Countries Lying East of China, in the Pacific Ocean. Translated from the Antiquarian Researches of Ma Twan-Lin, with Notes. Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, New Haven. Downloaded from https://archive.org/details/noticesoffusanga00willrich on 5 June 2011.
Fusang
Wu liang shrine relief depicting xihe, yi, and fusang tree.jpg
The fusang tree as depicted in a rubbing from the Wu Liang Shrine reliefs, mid-2nd cent.
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