The Last Japanese Embassy to Tang China (836-839)：Japanese Sinology Series

Over a span of 260 years, from 630 to 894, Japanese embassies to Tang China (ken-Tō shi) played a vital role in importing Tang governance and culture to Japan, significantly shaping the political and cultural landscape of an emerging Japanese state with codes of law (ritsuryō). However, the seventeenth embassy during the Jōwa period, fraught with turmoil, marked the final mission to Tang China. Alongside disasters and significant loss of life during the voyage, mysteries persist around Vice-ambassador Ono no Takamura's refusal to board the ship, the government's insistence on the mission, and the objectives behind dispatching this mission to China.

In this volume, Professor Saeki Arikiyo traces the journey from departure to return, focusing on the individuals involved and the prevailing trends of the era. Drawing upon a rich tapestry of historical sources, including records from Shoku Nihon kōki and the accompanying monk Ennin's Nit-Tō guhō junrei kōki, Arikiyo delves into the arduous journey of this final mission and unravels the intricate motives of the embassy personnel and their encounters in Tang China, offering a comprehensive examination of a transformative chapter in ancient Japanese diplomatic history.

 Saeki Arikiyo (1925–2005) was a distinguished Japanese historian renowned for his expertise in early Japanese history and its connections with mainland East Asia. He received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Tokyo and served as professor at Hokkaido University and Seijo University. Saeki’s significant contributions were honored with the Japan Academy Prize in 1984 and the Orders of the Sacred Treasure in 1995. His notable works include Nihon kodai shizoku no kenkyū (Research on ancient Japanese clans, 1985), Ennin (1989), Enchin (1990), Yamataikoku e no michi (The road to Yamatai Kingdom, 2000), and Treatise on the People of Wa in the Chronicle of the Kingdom of Wei: The World’s Earliest Written Text on Japan (2018).

Joshua A. Fogel was Canada Research Chair Professor in modern Chinese history at York University. Trained initially in Chinese history, he developed an abiding interest in Japanese history and has published many important works on Japanese historiography and Sino- Japanese relations. His most recent translated work, Literature and History in the Shi ji of Sima Qian, was published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press in 2025.

 Reading like a novel, Joshua Fogel's elegant translation of Saki Arikiyo's masterful study of the final Japanese embassy to Tang China (836-839) vividly brings to life a dynamic East Asian world. Hundreds of officials, monks, merchants, musicians, and sailors risked their lives in pursuit of knowledge, rituals, paintings, texts, and wares. This embassy marked the twilight of an era: as Japan, Silla Korea, and Tang China faced growing political instability, the motivation and capacity for such formal diplomatic exchanges began to fade. A compelling read for students and scholars of early China, Korea, and Japan.

-Thomas D. Conlan

Professor of East Asian History, Princeton University

Saki Arikiyo's detailed account of the Japanese embassy sent to Tang China in the 830s offers many fresh insights into the domestic and international contexts that propelled--and ultimately ended-this significant diplomatic mission. Saki's resourceful integration of a wide variety of historical materials, including contemporaneous diaries and works of poetry, is vividly conveyed in Joshua Fogel's translation, which captures the author's suspenseful and engaging narrative style.

-Matthew Fraleigh

Associate Professor of East Asian Literature and Culture, Brandeis University

By illustrating the perils of sea travel and the interactions among various groups from Japan, China, and Silla in diplomatic, commercial, and religious exchanges, the book provides a compelling explanation for the discontinuation of Japanese embassies to Tang China. This study delivers more than just a narrative of a diplomatic mission--it weaves a rich tapestry of individual experiences and will captivate anyone interested in ancient East Asia, international relations, or the history of Buddhism.

-Yiwen Li

Associate Professor, Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong

 Series Editors’ Preface / ix

Translator’s Preface / xiii

Preface: The Mysteries of the Jōwa Embassy to China / xvii

INTRODUCTION
 

Ono no Takamura Refuses to Board Ship / 1

CHAPTER ONE
 

The Jōwa Embassy / 7

CHAPTER TWO
 

The Embassy Crosses the Sea / 35

CHAPTER THREE
 

The Embassy in Tang China / 71

CHAPTER FOUR
 

Ninth-Century East Asia and the Embassies to Tang China / 113

CONCLUSION
 

The End of the Embassies to Tang China / 149

Afterword / 155

Appendix: Timeline of Embassy Missions Dispatched in the Tang Period / 159

Index / 167