Ambassadors from the Islands of Immortals: China-Japan Relations in the Han-Tang Period (review)

Ambassadors from the Islands of Immortals is a gem of good, old-fashioned historical scholarship: somewhat narrow in scope; exhaustive in its use of primary sources; well-grounded in previous studies; balanced in its conclusions; and beautifully written. In his preface to the book, series editor Joshua A. Fogel notes that studies of premodern Sino-Japanese relations have been few and far between for the past half-century, adding his hope that it will not be "another fifty years...before other works on this topic appear in English" (p. x). I share Fogel's hope, but predict that even should further studies appear, Wang's book will more than hold its own against the competition. Ambassadors is simply one of the best monographs I have read in years.

As the subtitle indicates, Wang's book is a study of Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations from the (later) Han to Tang dynasties, specifically from the first through early tenth centuries C.E. Although loosely based on the author's 1989 Princeton dissertation, the present work contains much new material and has been entirely rewritten. Before going on to a discussion of the book's (many) strengths and (relatively few) weaknesses, let me attempt to summarize its content.

Ambassadors' brief but cogent introduction is followed by a two-chapter overview of pre-Tang relations between China and Japan (strictly speaking, Wo). Chapter 1, "The Islands of Immortals," describes the earliest historical contacts, borrowing heavily from the Weizhi's famous account of Queen Himiko and the land of Yamatai. Chapter 2, "Chinese Insignia in East Asia Politics," is an analysis of the "investiture system" as it applied to Wo in the early centuries C.E. It shows how Japanese rulers sought Chinese titles and prestige goods in support of their claims to legitimacy, both within the islands themselves and vis-à-vis peer polities in Korea.

The next few chapters provide a fascinatingly detailed account of the organization and function of Japanese tributary missions to China during the Tang period. Chapter 3, "The Messenger of the Emperor," presents a general discussion of the "tasks, qualities, and criteria for selecting ambassadors" (p. 33), going on to provide specifics about one particularly well-documented Japanese mission to China (that of 834) as well as biographical details regarding several virtuous, amorous, or otherwise accomplished Japanese ambassadors. Chapter 4, "The Voyage to China," focuses on details of shipbuilding and navigation and paints a rather bleak picture (evidenced by frequent shipwrecks) of Japanese skills, or lack thereof, in these areas. Chapter 5, "The Journey to Changan," provides useful information about Tang's overland relay and transportation systems, while chapter 6, "Diplomacy in the Tang Capital," is on court ceremonial, specifically the "Tang Guest Protocol" that governed the reception of foreign envoys. Among other things, we learn in chapter 6 how ceremonial arrangements reflected the perceived status of visiting envoys (or, more precisely, their countries); how Japanese and Chinese perceptions of diplomatic relationships might sometimes differ; and how adjustments to protocol were made (or not) in such difficult cases.

The next group of chapters focuses in turn on diplomatic communications, information gathering, and the recruitment of Chinese "talent." Chapter 7, "Weight and Nuance in State Letters," argues that, contrary to the received academic wisdom, Japanese ambassadors did in fact carry state letters on their missions to Tang. Wang also presents a convincing (if hypothetical) reconstruction of such a communication, showing how by an ingenious trick of wording the Japanese authors were able to make their letter mean two mutually exclusive things: both an acknowledgment of Tang's sinocentric world view (when read in Chinese), and an assertion of the Japanese ruler's divine, imperial status (when read by the kundoku method in Japanese). Chapter 8, "Information Gathering", provides an introduction to "intelligence work" (broadly defined...