Sui-T’ang Studies in Japan in 1992

Tang Studies 12 (1994) S u i-T a n g S tu d ie s in J a p a n in 1 9 9 2 * KITADA HIDETO Jtffi:9!f.A. TAKAZAKI JUNIOR COLLEGE Translated by John Lee ST. MARY'S UNIVERSITY, HAlifAX, NOVA SCOTIA Over 120items were published last year, including some twenty pieces each on international relations and source material, making the year far more productive than previous ones. Progess was notable in the study of the legal system. There were also some studies of seminal importance. In general, subtitles of books and articles will be omitted in this review. Books. For general histories, there were Tonami Mamoru, History of China, Vol. 1 (Chiigoku shi, jO), and History of Asia (Ajia no rekishi), edited by Fujiie Reinosuke. Ikeda On edited and published several collections of essays, including The Ritual Law of Early China and the Japanese System of Codified Laws (Chiigoku kodai no reih6 to Nihon ritsuryosei), Thinking of the Ancient Times: T'ang and Japan (Kodai a kangaeru: To to Nihon), and The Tun-huang Sources in Chinese (Tonka Kambun bunken). The last two volumes belonged to a series, with the latter completing the series on Tun-huang, whose publication began in 1980. This book makes easily understandable, for the first time, the vast amount of material in Chinese that was found at Tun-huang and the research that has been done on it. Due to the nature of the book, not much space is given to the social and economic matters, but, being perhaps the best available introduction to the topic, it still is rich in information and suggestion. This book will be indispensible for future research. Omuro Mikio, Seashore Fantasy: The Anti-Garden City of Medieval China (Kanseki genso, Chiigoku kodai no han enrin toshi) depicts, with the history of the Northern Dynasties as its stage, the anatomy and malaise of despotism. The book includes the Sui in its coverage, and - Originally published in Shigaku zasshi 102.5 (1993), 878-85. 117 Lee: S2 Summary 1992 while it is rather traditional in its emperor-centered approach, its methodology nevertheless offers many insights. Wang Hsiang-jung, China and Japan in Ancient Times (Kodai no Chagoku to Nihon) is a collection of essays, most of which deal with the relations among China, Japan, and Parhae during the Sui-T'ang period. "Chiao-fang chi" and "Pei-li chih" (Ky6b6 ki, Hokuri shi) comprises an annotated translation of these two books that provide source material for the study of music and entertainment in T'ang Ch'angan . A number of books were also reissued, either in their original form or in revised version. These include Hino Kaizaburo, Studies on T'ang Warehouses (Tooai teiten no kenkyu); Idem., More Studies on T'ang Warehouses (Zoku T6dai teiten no kenkya); Miyazaki Ichisada, Six Dynasties (Rikuch6); Idem., East-West Relations (Tozai k6sh6); Idem., Japanese-Chinese Relations (Nitchii k6sh6); Haneda Toru, A General History. of the Civilization of the Western Regions: A History of the Culture of the Western Regions (Seiiki bunmei shi kairon, Seiiki bunka shi); Nakamura Jihee, Studies on Chinese Shamanism (Chagoku sya-manizumu no kenkyu). Research Trends. Ikeda On, "The Study of T'ang History in Japan" (Nihon no Toshi kenkyu), Chagoku shigaku 2, includes, in addition to a survey of the recent past, a concern over the absence in Japan of a scholarly society devoted exclusively to the study of Chinese history. The same concern was expressed also in Ikeda's "My Hopes for the Tokyo University China Society" (Todai Chiigoku Gakkai e no kitai), Chilgoku: shakai to bunka 7. From the organizational point of view, the concern is well worth heeding. For a piece on the history of Chinese scholarship, there was Hu Chi, "Chien-Iun T'ang-shih yen-chiu," Chiigoku shigaku 2. Yoshimori Kensuke, "The Grasping of Society and Humanity in Chinese History" (Chiigokushi ni okeru shakai to ningenno haaku o megutte), Chiigoku: shakai to bunka 7, applied the recent hypothesis of "moral economy" by Kishimoto Mio to the current state of research on T'ang history and sought to find in the T'ang-Sung transition a "human" transition also. The author...