Chinese influence on Japanese culture

Chinese influence on Japanese culture refers to the historical impact of Chinese culture on Japanese institutions, society, language, political ideologies and rituals as well as other aspects of traditional Japanese culture such as Buddhism and neo-Confucianism, astrology, architecture, literature, art and music, attire and cuisine. Such influences are because as an important part of the Sinosphere, Japan had been profoundly influenced by cultural exchanges with the Chinese Empire, who was the long-running regional hegemon of East Asia, over the course of many centuries until the westernization of Japan since the Meiji Restoration.

The mass migration into the Japanese archipelago circa 400 BCE from the Asian mainland, more specifically across the Korean Strait from the Korean Peninsula to Kyushu and the Chūgoku region of Honshu, led to conflicts between the indigenous Jōmon people and the immigrant Yayoi people during the later stages of the Jōmon period.^[1] These migrations, partly driven by violent wars and regional chaos of the late Eastern Zhou dynasty as well as increasing maritime trade between the East China states and Korean states such as Gojoseon and Jin, brought over "new pottery, bronze, iron and improved metalworking techniques", which helped to improve the pre-existing farming tools and weaponry.^{[1] [2]} This led to a decline of the hunter-gatherer/subsistence fishing lifestyle of the Jōmon period and the rise of more productive wet-rice farming kingdoms of the Yayoi period. Some of these agrarian kingdoms (e.g. Nakoku and Yamatai-koku) later became prominent enough to attempt formalized trade and diplomacy with the great powers on the Asian continent, most notably the now-unified Imperial China, particularly the prosperous Han dynasty (202 BCE–220 AD).

The introduction of Chinese culture, writing system, technologies and religions into Japan was an indirect result of communications and trade with Korea, whose proximity to China proper and the frontier Lelang Commandery allowed it to become the one of first sinicized regions of the Far East along with northern Vietnam (then annexed as the Jiaozhi Commandery). Around the 1st to the 5th century AD, the Three Kingdoms of Korea all had already incorporated major elements of Chinese culture into their own and from there played the middlemen mediating the interchanges between China and Japan.^[3]

The Book of Han (Han Shu), written in 82 AD, 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 of Yamatai. 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 the Record of Wei (Wei Chih), written in 297 AD, which 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 AD.^[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]

The traditional Japanese kimono can be traced back to the 7th century when the Japanese Imperial Court and aristocracy started to wear garments adapted from traditional Chinese clothing.^{[4] [5]} Gofuku , a term for the more high-end silk kimonos, refers to the dress of the ''Go'' (呉, or ''Wu'' in Chinese) style, which refers to the original Wu region.^{[6] [5]}

Like Korea, Japan had cherry-picked and purposefully regulated its intake of cultural influence (or "cultural borrowing") from China. This meant that it "acknowledged the cultural superiority of the Chinese Middle Kingdom" but always held onto its cultural and political independence.^[3] In addition to controlling the process of cultural borrowing, Japan also remained very selective in considering the ideas and institutions that it wanted to adopt.

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.

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.^[15] 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".

Many cultural items are part of Sino-Japanese heritage: here are a few examples:

• Chinese influence on Korean culture
• Japanese influence on Korean culture
• Korean influence on Japanese culture