A history of the Japanese people : $b from the earliest times to the end of the Meiji eraBrinkley, F. (Frank)
History
A history of the Japanese people : $b from the earliest times to the end of the Meiji era
Brinkley, F. (Frank)
Japan -- Civilization; Japan -- History
It was, however, in the days of the Tsin dynasty (A.D. 265-317) and
in those of the Eastern Tsin (A.D. 317-420) that under the pressure
of the Hun inroads and of domestic commotions, numbers of emigrants
found their way from China to Korea and thence to Japan. The Eastern
Tsin occupied virtually the same regions as those held by the Wu
dynasty: they, too, had their capital at Nanking, having moved
thither from Loh-yang, and thus the name Wu was perpetuated for the
Japanese. In the year A.D. 283, according to Japanese chronology,
Koreans and Chinese skilled in useful arts began to immigrate to
Japan. The first to come was a girl called Maketsu. She is said to
have been sent by the monarch of Kudara, the region corresponding to
the metropolitan province of modern Korea. It may be inferred that
she was Chinese, but as to her nationality history is silent. She
settled permanently in Japan, and her descendants were known as the
kinu-nui (silk-clothiers) of Kume in Yamato. In the same year (A.D.
283), Yuzu (called Yutsuki by some authorities), a Chinese Imperial
prince, came from Korea and memorialized the Yamato Throne in the
sense that he was a descendant of the first Tsin sovereign and that,
having migrated to Korea at the head of the inhabitants of 120
districts, he had desired to conduct them to Japan, but was unable to
accomplish his purpose owing to obstruction offered by the people of
Sinra (Shiragi). Ojin sent two embassies--the second accompanied by
troops--to procure the release of these people, and in A.D. 285 they
reached Japan, where they received a hearty welcome, and for the sake
of their skill in sericulture and silk weaving, they were honoured by
organization into an uji--Hata-uji (hata in modern Japanese signifies
"loom," but in ancient days it designated silk fabrics of all kinds).
An idea of the dimensions of this Chinese addition to the population
of Japan is furnished by the fact that, 175 years later, the Hata-uji
having been dispersed and reduced to ninety-two groups, steps were
taken to reassemble and reorganize them, with the result that 18,670
persons were brought together. Again, in A.D. 289, a sometime subject
of the after-Han dynasty, accompanied by his son, emigrated to Japan.
The names of these Chinese are given as Achi and Tsuka, and the
former is described as a great-grandson of the Emperor Ling of the
after-Han dynasty, who reigned from A.D. 168 to 190. Like Yuzu he had
escaped to Korea during the troublous time at the close of the Han
sway, and, like Yuzu, he had been followed to the peninsula by a
large body of Chinese, who, at his request, were subsequently
escorted by Japanese envoys to Japan. These immigrants also were
allowed to assume the status of an uji, and in the fifth century the
title of Aya no atae (suzerain of Aya) was given to Achi's
descendants in consideration of the skill of their followers in
designing and manufacturing figured fabrics (for which the general
term was aya).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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