Perhaps because of that influence, even today kimono are called “gofuku,” or “Wu clothing.”
I was told by local people that if one boards a ship near the Yangtze River, one will reach Kyushu without doing anything.
March 12, 2019
It Was the Japanese Who Ruled the Ancient Korean Peninsula
Yōjirō Satō, author and professor at Nihon University College of Art
Although many Japanese people are exasperated by the Korean propensity for falsehoods, there are still quite a few who assume that a great deal of culture reached the Japanese archipelago by way of the ancient Korean Peninsula.
Do not be misled by such a newly coined term as “torai-jin.”
Wa Blood Flowing Through the Silla Royal House
This is a continuation of the article in Rekishitsū, the April special edition of the monthly magazine WiLL, which is essential reading for every Japanese citizen.
Repeated Invasions of the Korean Peninsula
Perhaps because of that influence, even today kimono are called “gofuku,” or “Wu clothing.”
I was told by local people that if one boards a ship near the Yangtze River, one will reach Kyushu without doing anything.
If rice cultivation in Japan originated in Kyushu, it is possible to reason that those people brought it with them.
Considering that Emperor Jimmu’s “eastward conquest” began in southern Kyushu, it is also conceivable that people possessing advanced technology advanced eastward.
Incidentally, “eastward migration” and “eastward conquest” have different meanings, but they too are used casually without careful examination.
“Conquering the east” and “moving the capital eastward” have entirely different meanings.
South Koreans claim that rice cultivation also spread from the peninsula, but there is little geographical, climatic, or oceanographic basis for that claim.
In the cultural sphere as well, the Book of Sui states, “大業三年　其王多利思北孤遣使朝貢使者曰　聞海西菩薩天子重興仏法故遣朝拝　兼沙門数十人来学仏法.”
It records that the King of Wa, Tari Shihoko, sent an envoy with tribute and stated that the Bodhisattva sovereign west of the sea was diligently practicing Buddhism and had therefore dispatched several dozen monks to study the Buddhist teachings.
The Japanese were already interacting with China and studying Buddhism two thousand years ago.
The Book of Sui and the Records of Wei state that the people of Wa used iron.
The use of iron arrowheads and implements surprised their authors and was therefore recorded, but the people of Wa were already producing iron two thousand years ago.
As far as the Chinese historical records are concerned, it is difficult to believe that Japanese culture, which studied Buddhism and acquired advanced technology, flowed into Japan from the Korean Peninsula.
As becomes clear from reading the Samguk Sagi, Kojiki, and Nihon Shoki, Japan has repeatedly invaded the Korean Peninsula countless times since the beginning of recorded history.
The reverse is almost nonexistent.
The only example I know is the Ōei Invasion, when Joseon Korea attacked Tsushima for approximately ten days during the Muromachi period, but were there any others?
Wokou incursions were so numerous that people ceased living along the Goryeo coastline.
In the Ōei Invasion, forces assaulted Tsushima, which had become a base for the Wokou, destroyed ships, and freed hostages.
Apart from that, however, Korea repeatedly surrendered hostages and sent tribute to Japan.
Furthermore, relations between the two states became limited after the Battle of Baekgang, in which Japan was defeated by the allied Tang and Silla armies, despite Japan having invaded Silla so frequently before then.
Japan’s Southern Capital Six Schools of Buddhism and the new Buddhist schools of the Kamakura period were influenced more by Tang China than by Korea.
Cultural imports must also have come from China through the Japanese missions to Sui and Tang China.
As can be seen in the Book of Sui, the theory that culture entered Japan from the Korean Peninsula is difficult to sustain, and it is also difficult to believe that various forms of culture flowed in from a country that had been subjected to attacks since ancient times.
Even if both a Yangtze River route and a peninsula route existed, it is wrong to claim that the Korean Peninsula possessed greater national power and a higher cultural standard than Japan.
If they insist upon saying so, they must present evidence; otherwise, it belongs to the category of “a lie repeated one hundred times becomes the truth.”
Japan did not create its ritsuryō system or court ranks by imitating Korea.
Nevertheless, regarding the Bunroku and Keichō campaigns, Shin Il-chol, born in 1931, who served as a Korea University professor and president of the Korean Philosophical Association, stated: “Japan, which was a culturally backward country in East Asia, plundered such cultural assets as movable type, books, paintings, and ceramics from Korea and abducted many technicians and scholars.
At the same time, Korean Neo-Confucianism was transmitted to Japan and exerted a major influence on Japanese culture.”
He said this despite the fact that the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki already existed four hundred years before the Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa, and that even older Chinese historical records describe what kind of country Japan was and what position it occupied.
Japan persistently attacked Silla because minerals were available there.
The Book of Roads and Kingdoms, compiled in 845 by the Arab Ibn Khordadbeh, states: “Beyond China lies a mountainous country called Silla, ruled by various kings, where large quantities of gold are produced.”
It also states that Muslims had already settled there in search of that gold.
Silla was also a land of gold.
The Nihon Shoki likewise states that Empress Jingū and others attacked because gold was there.
That is why Japan repeatedly invaded.
This is written not only in the Kojiki and Nihon Shoki but also in the Samguk Sagi.
Will South Koreans deny even their own “official history”?
Before making statements about Japan, they should read their own country’s “official history.”
At the very least, it states repeatedly that Wa attacked them.
Such a country could not have been the culturally impoverished nation they claim it was.
If Japan crossed the sea and attacked over the course of many centuries, there is no reasonable conclusion other than that Japan was a great power.
To be continued.