The Japanese missions to Tang China and maritime exchange in East Asia, 7th--9th centuries

Scholars offer three reasons why the Japanese dispatched envoys to Tang China to assimilate the advanced civilization, culture, and systems of Tang; to raise Japan's diplomatic position in the Tang Court while obtaining reports regarding changes in East Asian affairs; and finally, to conduct trade under the control of the state. I explore the third point in this dissertation. In particular, I seek to explain the role of the kentoshi with regard to a maritime trade network that developed in East Asia. I examine the voyages the kentoshi made, as well as the exchanges the missions conducted while in China.;I begin with a study of the navigational challenges the Japanese faced and the ocean-going vessels they constructed. As a part of this, I survey Japan's maritime history, from evidence of the first water craft in Japan to the development of kozosen boats, or composite vessels.;I next turn to the question of the trade itself. I categorize the exchange between Japan and the continent as "imperial," "elite," and "private." Imperial trade refers to the tributary exchanges conducted by the envoys dispatched through official government channels in the names of the respective Courts. Elite trade, often concurrent with imperial trade, was conducted by the individual members of official diplomatic missions through government channels or under the jurisdiction of agencies such as the Diankeshu Office in Tang China and the Treasury Ministry and Palace Storehouse Bureau in Japan. Private trade, in contrast, was carried out by merchants. These merchants often traded with representatives of the government or representatives of the ruling classes; i.e., the wealthy and powerful elites.;In this dissertation I also use archaeology to better understand trade with the continent. The most common vessels imported to Japan were white-glazed ceramics from Hebei Province, celadon from the kilns in Hunan Province, and Yue celadon produced primarily in Zhejiang.;I believe trade was more important to the kentoshi than heretofore discussed in the English language literature. In the ninth century, merchant activity began to supercede the trading function of the official embassies, rendering them obsolete. This is true, not only of trade between Japan and Tang, but between Japan and Silla as well. This is not true, however, in the case of Bohai.