1. Oka Chiren’s visit to China
Oka Chiren set off from Yokohama by boat on May 29, 1884, and arrived in Shanghai on June 6 to meet with his old friend Wang Tao and others Shanghai celebrities. Then he traveled around Suzhou and Hangzhou, enjoying the scenic spots, visiting famous people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang such as Yu Yue, and the descendants of Zhu Shunshui. During Oka Chiren's visit to China, he carried out extensive cultural exchange activities between Japan and China and met many Chinese officials, literati and scholars. Nearly 200 people were named in his "Sightseeing Travels" alone.
In addition to good friends Wang Tao and others, I also met dignitaries such as Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, Sheng Xuanhuai, and famous scholars such as Yu Yue, Li Ciming, and Wang Shiduo. When communicating, most of the questions and answers were written in writing, and sometimes Wang Tizhai, who accompanied him, would interpret. The exchange content is extensive, involving politics, economy, culture, academic and other aspects.
2. Sesshu’s painting sage—the exchange of paintings between China and Japan in the Ming Dynasty
In 1463, Sesshu accepted the invitation of the Daimyo (vassal) Ouchi clan who became rich through trade with the Ming Dynasty. , went to Zhou Fangguo (now Yamaguchi Prefecture) in the west of Honshu, his territory. Sesshu hopes to have the opportunity to go to China from here and learn directly from the painters of the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, he can also see more ink paintings from China here. He founded Yunguxuan, a studio in Zhoufang, where he engaged in painting creation and his reputation gradually spread throughout the world.
In March 1467, the Ming ship arrived in Mingzhou (now Ningbo), Zhejiang, China. After landing in Sesshu, we first went to the Tiantong Mountain Jingde Zen Temple in the east of Myeongju to pay homage. Sesshu was deeply respected by the monks at Mount Tentong and was awarded the honorary title of "the first Zen class in Mount Tentong". Therefore, later on, his paintings often included the inscription "The First Sesshu Brush of the Four Heavenly Children".
In May 1468, Sesshu and his party arrived in Beijing. In addition to participating in some ceremonial activities of the Ming Dynasty mission, he mainly visited teachers and friends, studied Zen and painted. He once learned the coloring, splashing and sfumato techniques of Chinese ink painting from the famous Ming Dynasty painters Li Zai and Zhang Yousheng.
Sesshu's vision was not limited to the Chinese painting world at that time. While he was studying Buddhism, he was deeply exploring the essence of ink painting. The long-standing Chinese cultural tradition and the majestic Chinese landscape have profoundly influenced Sesshu's philosophy and view of nature.
3. Eisai - the Japanese Zen master who spread the trend of drinking tea
When Eisai returned to China for the first time in the Song Dynasty in 1168, he brought Chinese tea seeds back to Japan. In 1207, Master Minghui of Tsubaki came to ask Einishi for Zen advice. Rong Xi invited him to drink tea and gave him tea seeds. Takabe then planted tea trees in Mt. Tsugiao, which produced precious tea and became a famous tea-producing area in Japan. Most of the tea species in famous tea-producing areas in later generations, such as Uji, were transplanted from Tsugiao.
When Eisai returned to the Song Dynasty for the second time in 1191, he landed on Hirado Island in Nagasaki Prefecture due to wind, and sow tea seeds in Fuchun Garden there. The following year, Einishi dedicated his book "Eating Tea to Maintain Health" to the shogunate, which was Japan's first tea book. Therefore, the custom of drinking tea first became popular among Zen monks, and then spread to secular society. With the popularization of tea tree cultivation, drinking tea has become a custom among the Japanese people.
4. Monk Jianzhen—an eminent monk from the Tang Dynasty who traveled east to preach scriptures
In the 21st year of Kaiyuan (733), Japan sent monks Rongrui and Puzhao to study in my country along with the Tang envoys. Japanese monks Rongrui and Puzhao were entrusted by the Japanese Buddhist community and government to invite Jianzhen to Japan to impart ordination to Japanese believers. At that time, all the monks in Daming Temple were silent, but Jianzhen was the only one who decided to go eastward.
In the second year of Tianbao (743), Jianzhen and his disciples Xiangyan, Daoxing and others began to travel eastward. Five sea voyages in ten years went through many hardships and failed due to storms, rocks, shipwrecks, sacrifices, and the obstruction of some local officials; especially the fifth time, they were attacked by strong winds and waves and drifted at sea for 14 days. , and finally drifted to Zhenzhou (now Ya County) on Hainan Island.
Suffering from an eye disease on the way back, the 62-year-old Master Jianzhen lost his sight. His eldest disciple Xiangyan passed away, and the Japanese monk who invited him also died of illness. However, he never wavered in his ambition to travel eastward.
On November 15th, the twelfth year of Tianbao (753), he led more than 40 disciples from Yangzhou (today's Guazhou Town at the mouth of the river) and set out to cross the sea for the sixth time. In the same year, he arrived in Saqiu, Japan. He landed at Tsumayaura (today's Akizukiura, Kagoshima in southern Kyushu), passed through Dazaifu, Osaka and other places, and entered the Japanese capital Heijo Kyo (today's Nara, Japan) in the following year. He was grandly welcomed by Japanese monks and laymen.
The ambition of crossing eastward was realized.
After that, Jianzhen worked tirelessly in Japan for ten years, spreading various cultural achievements of the Tang Dynasty, and was praised by the Japanese people as the "Father of Culture" and "The Ancestor of the Vinaya Sect".
5. Rosen and his "Japanese Diary" - a pioneer in cultural exchanges between China and Japan in modern times
When Rosen went to Japan for the first time in 1853, he felt that he was dealing with the Japanese , and making agreements are inseparable from Chinese. Therefore, when Perry's fleet set out for Japan again in 1854, he invited his friend Rosen to serve as the fleet's Chinese translator. Rosen accepted the invitation and went to Japan with him.
During his stay in Japan, Rosen conducted many Sino-Japanese cultural exchange activities. He made extensive friends with people from all walks of life in Japan. In addition to officials, he also had contact with literati, scholars, and monks. Many Japanese people also took the initiative to communicate and have written conversations with Rosen. They asked him about the situation in China and expressed their "state of admiration for Chinese cultural relics."
He found that Japanese people "love Chinese poetry". Many people sang Chinese poems with him and gave each other calligraphy and paintings. Many more people asked him to write inscriptions and fans. According to his diary, he wrote more than 500 fans for the Japanese in one month in Yokohama, while in Shimoda, "he wrote more than a thousand fans in one month." To this day, in the Matsumae Castle Archives in Hakodate City, Hokkaido, Japan, there is still a large fan with a poem written by Lawson and given to the old master of the Matsumae clan.
Rosen also sought advice from Japanese calligraphers. He heard that Yun Songwo, a scholar in Shimodian, was good at calligraphy (that is, writing with a pen held in his mouth), so he asked him to write more than a dozen pieces of cursive script, which was quite "like a dragon flying and a phoenix dancing". This is the earliest Sino-Japanese calligraphy exchange in modern times.