52 replies to this topic

[TenThousandHorsemen]

I'm interested to know more about the legend( or was it an actual event) of Xu Fu's journey to the east in the search for an elixir for Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Did Xu Fu and the few thousand virgin boys and girls who were supposedly brought to Japan really exist?Chinese and Japanese scholars are still debating over the truth of this event.Are there any historical documents in China which are able to verify Xu Fu's existence?

Interestingly,in Saga prefecture of Japan, there is an unknown grave on a hill that is supposedly dedicated to Xu Fu, though one might say that it could be a tourist gimmick.Meanwhile, Fukuoka ,the largest city in Kyushu Island and where Xu Fu was rumoured to have landed, was named after two places, Fuku（福） and Oka 岡.One could perhaps guess that the place Fuku was name after Xu Fu, whose name in Japanese was [/i]jou fuku[i].There are other places in the island of Kyushu which may point to Xu Fu's arrival in Japan.

[Wei Feng]

Its very wel possible the Qin emperor was quite obsessed with immortality. There are many temples and shrines built to commemorate Xu Fu on the East Coast of Japanese islands.

[Peng]

I think his name has been mentioned in Sima Qian's records... I am not sure.

[Nerva]

It may be a posibility, I thought of this back then. Most people believe that Xu Fu did go to japan. There may be a chance though, since how could Japan have adapted at least abit of Chinese customs?

[Yang Zongbao]

There was quite a bit of Japanese emulation of Chinese culture during the Tang Dynasty, so it may not necessarily be Xu Fu responsible for this.

[RedStarOverChina]

The claim is that Japanese scholars discovered remains of "Japanese Greatwall" which was constructed around the time of XuFu's supposed arrival. The construction of those walls would seem like rocket science to the simple Japanese people back then---who were pretty much still in new-stone age. Thus, historians suspect that the technology and the labourers actually immigrated from China---Along with XU Fu.

Many Japanese thinks that Xu Fu is the first legendary emperor of Japan who goes around and conquers everybody.

Edited by RedStarOverChina, 31 October 2005 - 04:14 AM.

[l0ckx]

In Dr. Li Zhisui's The Private Life of Chairman Mao, the doctor makes references to mao's search for an elixir for immortality through many sexual accounts with young women. He brings up a legend which i thought was particularly interesting.

"Qin Shihuangdi, the founding emperor of the Qin dynasty, with whom Mao often identified, is said to have sent a Daoist priest and five hundred virgin children across the sea in search of the elixir of immortality. Legend says that the Japanese are their descendants."

VERY bold Legend. Anyone fimilar with this ???

[Gubook Janggoon]

I've heard it before, but it seems to be only a legend. There were probably Chinese immigrants moving to Japan via Korea and the Ryukyus, but I think it would be pretty untrue to say that the Japanese are solely the descendants of these Chinese immigrants.

[l0ckx]

when was japanese civilization first recorded in history???? this could be a helpful key

[MING-LOYALIST]

Japanese islands were populated long before Qin Shi Huang.

[caocao74]

when was japanese civilization first recorded in history???? this could be a helpful key

What do you mean by civilization? Japanese cities did not emerge until the Kofunjidai (3rd-6th Centuries AD), but pottery (a sign of sedentary life usually, if not necessarily 'civilization') goes way back to the Jomonjidai while agriculture emerges later in the Yayoijidai.

[l0ckx]

What do you mean by civilization? Japanese cities did not emerge until the Kofunjidai (3rd-6th Centuries AD), but pottery (a sign of sedentary life usually, if not necessarily 'civilization') goes way back to the Jomonjidai while agriculture emerges later in the Yayoijidai.

i was referring to any type of human form living in japan. Whether or not they used systems of writing or record keeping (civilization), they would still be the decendents of the peoples that live there now.

From what you all have posted it seems this truly is a legend....

[Yun]

Early Chinese legend never said that the Japanese were descendants of Xu Fu (the Daoist alchemist) and the large number of boys and girls he brought with him. Instead, in the Sanguo Zhi and Hou Hanshu, the first two dynastic histories to describe Japan, Xu Fu's new home is identified as a different island called Chanzhou 澶洲 or Danzhou 亶洲. Sun Quan is said to have sent a fleet to find this island, but they were unsucessful and only reached Taiwan or Okinawa (known as Yizhou 夷洲). There is no suggestion that it was Japan.

It was only in recent Chinese history that people started to claim that Xu Fu was the ancestor of the Japanese. This is motivated by Chinese nationalistic pride.

[Peng]

Few years ago, I went to Japanese bookstore reading Japanese biography manga. I read the biography of Qin Shi Huang and found it mentioning about Xu Fu. Xu Fu just arrived with bunch of people and met other people, they sort look like shorter cavemen, who were already on the island.

[USC]

Few years ago, I went to Japanese bookstore reading Japanese biography manga. I read the biography of Qin Shi Huang and found it mentioning about Xu Fu. Xu Fu just arrived with bunch of people and met other people, they sort look like shorter cavemen, who were already on the island.

there were records in Japanese history whereabout the Xu Fu's landing spot.