Hakka and Japanese Culture
Hakka culture might be a key component of Japanese culture.
It is hard not to notice that spoken Hakka dialect/language and
Japanese language are closer than Mandarin and Japanese. Certain
Japanese also resemble Shandong Chinese, distinct from the Ainu
features of Hokkaido. Some Japanese friends point out that Hakkas
look like Japanese. In fact the strong adherance to tradition and
stubbornness are very characteristic of both Hakka and Japanese.
The following is an account that could provide some support to the
link between Hakka and Japanese culture.
Qin dynasty, Xu Fu, Yamoto, and Yayoi culture
The earliest record of Chinese travelling to Japan was in Qin
dynasty when Qin Shihuangdi sent Xu Fu with a company of 3000 boys
and girls to obtain longevity medicine. They started out from
Shandong and reached what they called Peng Lai (Ying Zhou) which is
Kyushu today. In Kyushu, there are significant traces of Xu Fu and
his company including Xu Fu’s tomb. Xu Fu’s landing place should be
around Fukuoka (The Hill of Fu), which was named in memory of
him.
To be entrusted by Qin Shihuangdi with such an enormous task at
that time, Xu Fu at 36 years of age was obviously a very capable
person who was also higher up in the official rank. One theory is
that he actually used this proposal to leave Qin. He brought a
whole fleet of ships fully loaded with all kinds of supplies. It is
also clear that Xu Fu had travelled back to China more than once to
gather supplies. So, likely he brought more people over for the
long trip. The crew he brought over stayed in Japan and became the
Yamato clan. That is why some Japanese look like Shandong people,
which should be Han/Hakka in genetic trait.
The history of Japan is very vague as to how the empire started.
Only legends exist. Japanese culture has two major components: The
Jomon culture and the Yayoi culture. The native Jomon culture was
based on hunting and fishing, dating back to 10,000 years ago.
The Yayoi culture, which suddenly emerged around 250 BC – 250 AD
as a very advanced culture, bears all the marks of Qin/Han culture
including paddy rice cultivation, bronze mirror, coins, bronze
weapons, bells, etc. The three major symbols of the Japanese
Kingdom : bronze mirror, sword, and the royal seal stone are
exactly the same as the Qin symbols. With no archaeological
precedent of a gradual evolution, Yayoi culture has to be
introduced from outside, and the most probable source was China.
The Yayoi culture spread northeastward towards the Kanto plain and
eventually became the mainstream of the Japanese culture.
Japan’s celebration of the “birthyear” of Shen Wu Tian Huang
(Ten-no) was held every 50 years (last held 1930 and 1980) as a
very sacred ceremony simultaneously in a memorial celebration of Xu
Fu. The beginning of Shen Wu Tian Huang was in the same time period
of Xu Fu’s landing in 219 BC. So these two are too coincidental not
to be related. Shen Wu Tian Huang is supposed to be the Father of
the Japanese kingdom. The celebration actually could be for the
birthyear of the Empire rather than a person.
Did Xu Fu start out from Shandong or Guangdong?
There is also a hypothesis that Xu Fu started out from Guangdong
because the spoken Japanese sounds like Guangdong dialect more than
Mandarin. However, Qin Shihuangdi’s active area was in the north.
It would be hard to trust someone so far from the south. The
climbing of Taishan (Shandong) by Qin Shihuangdi was well
documented by Li Si’s stone engravings on Taishan. So, Shandong is
a place frequented by QSHD. It is natural
that he might want to watch the ships set sail to fetch the
longevity medicine too. As pointed out by a netter friend, Shandong
dialect actually has some similarities to Hakka (see language
page). If Hakka was indeed the official language commonly used in
Qin-Tang dynasties, then that was the language Xu Fu and his crew
spoke. So, it would be natural for the Japanese spoken language to
bear some resemblance of Hakka.
Buddhism, Wei – Tang period
Buddhism was spread to Japan during Wei-Jin and Tang period. There
were more and more interactions between the two countries. In Wei
Zhi (history of Wei) the word “Wo” (Japanese “Wa”, Mandarin
“He”
first appeared to represent the Japanese
kingdom.
Hakka language was highly likely the official language in Tang
dynasty (see language section about Tang poems). In Japan, much of
the government bureaucratic system, including the names of bureaus
still use the system developed from Qin-Han to Tang period.
Examples of ancient Han/Hakka culture and Japanese culture
Japanese culture retains many of the ancient Chinese custom
including deep bowing, seating on tatami with low table (only after
Song did high chairs become popular in China), the women’s dress
and headdress, the way pipa ( a pluck string musical instrument,
Japanese call it biwa) is held at an angle rather than upright.
These can be easily verified in the murals of Dun Huang, which were
done from Wei-Jin to Tang. In terms of calligraphy, the early
Japanese masters favored Wang Xi-Zhi (Jin) while the contemporaries
follow Yan Zhen-qing (Tang).
