Islam in Japanese History
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The Second Book The Influence of Islam in Japanese History By Al Haj Mustafa Fujio Komura Edited by Prof. Dr. Salih Samarrai [email protected] Introduction by Prof. Dr. Salih Samarrai Al Haj Mustafa Komura is one of the Muslim leaders in Japan. He served Muslims in China before the Second World War. After the war he was active in Dawa, formed two legal Muslim Organization , trained Japanese Muslim youth and sent many Muslim students to study in Muslim world and helped Umar Mita in the translation of the meaning of Qran in to Japanese when they lived together in Makkah . He compiled encyclopedia work on the history of Islam in Japan ( Japanese language ) . The present work is the English version of his book which he thought is pertinent to Muslim Ummah that may benefit from it. Islamic Center Japan helped both the Japanese whole book and the present English version and translated part of it to Arabic. 1 Chapter 1 First Encounter With Islam – The Nara and Heian Eras (710-1192) Japan is a considerable distance from the birthplace of Islam. In ancient times this remoteness was even more pronounced. The first mention of knowledge about Islam in Japanese history is found in the old chronicle Shoku-Nihongi where the name of "Tahji-Koku" (the country of Tahji) is mentioned. Tahji originally comes from the word Tazi or Tazik, which in ancient China and Japan meant Arabia. A narrative in the Shoku-Nihongo talks about the Chinese emperor receiving foreign envoys during the New Year celebration in 753 A.D, and the honor of the first audience with the emperor was granted to the envoys from Tahji. The representatives of Tibet and Korea were to follow them, then Japan. One of the Japanese envoys, Otomono Komaro, was angered by Korea preceding his country in the audience order, because Korea was then paying tribute to Japan and was thus considered in an inferior position, according to him. It is recorded that the Chinese emperor accepted the Japanese demand that they be granted an audience ahead of the Koreans. The important point is to note that this occurred in 753, which was 131 years after Hijra. Komaro and his group more than likely met the envoys from Tahji in the 2 emperor's palace, the first official contact of Japanese with Muslims from Arabia. However, it is probable that there were many unrecorded encounters that preceded this historically recorded one. Muslim Visits To Japan During the Nara period (646-794 A.D.), the Japanese emperors and their courts encouraged the spread of Buddhism. Many Japanese monks were sent to China for religious studies, and high priests from there were invited to Japan to teach. Ganjin is the most famous of these Chinese priests and is still greatly revered by Japanese Buddhists. However, it is interesting to focus on one of his attendants, An Johoh. In 754 his name was recorded in the book Toh-Daiwajoh-Tohseiden. It is noteworthy that in ancient China many people from Bukhara in Central Asia used the name “An.” Bukhara was repeatedly invaded by the Saracentic army from 674, and in the year 710 the famous Arab general Qutayba bun Muslim succeeded in occupying the area. Therefore, if An Johoh came from that newly Islamized area, he is likely to be one of the first Muslims who visited Japan in that pre-Buddhist era, or at least he may have had a great deal of first hand knowledge about Islamic culture in Bukhara. Another possible record of a Muslim visitor to Japan is found in an entry of the chronicle Zoku-Nihon-Shoki. It is 3 said that in 736, "a Persian, Ri Mitsui, and some others were granted court ranks." Islamization of Persia occurred about 100 years before this recorded event. Although some historians consider Ri Mitsui a Manichean, Zoroastrian or Buddhist who fled from his Islamized homeland, it is also possible that he may have been Muslim. Cultural Contacts With Islam In addition to visitors there were probably a number of cultural influences on Japan from various Islamic contacts, including indirect trade. The Toh-Daiwajoh-Tohseiden, for example, says that when the high priest Ganjin travelled to Japan in 750, he stopped at Guangzhou (Canton) and Yangzhou (Yangchou) in China. They were the largest port towns in the world at that time. He bought many foreign products to bring back to Japan. Among them were more than 10 kinds of incense, including borneol, benzoin and olibanum -- originally from Persia and Arabia. It is a curious irony that the Islamic world supplied such needs as incense to esoteric Buddhism for its rites and ceremonies. Foreign made glassware was also a favorite item in Japan at that time. Members of the imperial court and Buddhist priests valued it quite highly. The Shosoin Temple in Nara is famous for its imperial treasures many of which came from the Western areas of China, a part of the Islamic world. 4 The ancient chronicle Nihon-Kohki mentions in 799 that a small foreign boat drifted ashore in July of that year and its crew introduced the cotton seed to Japan. The crew may have been Malaysians or Indians, but if they were from what is now known as Pakistan, they may have been Muslims. That area was a major cotton producing region of the world at the time, and converted to Islam some 80 years before the boat event was recorded. Cucumber, sesame, walnuts and other foods also came from Islamic Central Asia. Japanese names of such agricultural products include the term “Hu,” one of the old names in Chinese for Central Asia. Incidentally, sitting cross-legged is expressed as sitting in the Hu style in Japanese. Also, the court music of the Chinese Tang dynasty was accepted by the Imperial court in Japan and still continues to be performed for the past 1000 years. Among this musical genre, Tokoku-gaku (Tang-guo- Yue, or Tang music) originated from Samarkand, Ankoku-gaku (Anguo Yue) from Bukhara, Kuji-gaku (Quici Yue) from Kucha, Kosho-gaku (Gaochang Yue) from Turfan and Soroku-gaku (Shule-Yue) from Kashgar. All of this music traces its origins to Persia. Musical instruments among the treasures of the Shosoin are also linked to Persian Islamic influences. Dates are painted on an old five stringed lute, and some notes from China are written in Tahji tune style. Moreover, the names of the days of the week are written with Sogdian pronunciation in some books of the Heian period. Some Japanese monks learned Sogdian 5 because many of the Buddhist scriptures at the time were translated from Sanskrit to Chinese by way of the Sogdian language. However, the original Sogdian speakers were shrewd merchants in Central Asia, and were not Buddhists. Sogdians had been converted to Islam from Manichieism in that era. In 894 Japan stopped dispatching envoys to China. Cultural exchanges between the two countries were also limited, and as a result so were contacts with Islam. But, in the last years of the Heian period, following the replacement of the Tang dynasty with the Song emperors, the official exchanges between China and Japan began anew. Trade goods from the Islamic civilization were brought to Japan via the land route of the Silk Road and the sea trade of the Spice Road. Backgammon from India and polo from Persia were introduced into Japan in that period. These pastimes were very popular with the nobles of the aristocracy. As Japan began to free itself from mere exotic interest in foreign cultures, a clearer but still vague image of the Islamic world began to develop. 6 Chapter 2 The Kamakura Period -- Attempted Invasion by The Yuan Dynasty The ambitiously expanding Yuan dynasty of China directed its military might towards Japan in 1274. A huge naval invasion force was assembled and set sail for the Japanese islands. However, a typhoon hit the armada at sea on 20 October and a 100,000 Yuan soldiers drowned with their ships in the ill fated invasion. The Japanese refer to this typhoon as the "kamikaze," the divine wind. Although this invasion attempt ended in failure, the emperor Kublai Khan did not abandon his ambitions. He sent a mission to Japan in 1275 to demand tribute. The five members of the mission came from diverse backgrounds. The main envoy was Mongol, the vice envoy was Chinese and the others were Persian, Uighur and Korean. The Persian and the Uighur were very possibly Muslims. The mission was taken to Kamakura, then the seat of power of the ruling shogun, and thus the center of the Japanese government at the time. They were imprisoned for months and then beheaded at Tatsunokuchi on 7 September. Their epitaphs there still tell of their sorrow, their nostalgia for home, and their disillusionment. A second invasion attempt followed their executions, but this one too ended in failure for the Yuan forces. Again, 7 a typhoon, a "divine wind," struck and annihilated their ships and men. The main body of the Yuan dynasty forces were Mongols, but it was usual for them to recruit a variety of nationalities from their occupied territories. These multi-national forces included a number of Turkis, Uighur, Kazakh and other Muslims in addition to Manchurian Tunguses, Chinese, and Koreans. Contrary to other Chinese dynasties, the Yuan emperors appeared to treat Muslims well and granted them high positions in various fields. Emperor Kublai Khan invited two Muslim engineers to his court to make better guns for his military forces. They were Ala-al-Din and Isma'il of Bukhara.