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The Geographical Names for the Sea of . ,Japan in Chinese Historical Documents

Song-di Wu (The Institute of Chinese C'xeography in Fudan University, Shanghai, China)

The Sea of Japan, surround by North Korea, South Korea, Japan and Russia. IS an important sea in tile Northeast Asia. Before the Second Opium War(1854-1860), the lo\ver reachers of the Heilongjiang River, the Wusulijiang River valley and Sakhalin of now Russia were historical documents some records of how the present Sea of Japan was called during various historical times. These records will provide some helpful clues to the discussion of the naming problem of the Sea of Japan today.

I.

The first Chinese historical document which mentioned tile Sea of Japan was Dong Yi Lie

ZhuanO;j[~J!Jfi) of Hou Han Shu(13t7:l~), which recorded Yi Lou(m:I:), which was the kingdom set up by the ancient Su ShenOlitJ)i) tribe, was more than 1,000 Ii northeast of Fu

YU(7-:~); it faced the sea on the east and was bounded by the north Wo JuWi:illJ kingdom. Wo Ju was located in the northeast of tile Korean Peninsula, Fu Yu was in the central part of the Northeast Plain of China: Yi Lou was in the \Vusulijiang River valley and the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River which now belong to Russia, so "the sea" Yi Lou faced on tile east could only be the northern area of the Sea of Japan today. It was also recorded in the same book that. to the north of the Wei kingdom \vere Gao Gou Li and Wo Ju, to tile south of it was Chen Han, to the east was "the ocean" and to the west was Le Lang. We know the Wei Kingdom was in the Northeast of the Korean Peninsula, so "the ocean" mentioned above should be the Southern area of the Sea of Japan. DLUing tile times of the Three Kingdoms, the troops of the Wei Kingdom, after wiping out the local kingdoms in Liao Dong, pursued in long distance and attacked the troops of Gao Gau Li. "The Wei troops marched through the regions inhabited by tile Wu Wan, Gu Du and Wo Ju tribes, entered the area in which the Su Shen tribes lived, and continued to march easteard until the troops reached the coast of "the ocean"(\Vu Wan Xian Bei Dong Yi Zhuan) of San Guo Zhi. the Su Shen tribes were actually the Yi Lou tribes. Since the Wei troops

- 8 - started their pursuit from a near the seashore and marched in a northeastern direction and thus entered the lower reaches of the Heilongjiang River, "the ocean" whose coast they had reached was therefore the northern part of the Sea of Japan today. This war increased the Wei people's knowledge of the Northeast Asia, but it did not add much about the scope of activities of the East Wo Ju. Yi Lou and Wei tribes to Wu Wan Xian Bei Dong Yi Zhuan of San Guo Zhi. The book only said: "the East Wo Ju tribe lived near the seashore, Yi Lou faced the ocean and Wei faced the ocean on the east". the "ocean" here in fact referred to the Sea of Japan today. The added part of San Guo Zhi as a result of this war was mainly about the three Korean kingdoms, Ma Han, Chen Han and Bian Han. It said : "Three Han Kingdoms were on the south of Dai Fang, surrounded by waters on the west and east, facing Japan on the south, with an area of 44 ti". The ancient Ma Han, Chen Han and Bian Han, if put together, almost equal to the territory of the South Korea today. The waters they faced on the west was the east part of the Huanghai Sea today and on the east were the south of the Sea of Japan today. It was recorded in the Chinese historical documents dated from the 3rd century to the 6th century, such as Si Yi Zhuan of Jin Shu, Dou Mo Lou Zhuan of Wei Shu and Dou Mo Lou Zhuan of Bei Shi. Si Yi Zhuan of Jin Shu recorded : "Chen Han was on the south of Dai Fang and was bounded by waters on the west and east". It said also "the Su Shen tribes, also caled Yi Lou, lived on the north of the Bu Xian Shan, which was today's journey from Fu Yu. On the east of the Su Shen tribes was 'the ocean' and on the east was Kou Man Han kingdom, and on the north was Rou Shui. The "waters" on the east of Chen Han or the "ocean" on the east of Su Shen was in fact the Sea of Japan today. It was recorded in Dou Mo Lou Zhuan of Wei Shu that the Dou Mo Lou kingdom, formerly called North Fu Yu, was 1,000 Ii north of the kingdom of Wu Ji, "the sea" on the east of Dou Mo Lou should be the Tartar Strait which is the northern area of the Sea of Japan. We can see from the above discussion that in the Chinese historical documents before the 6th century there was no record of specific names for the sea area which is now the Sea of Japan. It was generally referred to as "the ocean" or "the sea" in the description of the scopes of territories of the kingdoms. This shows that the Chinese people at that time was not quite familir with this sea area.

II.

In Chinese history, the Tang Dynasty enjoyed much prosperous economy and culture, the result of which was a stronger economic enhancements also took place in these areas. In the Northeast Asia, Mo He tribe set up in 698 a comparatively large kingdom named the Kingdom of Bo Hai, which lasted for more than 200 years. This kingdom had much communication with inland of China; Consequently, there was an increased amount of account of the Sea of Japan in the Chinese historical documents. Although Gao Li Zhuan, Xin Luo

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Zhuan an Ri Ben Zhuan still employed some general names such as "the ocean" or "the sea", Liu Gui Zhuan of Xin Tang Shu, Tang Hui Yao and Tong Dian had begun to use proper names for this sea area or part of it. As Bo Hai of Xing Tang Shu recorded, there were five main lines of communication in the Kingdom of BohaL One started from the Southeast of the Longyuan District, passed through "the ocean" and reached Japan. Another one, with the Kingdom of Xing Luo as its destination, started from the Nan Hai District{the South Sea District) and passed through "the South Sea". Moreover, one of the famous commodities sold in the Kingdom of Bohai was Kun Bu from the South Sea District. The Longyuan District had a jurisdictional ara including today's Hun Chun of China, Chongjun of North Korea and Zal patra velikogo of Russia while the Nan Hai District admunistered the coastal area on the northeast of Korea. That is to say, the western part of the sea area which is now the Sea of Japan was named "the South Sea" by the Bohai tribes. There were two chapters of Tang Hui Yao(Mo He and Liu GuD which had also mentioned the northern part of the present Sea of japan. Mo He had the following account. The scope of activities of Hei Shui Mo He tribe was an area surrounded by the Xiande District of the Kingdom of Bohai on the South, Xiao HaiOiterally "Small Sea") on the north, "the ocean" on the east and the territory occupied by the Shi Wei tribe on the west. It had a distance of about 2,000 Ii grom north to south and about 1,000 Ii from east to west. Lui Gui had a distance of 15,000 Ii away from our capital and was on the northeast of the Hei Shui Mo He tribe, and on the north of Shao HaiOiterally "Small Sea"). It was a land surrounded by sea on three sides, a land of much swamp and a land productive of fish and ji salt.... it was bounded by Mo Ye Mo He tribe on the south.

;i The scope of activities of the three tribes of Hei Shui Mo He, Mo Ye Mo He and Lui Gui ii j lied actually within territory of Russia today. The scope of activities of the Lui Gui tribe, it is argued, was either in Sakhalin or Kamchatka Peninsula. According to the record of Lui Gui Zhuan of xing tang Shu that Lui Gui tribe lived in an area which was close to the Mo Ye Mo He tribe on the south and it would take 15 days to sail from Lui Gui to Mo Ye Mo He m a southeastern direction, I personally hold that the Lui Gui tribe lived in where which is now the Kamchatka Peninsula, because 15 days would be too much for a boat to sail from Sakhalin to the Mo Ye tribe. We may now conclude that "the ocean" mentioned in the record was the southern area of the present Sea of japan. some historian hold the view that the Xiao Hai or Shao Hai should be today's Ochotsk,but I think it should be the northern Sea of japan including the Tartar Strait. In the Chinese language Xiao Hai literally meaning "small sea", while "the ocean", if also literally translated, should be "big sea". Since the vast southern part of the Sea of japan was called "big sea", it was resonable enough to call the narrow northern part of the Sea of japan "small sea". What's more, Ochotsk is much larger in area than the Sea of japan had could not have been improperly named "small sea". During the Tang Dynasty, the Su Mo Mo He tribe founded a kingdom named the kingdom

- 10 - aU , of Zheng, and the Tang Emperor offered Da Zuo Rang, the King of the kingdom, the title of the Duke of Bohai. After that, Su Mo rna He people adopted "Bohai" as the name of their kingdom, and also as the name of the sea area which is now the Sea of Japan.(See Zhong he Tai Sheng Yu Ri Ben Guo Tai Zheng Guan Die of Lei Ju Guo ShD Chu Xue Ji explained in gh this way, "there is Bohai in the Sea area in the east, so the East Sea is also called Bohai(or its So Sea). Today's Bohai is in the north of Chinese eastern sea area, and that is how the he name comes. Considering the activities scope of ancient Chinese people, we can see that the as Sea of Japan today is in the north of the eastern sea area, and it was also called BohaL rJg ile m. IY, a" From the 10th to the 16th century, the discussed sea area was called the East Sea in Chinese historical documents. Cheng Yao Lu(by Lu Zheng of Song Dynasty) said, "Korea and Nu Zhen is 2,000 Ii northeast of Liaohai(Liao Sea), which is indeed the East Sea". San Chao Bei Meng Hui Bian(Chapter 3), when describing Nu Zhen tribes, said, "the one which is the farthest and closest to the East Sea is Dong Hai Nu Zhen ". Chao Xian Zhi(anonymous, h, published in the Ming Dynasty) said, "During the times of Shen Wen King of Xing Luo, a There was a hill in the East sea, floating forward with waves". "The East Sea" above referred to the Sea of Japan today, and the name came into being simply because it was to le the east of the mainland of China. Id The name "the East Sea" was still used in the historical documents in the Qing dynasty. Id Man Zhou Yuan Liu Kao mentioned "the Nu Zhen tribe lived near the East Sea". Sheng Wu Ji by Wei Yuan said, Nu Zhen people has four tribes: Man Zhou, Chang Bai Shan, Dong hai

Ul and Hu Lun, among which the Nu Zhen clans of East Sea lived near the sea. Sheng Jing it Tong Zhi recorded the juridictional area of the Jiling General this way: "it reached the XI KE ui T A Mountain on the southeast and East Sea on the east" Huang Qing Zhi Goni Tu . an 'e official publication in the 16th year of Qianlong Empror, thus described the minority people in Ie the northeast China, "Ku Ye people live in Ya Dan and Da Li Kan in the island of East is Sea". We can see from the above discussion that the present Sakhalin was still called the m island of the East Sea at the time, and the island later took its present name from the people living in it. The Sea of Japan today was still called then East Sea during the period of Qianlong's rule. The same book also said, "the Qia Ke La tribe lived in Hunchun, the coastal

area of the East Sea, and along the Fu Qing River and the Yue Se River." Hunchun is In

today's Jiling Province of China, near the sea of Japan, and "the East Sea" mentioned IS

;t actually the Sea of Japan today. Besides, a report of the Jiling General Jingchun in the year Ie of 1854, collected in Ku Ye Dao Zhi Lue by Shi Rang Zhang, also called the sea area which is now the Sea of Japan the East Sea. Kai Yuan Zhi of the Yuan Dynasty and Ming Tal Zu Shi Lu of the early Ming Dynasty n had both used the name "Jinhai" or "Jin Sea", which meant "the sea of whales", to refer to

- 11 - the sea area of the Sea of Japan today. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties the southern part of the disscussed sea area was also called "the South Sea"

IV.

In 1858, the Qing Dynasty ceded a large tract of land to the north of the Heilongjing River to Russia. Two years later, the Dynasty again ceded the large tract of between the wusulihiang River and the western coast of the sea of japan to Russia. "During the 20 plus years that fallowed , the Chinese historical documents, for example, Dong Hai Bian Fang Lun by Yao Wen Dong and ji Lin Di Lue by He Guan Qun (both collcected in Xiao Fang Hu zhai Yu Di Cong Chao, 1877, first edition) still used the name "the east Sea" to refer to the Sea of japan of the present time. He Qiu Tao, in the first chapter of shuo fang Bei Cheng (published in 1881) said, the Songhuajing River and Hei SI1Ui, converge into a river called Hun Tong Jiang which flows into the East sea by way of Ning Gu Ta and Shan Xian. Here the name "the sea of japan" was still not used. Moreover, (Xiao Fang Hu Zhai Yu Di Cong

Chao, the 3rd edition), when Quating from Xi Bo Li ya ji by the japanese author ~*~.m materials on the expansionism of Russia in the east, still used the name "the east Sea" instead of "the sea of Japan". But Cao Ting Jie, when writing Xi Bo Li Dong Pian Ji Yao in 1885, had begun to use the term "the sea of Japan" several times, although he still used the term "the East Sea" in the 19th item of the same paper. In the same year, Cao ting Jie's superior Sheng Lin in his Du Zhong E Jiao Jie Tu still used the term "the East Sea"(See collections of Cao Ting Jie). Later. in Zhong E Jiao Jie Quan Tu0890, by Hong jun), Er Shi Ji zhong Wai Da Di Tu(1900) and Zhong Guo Xin Yu Tu(1912) published by the Shanghai Commercial Press. this sea area had all been labeled "the Sea of japan" in maps. Therefore, it was around the year of 1884 that the term "the Sea of Japan" began to appear in chinese historical documents. But after that the name "the East Sea" was sometimes still habitually used by scholars like Cao Ting Jie.

v.

We may now conclude from the above discussion about the names for the Sea of japan in Chinese historical documents that: l.the records of the names for the present area of the Sea of japan in Chinese historical documents started in the Tang Dynasty. Before the Tang Dynasty, there were only very general names like "the sea", "the ocean" for the area. Only after the establishment of the Bohai Kingdom during the Tang Dynasty were specific terms used to refer to the sea of the present Sea of japan, in the case, "Bohai(the Bo Sea)". Meanwhile, the southern part of it was often called "the South Sea", and the northern part of it, including the Tartar strait. was

- 12 - called Shao Hai(small sea). During the times of the Liao, Jing, M;ng and Qing Dynasties,"the East Sea" was used as the name for the sea area which is now the Sea of Japan, although sometimes "the Sea of \Nhales" was used for the sea area during Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and "the South Sea" was used to refer to its southern part during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was not until the year of 1884 was the name "the Sea of Japan" firstly used, which means that the name "the Sea of Japan" has been used in the Chinese historical documents for only about 11Oyears. 2.Among the names for what is now the Seaof Japan. Shao Hai and Xiao Hai were used according to the area of the sea, while other names were determined according to the spatial relations between the nominators and the Sea of area. The different spatial relations resulted in different names of the sea including "the East Sea", "the Bo Sea" and "the South Sea". This is indeed a Chinese traditional naming principle. East Sea, the South Sea and the Bo Sea of China of the present time are all named on this principle.

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