Over a span of 260 years, from 630 to 894, Japanese embassies to Tang China played a vital role in importing Tang governance and culture to Japan, significantly shaping the political and cultural landscape of an emerging Japanese state with codes of law. However, the seventeenth embassy (836–839) during the Jōwa period, fraught with turmoil, marked the final mission to Tang China. Alongside disasters and significant loss of life during the voyage, mysteries persist around Viceambassador Ono no Takamura’s refusal to board ship, the government’s insistence on the mission, and the objectives behind dispatching this mission to China. In this volume, Professor Saeki Arikiyo traces the journey from departure to return, focusing on the individuals involved and the prevailing trends of the era. Drawing upon a rich tapestry of historical sources, including records from Shoku Nihon kōki and the accompanying monk Ennin’s Nit-Tō guhō junrei kōki, Saeki delves into the arduous journey of this final mission and unravels the intricate motives of the embassy personnel and their encounters in Tang China, offering a comprehensive examination of a transformative chapter in ancient Japanese diplomatic history.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reading like a novel, Joshua Fogel's elegant translation of Saki Arikiyo's masterful study of the final Japanese embassy to Tang China (836-839) vividly brings to life a dynamic East Asian world. Hundreds of officials, monks, merchants, musicians, and sailors risked their lives in pursuit of knowledge, rituals, paintings, texts, and wares. This embassy marked the twilight of an era: as Japan, Silla Korea, and Tang China faced growing political instability, the motivation and capacity for such formal diplomatic exchanges began to fade. A compelling read for students and scholars of early China, Korea, and Japan.

—Thomas D. Conlan
Professor of East Asian History, Princeton University




Saeki Arikiyo's detailed account of the Japanese embassy sent to Tang China in the 830s offers many fresh insights into the domestic and international contexts that propelled—and ultimately ended—this significant diplomatic mission. Saeki's resourceful integration of a wide variety of historical materials, including contemporaneous diaries and works of poetry, is vividly conveyed in Joshua Fogel's translation, which captures the author's suspenseful and engaging narrative style.

—Matthew Fraleigh
Associate Professor of East Asian Literature and Culture, Brandeis University




By illustrating the perils of sea travel and the interactions among various groups from Japan, China, and Silla in diplomatic, commercial, and religious exchanges, the book provides a compelling explanation for the discontinuation of Japanese embassies to Tang China. This study delivers more than just a narrative of a diplomatic mission—it weaves a rich tapestry of individual experiences and will captivate anyone interested in ancient East Asia, international relations, or the history of Buddhism.


—Yiwen Li
Associate Professor, Department of Chinese and History, City University of Hong Kong