Abstract

As a regional historical event that affected China，Japan，Korea and even all the East Asian sea，“wakō” was not only an action of mugging by Japanese invaders in China and Korea，but also an important part of the ancient maritime history，war history and economic and trade history of East Asia.In the 20th century，it had become an important research topic of East Asian history study，and then it extended to the field of literature and literary research，which led to a large scale of literary and artistic works of wakō in both Japan and China.Particularly in Japan，there are many literary works that have wakō as their creation content or theme.Most of these works are scattered in Japanese novels，such as “marine adventure novels”，“historical novels”，and “period novels”.And，for the record，all these works that have wakō as narrative center do not form a separate novel category.This is probably one of the reasons why no other researchers have examined these works for a long time.This book here categorizes Japanese literature dealing with wakō as a unique literary type and names it as “wakō literature”.And all the study of this book starts from this categorization.Similarly，in Chinese literature from the Ming and Qing dynasties to contemporary times，there are many literary works dealing with the subject of wakō too.So，comparisons can be drawn between them when we study Japanese “wakō literature”.

Japanese scholars such as Aoki Masayoshi and YoshikawaKojiro have written special articles on Chinese literary works of wakō.Chinese scholars such as Wang Yong have also written special papers on the subject，and recently there have been some postgraduate dissertations dealing with Chinese literary works of wakō.Yet，despite all these academic efforts，there still lacks a comprehensive and comparative research to address the issue.This book is a special study of Japanese “wakō literature” aiming to fill the research gap.

In Chinese literature，the term of “wakō” first appeared in poetry during the Yuan Dynasty，expressing hatred for Japanese pirates and determination to fight against them.In the Ming Dynasty，especially after the middle stage of it，a large number of poems were written to criticize wakō as they became rampant in China.However，the overwhelming majority of works of wakō in Chinese literature and art are found in Ming and Qing dynasty novels and operas，as well as in some contemporary films and television productions.

Japanese “wakō literature”，on the other hand，emerged on a large scale only in the second half of the 20th century，and constituted an important part of contemporary literature on ancient themes，i.e.，contemporary Japanese historical novels and period novels.As Japanese historian Yuji Aida says，in the 1980s，a period when Japanese economy was developing rapidly，Japan's national self-confidence and pride were expanding unprecedentedly，and its consciousness of “to be a great power” was gradually revealed with the economic developing.Under the circumstances，plus their characteristics of using the past as a metaphor for the present，Japanese historical novels have became a very important literary category，which played a key role in the self-affirmation of the Japanese nation and the psychological construction of the Japanese population.Many of these works became bestsellers and had a great impact.The historical event of wakō，as a way of external expansion in Japanese history，has naturally become one of the many pivotal materials chosen by contemporary Japanese novelists to help build the psyche and self-confirmation of the people，and has thus become one of the most important topics in Japanese historical novels.At the same time，the emphasis on the role of the sea played in the formation of the modern capitalist world system by Western countries from the 1980s onwards also directly inspired Japanese writers to produce a type of novel in which the sea was depicted as stage and the maritime merchants and pirates as actors.By doing so，Japanese writers demonstrated the key role played by Japan in the economic and transportation history of East Asia.To concrete this argument，Japanese writers extensively utilized the subject of wakō.Japanese “wakō literature” was produced in this context.But due to Japanese academies'，especially the “Eastern history” academy's biased view on history，and their distorted opinion on wakō，Japanese “wakō literature” often shows a tendency to justify，rationalize，and even glorify the “wakō” from various aspects and perspectives.

In view of the above，this book treats “wakō literature” as a unique genre of contemporary Japanese literature，surveys the nationalistic consciousness，historical concepts，and aesthetic orientation of Japanese people embodied in it，and then reveals the great cultural differences between China and Japan after putting it against Chinese “wakō literature”.To this end，this book explores “wakō literature” from the following seven perspectives：the historical background of Japanese “wakō literature”，the foundation of Shintoism in “wakō literature”，the tendency of literary and historical deviation of “wakō literature”，the perspective on trade and commerce in “wakō literature”，“wakō literature” and Japanese “national aesthetics”，“wakō literature” and the core characters of wakō，and finally the comparison between China and Japan in “wakō literature”.

This book argues that the creation of Japanese “wakō literature” has been largely influenced by the study of Japanese wakō history.So，it is necessary to look at the study of Japanese history of wakō，especially the writings on wakō by Miyazaki Ichidei，a representative figure of “Oriental historiography”，which can be viewed as the historiographical background of the formation of Japanese “wakō literature”.From the standpoint of Japanese nationalism，Miyazaki Ichidei attempted to fundamentally vindicate “wakō” in Japanese history textbooks，and thus carried out a series of works to “de-invadelize” the invasion attribute of the wakō's actions.He distorts the nature of the “tribute-trade” system between the Ming Dynasty and Japan，defines the wakō's armed smuggling and even plundering in terms of “peaceful trade”，and describes wakō's killing and plundering on Ming territory and confronting the Ming government as “chivalrous acts” for the sake of Ming trading partners.He also cites the account of Japan and wakō from the Ming man Zheng Shun-gong's Nihon Ichikan to argue that the Japanese are “good” by nature.Miyazaki Ichidei's “de-invasion” view of wakō has had a profound impact on contemporary Japanese “wakō literature”，and has led to an overall anti-historical tendency in the Japanese “wakō literature” writers' works that defies historical records and historical logic，and has further influenced the Japanese public view of wakō and even the view of history.

Among the many Japanesewakō literary works that deviate from historical facts to glorify wakō，the one that typically reflects the anti-historical tendency is the novel of Wakō Rise With Great Vigor by the contemporary Japanese novelist Tsumoto Yo.The novel starts with the activities of wakō in Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the early Jia-jing period.By contrasting the Ming army and the Ming common people with wakō，the novel portrays wakō as heroes with wisdom and courage，and treats the wakō's invasion and plunder as a feat of Japan's triumph overseas，thus justify and even heroize the wakō and their actions.The novelist's glorification of the wakō，based on Japanese nationalism and denying historical facts and logic，is one of the manifestations of the right-wing historical views of a large number of writers and scholars in Japanese literature and academia in the past forty years.

Japanese historical novelists justify and even glorifywakō not only by finding supports from the Japanese historians' such as Miyazaki Ichidei and so on，but also by finding religious supports from the Japanese Shinto tradition.Among the Japanese wakō literature，the contemporary novelist Hayate Gunn's The Legend of Hachiman Boat，unlike other Japanese wakō literary works，not only intentionally ignores wakō's invasion of the Chinese coast，but also proudly glorifies wakō's invasion of China.The reason for this is the belief of Japanese people in the “Hachiman Great Bodhisattva” and the kingdom of god consciousness.The Legend of Hachiman Boatstarts from the belief of “Hachiman Great Bodhisattva” in Japan and describes wakō's invasion as an act blessed by the “Hachiman Great Bodhisattva” and even an action taken by “Hachiman Great Bodhisattva” itself.Based on the Shinto belief in the god of the sea，wakō's invasion of other countries was seen as an action of opening up new territory with the blessing of the gods.Thus，the Shinto belief fundamentally justified and even glorified wakō's invasion，and became the religious basis for the justification of wakō's invasion.

Wakō，especially theose wakō of the latter period who were active in the 16th century along the Chinese coast，smuggled and traded goods between China and Japan，while they were burning and killing.So，there are works in Japanese wakō literature that depict wakō and their behavior from the perspective of economic trade.Biography of Maritime Traders in Sengoku，written by the famous Japanese historical novelist Chin Shun-shin，is a typical example of this kind of depicting.

From the standpoint of modern mercantilism，Biography of Maritime Traders in Sengokutreats wakō as “sea merchants”.The book depicts，analyzes and judges the relationship between the wakō's invasion，the ban on the sea，the armed smuggling trade and the economic development of East Asia.It also calls for a peaceful maritime trade mechanism under the protection of the government.It is a model of mercantilist wakō literature with a global perspective and a unique example of Japanese wakō literature.

In addition to depictingwakō from historical，religious，and economic and trade perspectives，some Japanese novelists either by accident or on purpose ignore general social ethics and morals，eliminate all kinds of criteria of right and wrong for wakō，and represent wakō's actions from an aesthetic perspective only.For example，the contemporary novelist Nanjo Norio's novel The Pirates Merchantintentionally aestheticizes Japanese wakō's armed trade and maritime plundering in the East Asian waters.The actions of wakō are written as a magnificent maritime adventure to meet the desire of contemporary readers living in an orderly society for a free and adventurous maritime life.At the same time，it greatly impairs the Japanese people's perception of the intrinsic nature of wakō from moral and rational perspectives，so that the book brings on a nation-wide glorification and ratification of Japanese invaders and wakō.This kind of national identification through aesthetic identification is in fact the result of “national aesthetics” advocated by the contemporary Japanese thinker Karatani Koujin.

In addition，Fashioning and modeling centralwakō figures in the history is also an important mission of Japanese wakō literature.The most representative and contrasting to Chinese wakō literary works of such is the portrayal of Wang Zhi and Xu Hai.In the history of wakō，Wang Zhi and Xu Hai，two of those wakō leaders，are not to be ignored because of their importance in the community and history of wakō，their enormous influence on and the dramatic role they played in wakō's smuggling and plundering activities in China，Japan and the whole East Asia region，and，finally，their legendary lives.In Chinese and Japanese historical documents and literary and other artistic works about wakō，there are many narratives and representing of Wang Zhi and Xu Hai.By comparing the historical documents concerning them with literary works and even town talk about them in China and Japan，their biographical facts with fictitious legendary fantasies about them，praise to them with criticism over them，the analysis of the different images of Wang Zhi and Xu Hai in Chinese and Japanese literature can better reflect divergences between the national stances on and emotions to them of China and Japan hinted in the complex expression of literature，and can also dig out the deeper reasons why Wang Zhi and Xu Hai and other wakō are so differently evaluated by China and Japan.

Through these studies and the comparisonbetween Japanese and Chinese literature on wakō，it can be seen that Japanese historical novelists' interpretation of wakō's behaviors and practice of giving various qualities to wakō in the wakō literature are，in essence，nothing but actions of glorifying wakō and even Japanese history.The views of wakō，history，and the national cultural psychology conveyed therein are not only a reflection of Japanese writers' concepts and psychology in literature，but also，due to the popularity of wakō literature among the masses，a suggestion of Japanese writers' conjecturing and pondering to the psychologic needs of the general public.These views in turn stimulate，guide，and even shape the Japanese people's perception of wakō and history，and become a part of their psychological structure which determines their judgments on and actions in history and even the present day.Chinese works of literature and art on wakō，on the other hand，are still mainly following the pattern of invasion versus anti-invasion and criticism versus praise.The dominating theme of both Ming and Qing novels and operas，as well as contemporary literary and art works on wakō，is anti-invasion that criticizes wakō's invasion and plundering in China's coastal areas and the heavy damage they cause to the Chinese coastal people.The deeds of Qi Ji-guang and other generals who led Chinese soldiers and civilians in battle against Japanese wakō are also the subject of works of Chinese literature and art on wakō.Of course，due to the satirical function of Chinese classical novel，there were many Ming and Qing wakō works of the genre criticizing Ming politics and society while depicting how the Ming soldiers and officers fought against wakō.This shows that these two countries' completely different perspectives on wakō have led to different depictions of wakō in their own “wakō literature”，and thus the “Sino-Japanese parallax” formed.

From this point of view，by studying Japanesewakō literature，analyzing the differences and even dislocations between historical facts and literary imaginations，historical documents and their commentaries，and Chinese literary representations of wakō and Japanese，we would understand the historical concepts and cultural psychology of the Japanese nation more concretely and deeply.with this in mind，the study of Japanese wakō literature can also go beyond the value of general literary study，and provide some cases as reference for comparative studies between Chinese and Japanese history，society，and cultural psychology.

At the same time，becausewakō's invasion are launched in East Asia，the literary works on wakō are born of regionality.The works can be seen as a reflection of the mutual historical memory and shared literary themes between China and Japan，and a demonstration of deep connection between China and Japan in history and literature.Therefore，when study Japanese wakō literature and history，in addition to taking the nation-state standpoint of invasion and anti-invasion，it is necessary to break the limitations of country study and examine it in the field of East Asian regional study from a higher viewpoint，and，at the same time，examine the contradiction and uniformity between East Asia's regional association consciousness and Japanese nationalism.

Sincewakō's invasion inevitably involved commerce，politics，international relations，maritime traffic and so on，Japanese wakō literature also has interdisciplinary and cross-cultural properties.So，when study Japanese wakō literature，it is necessary to see the texts as foothold of literary reading foothold and then go beyond this foothold to analyze their reflections of Chinese and Japanese history，commerce，international politics，regional traffic，so on and so forth.And at that time，we should integrate historical materials with theoretical analysis，and dead historical materials with dynamic use of them.In the process of conducting our research，we must combine the analysis of historical materials with the literary appreciation and criticism of wakō literature，and examine the detailed records of wakō's activities in historical materials in the light of the depiction of wakō in literary works.That's to say，we should contrast literature with history to argue for each other，so that we can uncover details of Chinese and Japanese wakō texts that keep fidelity to or deviate from the historical materials of wakō，and analyze the deeper reasons for such deviations.Because of the regionality of the wakō's invasion，regional research approaches will be introduced accordingly.And since there is no Chinese translation of the Japanese wakō literary texts I explore in this book so far，my analysis here of Japanese wakō literature requires the use of a standard foreign literary research method that is different from “translated literary research”.This standard method involves direct facing the original texts so that we can avoid the possible influence of the “creative treason”，a typical feature of and inevitable result from translation，on the interpretation of the texts，and ensure the originality and directness of them.Thus，the research can be conducted as close as possible to the original texts.

Keywords：Wakō；Wakō Literature；comparative literature between China and Japan；Sino-Japanese history；mutualization of literature and history