On the Road to Yunnan, China

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Summary

Travel is an act for human beings to visit new places and experience different cultures and histories. Through travel, people can actually feel historical events and people’s lives by visiting historical places and cultural heritage sites, and can gain a deeper understanding of history and broaden their own perspectives. In this section, we will discuss the historical background of the trip and the places visited based on Ryotaro Shiba’s “Kaido yuku” (On the Road) about this journey and history.

On the Road to Shu and Yunnan, China, Volume 20

In the previous article, I described the road to Shu, China. This time, I would like to describe the road to Yunnan, also in China. Shu was once ruled by Liu Bang and where Zhuge Liang played an active role, and Yunnan is where the “Southwest barbarians,” who Ryotaro Shiba believes are one of the ancestors of the Japanese people, lived.

On the flight from Chengdu to Kunming, I thought of the “Southwest Yi,” who formed a civilization separate from the Han Chinese in ancient Yunnan, and developed the idea of their rice cultivation and the possibility that they were the ancestors of the Japanese people. He also thinks about the gold seals excavated from the Shihzhai Mountain site near the 滇池, and how they are connected to Japan. They visited the Douguan (Longmen Grottoes) in Suibijin (Xishan) to see the 滇池 from above and think about Zheng He, a great navigator born in Kunyang, and visited the Yunnan Provincial Museum to see the magnificent bronze artifacts excavated from the Shizhaishan site. The tour will also visit a village of the Sameh, a branch of the Yi ethnic minority in the suburbs of Kunming. The tour will end with a visit to Daguan Park overlooking the 滇池, and a talk at a teahouse in the city with an elderly man who fought in the anti-Japanese war in the city.

From Chengdu, I headed to Kunming by air. Kunming is the capital of Yunnan Province in China. It first appeared in history in 765 as Takdongcheng of Nanzhao, and was conquered by the Yuan Empire in 1276, as described in “Mongolian Travels Along the Highway“, after which the name Kunming was coined. Later, in the 14th century, Kunming was conquered by the Ming Dynasty, which was founded by Zhu Yuanzhang after the Yuan Dynasty, and a walled city was built in the area, which is Kunming today.

Zhu Yuanzhang, The Emperor’s Look

Topographically, the city is located in the central Yungui Plateau, 1,891 meters above sea level, surrounded by mountains and a large lake called 滇池. To the west of the 滇池 is the Xishan Forest Park. The west side of the 滇池 is Xishan Forest Park, and 100 km to the southeast is Shilin, a karst landscape scenic spot. Kunming is located at the latitude of the Savannah climate zone, but because it is located on a plateau at 1,891m, it has a temperate summer rainy climate (Cwb). The average annual temperature is 15 degrees Celsius, with mild winters and cool summers. The average temperature in January is 8.9 degrees Celsius, the average temperature in July is 20.2 degrees Celsius, and the annual rainfall is 920mm.

Ryotaro Shiba speculates that the name “Yunnan” comes from the fact that Chengdu, mentioned in his book “On the Road to Shu, China,” is covered in clouds all year round and is located further south.

As can be seen in the map above, Yunnan is located on the southern frontier of China, bordering Burma, Laos, and Vietnam. This area is also considered to be the birthplace of rice cultivation, and the people who cultivated rice in Yunnan (who mainly used the ancient Thai language) descended the Yangtze River (Yangtze) and developed in the middle reaches of the river, which was the country of Chuxi in the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period (the birthplace of Hanyu, who fought and defeated Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, during the transition from the Qin to the Han Dynasty), and the downstream ” Ryotaro Shiba believes that Wu and Yue established their power in Jiangnan, which is described in “On the Road to Jiangnan, China,” and that Yue people from there crossed the sea to Japan, blown by the seasonal winds.

In ancient China, the name “滇” (滇) was used to describe a people who lived in Kunming, cultivated rice, and had an advanced bronze culture. They caught fish in the 滇池(滇池) lake in Kunming and drew water from the lake to grow rice paddies.

This area was frequently invaded by mainland Chinese forces, but due to the rugged terrain, the Chinese forces, which were known to fight in dense formations on flat fields, were defeated many times and did not enter the Chinese territory until the Yuan dynasty, much later in history.

The tribes in this region (called “southwest barbarians”) had their own territories and refused to allow outsiders to approach them, and among them, the Miao were said to be especially fierce.

Yamakawa Hayamizu, who entered this area in the Meiji era (1868-1912), left a document titled “Hashoku,” in which he describes them as follows

They are muscular to the last degree, with a height of more than 5’7″ and 78″, a brass-colored skin, a half-cropped head with no cloth rolled up, no cap, and of course, barefoot. The most unusual thing about his clothes is that he wears a kesa (kesa-like dress) made of cowhide from the half-shoulder to the waist, and it is hung loosely.

The way they walked along the narrow paths, it was almost as if they were approaching a barbarian’s mansion.

A group on his mountain, a group in this valley, appearing and disappearing, coming and going, returning, returning and coming, attacking in a straight line, their agility in advance and retreat is beyond the reach of the soldiers of the government.

The lightness of their advance and retreat is beyond the reach of the government troops.

During the journey along the highway, it was noted that the sky in Kunming was a unique bright color, with the clouds shining bright white, unlike the overcast skies of Chengdu.

In his discussion of Yunnan, Ryotaro Shiba mentions the legendary phrase “Yarō ji dai” (“Yarō makes himself big”), which refers to the fact that the king of Yarō, the largest king in Yunnan, met with a Han Chinese envoy and asked him which of the two was bigger. This is an episode that describes the king of Yarrow, the largest king in Yunnan, who met with a Han Chinese envoy and asked him which of the two was bigger, Han or myself, thus expressing his “naivete and overconfidence.

In Kunlun, the group first headed for 滇池. A similar seal was excavated in Fukuoka (King Han Kun Kun: left side of the figure below).

Both are thought to have been made during the Han Dynasty, and both are one-sided in size and have knob knobs made of snakes, which Shiba Ryotaro said gave him a deep sense of the region’s connection with Japan.

He also visited the Douguan (Longmen Grottoes) in Suibijin (Xishan) to view the International Fairy Pool from above, and was reminded of the great navigator Zheng He, who was born in Kunyang.

Zheng He was highly valued by the Ming Dynasty’s Yongle Emperor for his military achievements, and was entrusted with the command of a fleet of ships that sailed to Southeast Asia, India, Ceylon Island, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa, reaching as far as Malindi (present-day Kenya) on the east coast of Africa.

The ships used were basically three-masted junks, but the largest was called a hosen (treasure ship), which was said to have had nine masts and was about 140 meters long.

Some believe that the voyage reached as far as Australia in the southern hemisphere, and Zheng He’s voyage is described as unusually spectacular.

The group then visited a village of the Sameh, a branch of the Yi ethnic minority, in the suburbs of Kunming. The tour ended with a visit to Daguan Park overlooking the 滇池, and a visit to a teahouse in the city to talk with an elderly man who fought in the anti-Japanese war.

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