When was the Analects first introduced to Korea and Japan?

According to the known archaeological data, The Analects of Confucius was introduced into Korea at the latest in the Western Han Dynasty and Japan at the latest in the Western Jin Dynasty.

at the end of the warring States period, the Yan Wei man led an immigrant into the Korean peninsula, and in 194 BC, he overthrew Ji's rule and established Wei's regime, which was called "Wei Man Korea". At this time, The Analects of Confucius has been written and is likely to be brought to the Korean peninsula by Wei Man and others. From the end of the Warring States Period to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, many years of wars in the Central Plains and Liaodong forced a large number of China people to take refuge in the Korean Peninsula. In this process, some refugees may also bring The Analects into China. But these are only speculations. It was not until the Han Dynasty that the evidence of the spread of The Analects of Confucius on the Korean Peninsula really appeared.

in 18 BC, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established four counties, namely Le Lang, Xuantu, Lintun and Zhenfan, in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, which were called "Han Four Counties" in history. At that time, although The Analects of Confucius was not among the Five Classics, it could not be ignored as an ancient book to record Confucius' words and deeds, so it was listed as the Small Classics. In 1992, bamboo slips unearthed from the ancient tomb in Pyongyang were written with the contents of Advanced and Yan Yuan in The Analects of Confucius. According to the research, these bamboo slips were buried with the lower-level officials in Lelang County during the Han Dynasty. The time was 45 BC, only 1 years later than the bamboo slips in Dingzhou, Hebei Province, and they were the oldest remains of The Analects of Confucius found on the Korean Peninsula so far. From the wear and tear of bamboo slips, we can see that the tomb owner studied the Analects diligently before his death, which shows that the Analects has become a basic education subject for lower-level officials at this time.

in the 1st century BC, the Korean peninsula gradually formed three major regimes, namely Koguryo (BC 37-668), Baekje (BC 18-66) and Silla (BC 57-935), which is called "the period of the former Three Kingdoms". The exact record of the spread of The Analects of Confucius in this period has appeared, and the spread within the scope of the three regimes has its own characteristics.

Koguryo began to compile history in Chinese in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Before serving as prime minister, Yibasu of the old country during the reign of King Chuan (179-196) once said, "If you don't meet the time, you will be hidden, if you meet the time, you will be an official, and a scholar will always be." This sentence is very similar in sentence structure and meaning to the article "The Analects of Confucius Taber", which says "If there is a way in the world, it will be hidden if there is no way", so it can be seen that he understands and intentionally uses the Analects of Confucius. In the second year of Little Beast Lin Wang (372), he "established Imperial College to educate his children." This is the earliest record of the establishment of Imperial College on the Korean Peninsula. However, the Analects of Confucius was not read by Goguryeo's children, which showed that the Analects of Confucius had not received special attention in the Confucian education system centered on the Five Classics at that time.

Baekje began to write notes in Chinese characters shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China. According to the Japanese history book "Ancient Stories", Dr. Wang Ren of Baekje took ten volumes of The Analects of Confucius and one volume of Thousand Characters to Japan to spread Confucianism. Many scholars believe that this is the "first grand debut" of The Analects of Confucius on the Korean Peninsula. In 25, a fragment of the Analects of Confucius was unearthed in Incheon, South Korea. "This discovery shows that the academic research on Confucius' classic works in the Baekje era was not limited to the capital Seoul, but also spread to the surrounding areas." In the forty-first year of King Wu (64), "In February, I sent my children to the Tang Dynasty and invited them to enter Chinese studies." The article "Military attache" in Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms states that Baekje set up the post of "Confucius Temple", but the establishment time and official position are unknown. He should be the military attache responsible for guarding Confucius Temple and even Chinese studies, which shows Baekje society's admiration for Confucianism. Compared with Koguryo, the dissemination of the Analects of Confucius by Baekje is very distinctive, and there are convincing evidences in terms of objects and systems.

Before the Japanese Emperor Ying Shen, there were no characters in Japan, and the method of carving wood and tying ropes was used to keep records. In the 16th year of Ying Shen's reign (285), Wang Ren, a Baekje man, came to Japan with 1 volumes of The Analects of Confucius and 1 volume of Thousand-Character Works, and Chinese characters were introduced into Japan. Japan began to use Chinese characters-Chinese characters are used in official documents, and Chinese characters are used to phonetic Japanese. In the Ying Shen era, mainlanders (China people and Koreans) began to emigrate to Japan in large numbers, which was the war period at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Mainlanders brought advanced culture and production technology to Japan, such as knitting, pottery making, salt making, etc.-at that time, the Japanese sent people to Wu State to learn the technology of sewing clothes, which promoted the development of Japanese productive forces. From the Emperor Ying Shen, a huge tomb symbolizing kingship appeared in Japan, which is called the ancient grave era in history.

According to Japanese historical records, the process of The Analects of Confucius coming to Japan began with the conversation between Emperor Ying Shen and Achiki, the envoy of Baekje. Achiki was a learned envoy of Baekje Dynasty in Korea. Since he was ordered to give the Emperor Ying Shen good horses and other items, he was kindly retained by the Emperor Ying Shen and became a teacher for the Prince. One day, Emperor Ying Shen asked Achiki, "Is there anyone in your country who is more knowledgeable than you?" Achiki replied, "A man named Wang Ren entered the academy at the age of eight and was hired as a doctor of the Five Classics at the age of eighteen. His knowledge is more than mine." In response to the emperor's thirst for talent, he immediately sent envoys to Baekje to invite Wang Ren. Wang Ren crossed the sea to Japan, and brought with him ten volumes of The Analects of Confucius, including Zheng Xuan's annotation and He Yan's collection of notes on The Analects, which have been popular since the Han and Wei Dynasties in China. The Analects of Confucius officially landed in Japan.

After seeing the books presented by Wang Ren, Emperor Ying Shen was very interested, because there was only oral language in ancient Japan, and there was no written language that was popular all over the country. Therefore, Emperor Ying Shen also asked Wang Ren to be the prince's teacher, to teach him Chinese classics such as The Analects of Confucius, and to promote Chinese characters in the Japanese royal family. Wang Ren not only patiently taught Chinese characters to the royal family, but also created Japanese ballads and taught advanced technology. Later, he became the ancestor of the bird culture that the Japanese were proud of.