Did Xu Fu really cross to Japan?

Xu Fu, named Jun Fang, was a famous alchemist and Taoist celebrity in Qin Dynasty. He used to be the physician of Qin Shihuang and a native of Qi during the Warring States Period.

During the Qin Shihuang period, Xu Fu led 3,000 boys and girls across the coast of Shandong, and the legend spread to South Korea and Japan, which became a much-told story in the cultural exchanges between China, Japan and South Korea in history. It has been a hot topic for people to study and discuss for thousands of years, and has become a comprehensive study of pre-Qin history, Qin and Han history, Sino-foreign relations history, navigation history, folklore, religion, archaeology and other disciplines, which has extremely important academic value.

However, the whereabouts of Xu Fudong has always been controversial in history. Some people say they went to Japan, some said they went to Nanyang, some said they went to the United States, and some even said they went to Hainan Island. Among them, Xu Fu went to Japan that year.

Historical Records and Hanshu are the two most authoritative historical books in China. Both records that Xu Fudong crossed the sea to Japan, and the credibility is still quite high. In addition, after the Five Dynasties, the eminent monk Yichu wrote "Six Chapters of Yichu", saying: "Japan is also called Japan. In the East China Sea, during the Qin Dynasty, Xu Fu stopped in this country with 500 boys and 500 girls. Today, people are like Chang 'an, and there are mountains in the northeast, which are called Mount Fuji and Penglai. Xu Fu stops here and calls it Penglai. Today, all descendants are called Qin Min. "Prove that Xu Fudong crossed the land of Japan. In Song Dynasty, Ouyang Xiu and Sima Guang had similar records, and also believed that Xu Fudong had crossed to Japan. In the early Ming Dynasty, Japanese monks went to Nanjing to present poems to Ming Taizu, and also mentioned the Xufu Temple in Japan.

There is even a folklore that Xu Fudong's crossing is a feat in the history of China BC. Qin Shihuang sent Xu Fu three times to ask for medicine, but Xu Fu failed, but he brought the highly developed shipbuilding, navigation technology and political system, culture and art, lifestyle, smelting, farming, architecture, medicine, writing, currency, religion, martial arts, clothing, porcelain and the most advanced science and technology to Japan at that time, and also

In this regard, Japan also has a large number of historical records. "Fuji Ancient Books" records: "Xu Fu and his party were ordered by Qin Shihuang to go to Mount Fuji to get the medicine for longevity, because they lived there." The General Examination of Chinese has the following account: "There is a place where Qin lived near Imakumano, and the natives said that Xu Fu lived in his old place. From here, there are seven or eight miles of Xufu Temple ... "

Persuasively, at that time, in Qiantong Town, the starting point of Xu Fudong's crossing the river, there was a well-known folk art activity "Angel", which was the only one in China and the only one in Japan, only called "Shizi"; However, Shinto Palace in Japan, which still retains Xu Fu's tomb and shrine, holds a big sacrifice ceremony every year. In addition, some people speculate on Xu Fudong's Japanese route based on the ancient maritime exchanges between China and Japan, the scale of ship construction and the excavation of ancient cultural relics.

Chui fook has a high position in Japan. From Kyushu to Honshu, there are legends about Xu Fu's landing site, active relics, temples and tombs. Similar relics often appear repeatedly in many places and have long been the object of folk belief worship. People all over Japan, in particular, call Xu Fu the "King" and respectfully call him the "standard bearer of Yayoi culture". There are 5 Xufu Tombs and 37 sacrificial temples in Japan, and 13 Penglai Mountain named after Xufu's visit. Hundreds of sites and unearthed cultural relics have been positively evaluated by Xu Fu memorial organizations and research institutions established in modern times.

However, some Chinese and Japanese scholars questioned Xu Fudong's crossing to Japan: after Qin Shihuang destroyed the six countries, China immigrated to Japan in large numbers to escape the tyranny of Qin Shihuang, but this did not include Xu Fu and his boys and girls; Xu Fu's story is just a folklore, and there is no reliable historical document to prove it. Some people even think that the legend of Xu Fudong crossing the sea in Japan is the product of Japan around the 10 century, and it was not first put forward by China people. At that time, Xu Fu just went to the islands of Bohai Bay, and his deeds, relics and cemeteries in Japan were all fictitious. Some scholars believe that Xu Fu's tomb and other relics of New Miyagi were forged by later generations. Some Japanese scholars have also done field surveys, which further confirmed this point. They believe that the legend of Xu Fudong's crossing to Japan is due to the fact that after the Han and Tang Dynasties, Japanese monks often went to China to spread the story of Xu Fu, which was recorded in the book, and it was not true or false. Later, people believed such a legend.

In addition, some scholars believe that Xu Fudong's crossing the sea is a historical fact, but he went to the United States instead of Japan. Because Xu Fudong's crossing time coincided with the rise of Mayan civilization in America, Honolulu left a square rock engraved with China's seal script, and ancient arrows engraved with China's seal script were unearthed near San Francisco. These ancient cultural relics were left by Xu Fu's Qin people.

The fog is boundless, whether Xu Fudong went to Japan or not-no one can say for sure.