Chart of the Japanese Embassies to the Tang Court
| Embassy number | Year authorized (a), year dispatched (d) | Ambassadors: special ambassador (sa), supervising ambassador (s), ambassador (a), and vice-ambassador (v) | Number of people /ships | Year of return | Comments |
| 1 | 630 (Jomei 2) (d) | Inugami no Mitasuki
犬上御田鍬,
Kusushi Enichi 藥師惠日 |
632 (Jomei 4) | Accompanied on return by Tang emissary Gao Biaoren 高表仁 | |
| 2 | 653 (Hakuchi 4) (d) | Kishi
no Nagani 吉士長丹 (a)
Kishi no Koma 吉士駒 (v) Takada no Nemaro 高田根麻呂(a) Kanimori no Omaro 掃守小麻呂(v) |
121 / 2 120 / 2 | 654 (Hakuchi 5); shipwrecked | Visiting students and monks numbered 21; vessel carrying Takada no Nemaro shipwrecked on outward journey near Takeshima, Satsuma |
| 3 | 654 (Hakuchi 5) (d) | Takamuko
no Genri 高向玄理 (s)
Kawabe no Maro 河邊 (a) Kusushi Enichi (v) |
-- / 2 | 655 (Saimei 1) | Takamuko died during trip |
| 4 | 659 (Saimei 5) (d) | Sakaibe
no Iwashiki 坂合部石布 (a)
Tsumori no Kisa 津守吉祥 (v) |
-- / 2 | 661 (Saimei 7), vessel 2 | Vessel 1 castaway on outward journey in south seas; Sakaibe killed |
| 5 | 665 (Tenji 4) (d) | Mori
no Ōishi 守大石
Sakaibe no Iwatsumi 坂合部岩積 |
667 (Tenji 6) | May have transported Tang emissary Liu Degao 劉德高 to army stationed at old Paekche garrison | |
| 6 | 667 (Tenji 6) (d) | Iki
no Hakatoko 伊吉博德
Kasa no Moroishi 笠諸石 |
668 (Tenji 7) | Transported Tang emissary Sima Facong 司馬法聰 to army stationed at old Paekche garrison | |
| 7 | 669 (Tenji 8) arrived | Kawachi no Kujira 河内鯨 | 670 (Tenji 9)? | Celebrated subjugation of Koguryŏ | |
| 8 | 701
(Taihō 1) (a)
702 (Taihō 2) (d) |
Awata
no Mahito 粟田真人 (sa)
Takahashi no Kasama 高橋笠間(a) Sakaibe no Ōkita 坂合部大分 (a) Kose no Ōji 巨勢祖父 (v) |
704 (Keiun 1) | Vice-ambassador returned home in 707; ambassador returned with embassy no. 9 | |
| 9 | 716
(Reiki 2) (a)
717 (Yōrō 1) (d) |
Tajihi
no Agatamori 多治比縣守 (s)
Abe no Yasumaro 阿倍安麻呂 (a) Ōtomo no Yamamori 大伴山守 (a) Fujiwara no Umakai 藤原馬養 (v) |
557 / 4 | 718 (Yōrō 2) | Students Abe no Nakamaro and Kibi no Makibi as well as monk Genbō 玄昉 joined this embassy |
| 10 | 732
(Tenpyō 4) (a)
733 (Tenpyō 5) (d) |
Tajihi
no Hironari 多治比廣成 (a)
Nakatomi no Nashiro 中臣名代(v) |
594 / 4 | 734 (Tenpyō 6), vessel 1 | Vessel 2 returned in 736; vessel 3 castaway in Malaya-Indonesia area; Magistrate Heguri no Hironari 平群廣成 returned in 739 via Parhae; news of vessel 4 unclear |
| 11 | 746 (Tenpyō 18) (a), cancelled | Isonokami no Otomaro 石上乙麻呂 (a) | |||
| 12 | 750
(Tenpyō-shōhō 2) (a)
752 (Tenpyō-shōhō 4) (d) |
Fujiwara
Kiyokawa 藤原清河 (a)
Ōtomo no Komaro 大伴古麻呂(v) Kibi no Makibi 吉備真備 (v) |
220+ (from vessels 2 and 3) / 4 | 753 (Tenpyō-shōhō 5), vessel 2 | Vessel 1 carrying, among others, the ambassador and Abe no Nakamaro shipwrecked in Annam; both became Tang officials and never returned home |
| 13 | 761 (Tenpyō-hōji 5) (a,d) | Kō Gendo 高元度 (a) | 99 / 1 | 761 (Tenpyō-hōji 5) | With aim of retrieving Kiyokawa, traveled with Parhae ambassador returning home via Parhae; returned home with send-off by Tang emissary Shen Weiyue 沈惟岳 |
| 14 | 761 (Tenpyō-hōji 5) (a), cancelled | Naka
no Iwatomo 仲石伴 (a) Isonokami no Yakatsugu 石上宅嗣 (v) Fujiwara no Tamaro 藤原田麻呂 (v) |
Cancelled due to damage to vessels | ||
| 15 | 762 (Tenpyō-hōji 6) (a), cancelled | Nakatomi
no Takanushi 中臣鷹主 (a)
Koma no Hiroyama 高麗廣山 (v) |
Cancelled due to lack of favorable wind | ||
| 16 | 775
(Hōki 6) (a),
777 (Hōki 8) (d) |
Saeki
no Imaemishi 佐伯今毛人 (a)
Ōtomo no Masutate 大伴益立 (v) Fujiwara no Takatori 藤原鷹取 (v) Ono no Iwane 小野石根 (v) Ōmiwa no Suetari 大神末足 (v) |
-- / 4 | 778 (Hōki 9) | All four vessels shipwrecked en route home; Ono no Iwane and Tang emissary Zhao Baoying 趙寶英 died |
| 17 | 778
(Hōki 9) (a)
779 (Hōki 10) (d) |
Fuse no Kiyonao 布勢清直 (a) | -- / 2 | 781 (Ten’ō 1) | Tang emissary Sun Xingjin 孫興進 et al. sent off at Mingzhou |
| 18 | 801
(Enryaku 20) (a),
804 (Enryaku 23) (d) |
Fujiwara
no Kadonomaro 藤原葛野麻呂 (a) Ishikawa no Michimasu 石川道益 (v) |
-- / 4 | 805 (Enryaku 24) | Vessel 3 shipwrecked at Hirado on the outward journey; news of vessel 4 unknown; Kūkai and Saichō joined this embassy |
| 19 | 834
(Shōwa 1) (a),
838 (Shōwa 5) (d) |
Fujiwara
no Tsunetsugu 藤原常嗣 (a) Ono no Takamura 小野篂 (v) |
651 / 4 | 839 (Shōwa 6), vessels 1 and 4 | Vessel 3 shipwrecked soon after departure at Tsukushi; its 140 passengers did not reach China; the monks Ennin and Ensai on board; passengers on vessels 1 and 4 hired Silla vessels and split up for the voyage home; vessel 2 returned home in 840 |
| 20 | 894 (Kanpyō 6) (a), not carried out | Sugawara
no Michizane 菅原道真 (a)
Ki no Haseo 紀長谷雄 (v) |
cancelled |
Sources:
1) Ishii Masatoshi 石井正敏, “Gaikō kankei, ken-Tō shi o chūshin ni,” 外交関係、遣唐使を中心に (Diplomatic relations, centering on the [Japanese] embassies to the Tang). In Kodai o kangaeru: Tō to Nihon 古代を考える：唐と日本 (Thinking about antiquity: Tang China and Japan), ed. Ikeda On 池田温 (Tokyo: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 1992) pp. 74-76.
2) Wang Yong 王勇, Tō kara mita ken-Tō shi 唐から見た遣唐使 (The embassies to the Tang as seen by the Tang) (Tokyo: Nōsan gyosen bunka kyōkai, 2002), pp. 25-37.
3) Mori Katsumi 森克己, Ken-Tō shi 遣唐使 ([Japanese] embassies to the Tang court) (Tokyo: Shibundō, 1966, rpt. 1990), pp. 26-27.
4) Yanaga Teizō 弥永貞三, “Ken-Tō shi,” 遣唐使 ([Japanese] embassies to the Tang court). In Nihon shi dai jiten 日本史大辞典 (Encyclopedia of Japanese history), 2:1299-1300 (Tokyo: Nihon hyōronsha, 1992).
5) Furuse Natsuko 古瀬奈津子, Ken-Tō shi no mita Chūgoku 遣唐使の見た中国 (China as seen by the [Japanese] embassies) (Tokyo: Yoshikawa kōbunkan, 2003), pp. 4-6.
6) Fujiie Reinosuke 藤家禮之助, Nit-Chū kōryū nisen nen 日中交流二千年 (Two thousand years of Sino-Japanese interactions) (Tokyo: Tōkai University Press, 1977), pp. 112-13.
Reprinted by permission of the publisher from Articulating the Sinosphere: Sino-Japanese Relations in Space and Time by Joshua A. Fogel, pp. 102-107, 110-113, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, Copyright © 2009 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.