Research Note A Japanese Curriculum of 757

Ross Bender
Zhao Lu
Published by PMJS Papers
Premodern Japanese Studies (pmjs.org)
Copyright Ross Bender and Zhao Lu 2010
Bender, Ross and Zhao Lu, Research Note A Japanese Curriculum of 757. PMJS:
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Research Note A Japanese Curriculum of 757

Ross Bender and Zhao Lu
A Japanese imperial edict from the Empress Kken in 757 CE, inscribed in
the Shoku Nihongi (Tenpy Hji 1.11.9), provides a snapshot of
the curriculum at the National Academy (Daigakury ) of the time. It lists seven
major fields of study and the Chinese classics which are to be mastered in each. The
seven fields are Classics, History, Medicine, Acupuncture, Astronomy, Yinyang, and
Calendar. Some of the works to be studied are well-known classics, while others are
relatively obscure. Following the primary text provided below, we have added notes
from the Shoku Nihongi editors (Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei edition), Chinese
reference works, and Western scholars of Chinese history. A short reference list is
appended.
Shoku Nihongi Vol. 3: 236 (Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei 14)

(or ) Classics Students
The Shikiinry 14 of the Ritsury (167) specifies that there should be 400
classics students in the Daigakury ().
Although the edict specifies only the three classics, the Shoku Nihongi (Vol. 3: 236)
editors comment that this also included the Analects and the Classic of Filial Piety (
Lunyu and Xiaojing as fundamental required texts. The three classics were
defined thus:

-- Liji, Zuozhuan (Book of Rites, Tso Commentary)

-- Shijing, Zhouli, Yili (Book of Odes, Rites of Chou, Rites
and Ceremonies)
-- Yijing, Shujing (Book of Changes, Book of History)

The indication of great, medium and small refers perhaps to the size of the works
rather than their importance. See Gakury 7 of the Ritsury (263) for this tripartite
classification, and note that the latter specifies the Chou Yi rather than Yijing.
Copyright Ross Bender and Zhao Lu 2010, PMJS: Premodern Japanese Studies (pmjs.org),
PMJS Papers, November 2010.

Ross Bender and Zhao Lu

History Students
The three histories were the Shiji, Hanshu, and Hou Hanshu.

Medical Students
The Shikiinry 44 of the Ritsury (180) specified there should be 40 students in the
Tenyakury . The Ishichiry (Ritsury 421) lists Jiayi, Maijing, and
Bencao as texts for the medical students.

Taisu
Jiayi (ABC short for Zhenjiu jiayijing, Classic ABC of Acupuncture and
Moxibustion )
Maijing (Classic of the Pulse)
Bencao (Materia Medica)

Maijing is short for a book called Wang Shuhe Maijing attributed to Wang
Shuhe from the Western Jin dynasty (265-316 CE). The real author might be
Gao Yangsheng from the Six Dynasties period (222-589 CE). (Li Xueqin,
1655)

Acupuncture Students
The Ishichiry (Ritsury 421) specifies the following four texts for the 20
students of acupuncture.

Suwen
Zhenjing (Classic of Acupuncture) [Zhenjing is also called Lingqu]
Mingtang
Maijue

Suwen and Lingqu are two chapters from the Huangdi nei jing (Inner Canon
of the Yellow Emperor) (Li Xueqin, 1658). (Note -- Needham translates this as the
Yellow Emperors Compendium of Corporeal Healing.)
Mingtang is short for Huangdi neijing mingtang lei cheng . It was
written by Yang Shangshan of the early Tang (618-907 CE). (Li Xueqin, 1656)
Maijue was written by Zhang Taisu , who was a Taoist figure from the Tang
dynasty. (Li Xueqin, 1659)
The name Huang ti nei ching is usually prefixed to the titles of four books, Su wen,
Ling shu, Tai-su, and Ming tang All except Su wen are Tang or Sung
reconstructions from recensions and fragments of Han origin. Although the Su wen was

Ross Bender and Zhao Lu

not lost, it shows signs of more substantial revision by its Tang and Sung editors than
the other books.
-- Nathan Sivin, in Loewe, ed. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, 196-215.

Astronomy Students
The Shikiinry 9 (Ritsury 164-5) specifies that there should be 10 students of
astronomy in the Onmyry, but not does not give the curriculum.

Tianwenshu
Hanjin tianwenzhi (Astronomical Treatise of the Han and Jin)
Sanse buzan
Hanyang yaoji

Yinyang Students
The Shikiinry 9 (Ritsury 164-65) specifies that there should be 10 students of Yinyang
in the Onmyry, but does not give the curriculum.

Zhouyi
Xinzhuan yinyangshu
Huangdi jingui (Yellow Emperors Collection of Prescriptions)
Wuxing dayi

Zhouyi is also called Yijing , with the name suggesting that the divination
system in the text was used by the Zhou people. However, the fact that Yijing is already
included separately in the curriculum of the Classics students, and Zhouyi is here listed
with other Yinyang texts, might suggest a Yinyang tradition of the latter text, such as
Jings tradition of the Yi (Jing Shi Yi Zhuan ) from the Eastern Han dynasty
(25-220 CE). (Li Xueqin, pp. 1789; Edward Shaughnessy, in Loewe, ed., Early Chinese
Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, 216-28)

Calendar Students

The Shikiinry 9 (Ritsury 164-65) specifies that there should be 10 students of the
calendar in the Onmyry, but does not give the curriculum.

Kanjin lulizhi (Treatise on the Pitchpipes and Calendar from Han

and Jin)
Dayan liyi (Calendar of Dayan)
Jiuzhang (Nine Chapters)
Liuzhang (Six Chapters)
Dingtianlun

Ross Bender and Zhao Lu

Chiu chang suan shu This work is a classified collection of 246 problems
with accompanying solutions, evidently designed to give a comprehensive account of
the mathematical knowledge of the day The Chiu chang suan shu is the worlds
earliest extant comprehensive arithmetical textbook has never been doubted that it is
a Han work, but much of the mathematical knowledge that it contains must go back at
least as far as the Warring States.
--Christopher Cullen, in Loewe, ed. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide 1623.
Apart from the works so far described, it is certain that there were many other
mathematical books current during the Han dynasty. Unfortunately, all were afterwards
lost. But we know the titles of some of the, such as the L Li Suan Fa
(Mathematical Methods concerned with the Pitchpipes and Calendar), though the
authors name has not survived.
-- Needham, Science and Civilization in China, vol 3: 27-28.
Dayan Liyi probably indicates the calendar called the Calendar of Dayan
installed in the seventeenth year of Kaiyuan (729 CE) in the Tang dynasty. It was
invented by the Buddhist monk Yixing . (Ouyang Xiu, 1548)

The Royal Confucian Academy of Silla (Sources of Korean Tradition, 65-66).

The Samguk Sagi (Historical Records of the Three Kingdoms, 12th C) records the
following about the Confucian Academy during the time roughly contemporaneous with
the Nara period:
The Royal Confucian Academy belongs to the Ministry of Rites. Established in the
second year of King Sinmun [682 CE], the academy was called Taehakkam by King
Kyngdk [r. 742-765 CE], but was again called Kukhak by King Hyegong [r. 765-780
CE] The curriculum included the Book of Changes, the Book of Documents, the Book
of Odes, the Record of Rites, the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Tso Commentary, and
the Anthology of Refined Literature
One erudite or instructor of mathematics was made to teach the Chui Ching, the Sankai, the Nine Chapters on the Art of Mathematics, and the Six Chapters on the Art of
Mathematics.

About the Authors

Ross Bender is an independent scholar in Philadelphia. Zhao Lu is a Ph.D. student in
the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of
Pennsylvania.

Ross Bender and Zhao Lu

References

Aoki Kazuo et al., eds. Shoku Nihongi. In Shin Nihon Koten Bungaku Taikei, vols. 1216. (Iwanami Shoten, 1989-1998).
Cheng Menglei et al., ed., Gujin Tushu Jicheng Yi Bu Quan Lu, in Zhongyi Guji Zhengli
Congshu, (Beijing: Renmin weisheng chuban she, 1988).
Inoue Mitsusada et al., eds. Ritsury. In Nihon Shis Taikei, vol. 3. (Iwanami Shoten,
1976).
Lee, Peter H. and Wm. Theodore de Bary, eds., Sources of Korean Tradition, Volume
One: From Early Times Through the Sixteenth Century. (Columbia University
Press, 1997).
Li Xueqin and L Wenyu et al., eds., Si Ku Da Cidian, (Changchun: Jilin daxue chuban
she, 1996).
Loewe, Michael, ed. Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide (U. of California,
Berkeley 1993).
Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China, volume 3. (Cambridge University
Press, 1959)
Ouyang Xiu et al., Xin Tang Shu (Beijing: Zhonghua, 1975).
Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A Manual (Revised and Enlarged). (Harvard
University Press, 2000).