Networks of Faith and Profit
Monks, Merchants, and Exchanges between China and Japan, 839–1403 CE

A revisionist history showing how Buddhist monks and merchants fostered connections across maritime East Asia from 839 to 1403 CE.

Yiwen Li (Author)

9781009303101, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 June 2023

245 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.8 cm, 0.48 kg

'In this path breaking study of Sino-Japanese maritime encounters from the ninth to the fifteenth century, Li Yiwen utilizes both Chinese and Japanese archival sources to illustrate how the intersection of Buddhist faith and commercial profit inspired private networks of monks and merchants who conveyed goods, ideas, and information between the continent and the archipelago.' Richard von Glahn, University of California, Los Angeles

Between 839 and 1403 CE, there was a six-century lapse in diplomatic relations between present-day China and Japan. This hiatus in what is known as the tribute system has led to an assumption that there was little contact between the two countries in this period. Yiwen Li debunks this assumption, arguing instead that a vibrant Sino-Japanese trade network flourished in this period as Buddhist monks and merchants fostered connections across maritime East Asia. Based on a close examination of sources in multiple languages, including poems and letters, transmitted images and objects, and archaeological discoveries, Li presents a vivid and dynamic picture of the East Asian maritime world. She shows how this Buddhist trade network operated outside of the framework of the tribute system and, through novel interpretations of Buddhist records, provides a new understanding of the relationship between Buddhism and commerce.

1. Introduction: Buddhist trade networks in East Asia
2. Replacing tributary relations: the reciprocal collaboration between monks and merchants, 839–900
3. Not only for the dharma: pilgrim monks as intermediaries between China and Japan, 900–1100
4. Building a Base for Trade: the 'Chinese quarter' in Hakata, 1100–1200
5. Transporting goods and faith: the economic privileges of the religious network, 1200–1270
6. Sending ships to China to finance monastery construction: trade between the Mongol empire and the Japanese archipelago, 1270–1368
7. Resuming tribute relations and the aftermath of the religio-commercial network, 1368–1403.

Subject Areas: Asian history [HBJF]