"Worthy to Unloose"
Roughly between 900 and 1400, namely for 500 years, there were no official diplomatic ties and authentic trade practices between Japan and China.
In these 500 years, Japan developed its unique culture while fully adapting cultural assets having been imported from ancient China.
It is Ashikaga Yoshimitsu (1358 - 1408) that reopened the official relationship and trade connection with China in 1401. The then head of the samurai class that had been governing Japan for centuries by then Yoshimitsu accepted the status of the "king of Japan" subject to a Chinese emperor, as Ming Dynasty of China requested so as a condition to allow for the trade so lucrative for the Ashikaga clan.
(However, this kind of official relationship with China did not last long, since no succeeding samurai leaders followed suit, while Japan entered the Age of Great Provincial Wars at the end of the 15th century.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Yoshimitsu
Yet, it is more interesting that Japan had stopped its customary sending of an official envoy to China in 894, though the practice had continued since 600. The imperial government of Japan had sent envoys to China almost 20 times in these 300 years.
It is true that Japan was passionate about importing many cultural products from China in these years, namely between 600 and 894; the Japanese imperial court was also earnestly introducing advanced administrative systems from China. On the other hand, the major dynasty in China in this period was Tang that was truly a culturally flourish international empire on the Eurasia continent, though its predecessor Sui had been also an important political and trade partner for Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_Japanese_embassies_to_China
It is Sugawara Michizane (845 - 903) who took an initiative to stop sending an imperial envoy to China in 894.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugawara_no_Michizane
Sugawara Michizane was a reformation-minded elite bureaucrat in the imperial court. However, he had many enemies among aristocrats. As in those days the samurai class was not yet established in Japan, the power of the nation was all around an emperor. And an emperor was surrounded and supported by many aristocrats who gradually took the real helm of the imperial government over time.
So, the rise and fall of Sugawara Michizane really reflected the power struggle in the imperial court, as he was finally alienated and ordered to leave Kyoto for a minor post in a local region in Kyusyu Island, near the Korean Peninsula. It is believed that he was entrapped in a conspiracy rival aristocrats and bureaucrats had planned and carried out, since the reformation Michizane had introduced was very dangerous and disadvantageous to them.
While Michizane had been at a higher position in Kyoto, he was designated to the new imperial ambassador to Tang Dynasty of China. However, he rather proposed to the emperor the abolition of the customary and periodic sending of an imperial envoy to China.
In order to persuade the emperor and other court leaders, he presented a letter a Japanese monk had sent to Kyoto from China as the monk had been already dispatched to the capital of Tang.
The letter reported that the political system based on Confucianism and Chinese Legalism was going to collapse in Tang. So, it is useless any more to send an imperial envoy to learn anything from Chine that is expected to get into a great political turmoil, the monk claimed.
Japan then had the similar political system. And, Michizane was actively pursuing political reformation to change this political system called "Ritsu-Ryou" in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritsury%C5%8D
Consequently, the emperor accepted the advice from Michizane, putting an end to 300-year tradition of sending an imperial envoy to China. This incident accordingly symbolized the transit in the Japanese history from the political system faithfully following ancient Chinese traditions to the Japanese peculiar system which actually led to the establishment of the samurai class a century later.
After the death of Michizane in adverse circumstances in Kyushu, the imperial court however repented and restored his honor, even creating a great shrine for him in Kyusyu. The highly intellectual bureaucrat, Sugawara Michizane, is even today honored and revered as a god of learning and knowledge.
Anyway, politicians today may be able to draw a moral from the fate of this great reformer 1,100 years ago, truly hopefully.
Yet, it is a warning report a kind of spy monk sent to the imperial government in Kyoto from China that put an end to the diplomatic relation with China Japan had been observing subserviently between 600 and 894.
It is so, since a Chinese dynasty 1,100 years ago deplorably stopped to observe ancient laws and rituals faithfully anymore, eventually leading to establishment of foreign dynasties in mainland China between 1271 and 1368 (Yuan) and between 1616 and 1912 (Qing).
( http://www.geocities.jp/trushbasket/data/nf/michizane.html )
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That is all for today.
A real reformer must be determined to deal with any tragedy his/her opponents would bring down on him/her if he or she blongs to any political party.
(Maybe there was no attractive queen in Chine any more 1,100 years ago. So, it is better for any country to have a nice one, even in the U.S. or France.
http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1555/danceqwn.mid
Source: http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1555/mainmidi.html)
Joh 1:27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.