Organization for Asian Studies, Waseda University

Research Contents of Professor Kudo

Professor Motoo Kudo specializes in the history of the Warring-States Period of Qin and Han in ancient China, and has written books including "Mystery of Chinese Ancient Civilization" (Kobunsha Bunko, 1988) and "The State and Society in the Qin Period as seen in the Qin Bamboo-Scripts of Shuihudi" (Sobunsha, 1988). The latter in particular is an amalgamation of 13 theses concerning the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi, which Professor Kudo has studied ever since he entered the Waseda University Graduate School of Letters, Arts and Sciences, and this book may be regarded as the compilation of his early research. This book comments on the process of how Qin permeated its integrated rule of nomocracy throughout its occupied lands after unifying the Liuguo. The Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi is a group of manuscripts written on bamboo slips which was unearthed from the Qin state tomb no.11 at Shuihudi in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, China, and consists mainly of historical sources of laws and systems of Qin prior to the unification of the Liuguo, as well as the Rishu. After the contents of the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi was publicly disclosed, it was researched enthusiastically both in China and Japan, but the research centered mostly on legislative historical sources within the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi. This was because it was believed that the legislation of Qin was very harsh, but in fact not a lot was known about the reality of the subject, until the unearthing of the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi. On the other hand, the Rishu was a book of divination describing the fortune of dates and times, and was only taken up by researchers of history after its disclosure, and was hardly considered in terms of historical studies. However, Professor Kudo studied the Rishu in addition to studying the historical sources pertaining to the legislation of the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi, thereby effectively utilizing the Rishu as a historical source of sociology. Because of this, Professor Kudo's research is highly praised in Japan and overseas for its originality. Nowadays even the Rishu is considered as a source of history, and this is probably proof that Professor Kudo's new and innovative research method has been accepted in the academic world. In Hubei Province, where the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi was unearthed, there was once a kingdom called Chu, before it was conquered by Qin, which held its own culture and customs. In the latter half of the 1980s, new written documents were unearthed in succession from tombs of the Warring-States Period located in the Chu culture zone, and consisted mainly of bamboo slips (Chu slips). One of the prominent examples of these was the Chu bamboo-scripts excavated at Baoshan unearthed from the Chu state tomb no.2 at Baoshan, which included two kinds of historical sources, a document on law and legislation and the "Divinating, Offering and Praying Records" which was a record of divination and festival rituals. Professor Kudo has taken particular interest in the "Divinating, Offering and Praying Records" from the Chu bamboo-scripts excavated at Baoshan, and is researching its relation to a unique custom known as "the custom of divination manners", which was conducted in Chu during the Warring-States Period, as well as to the Rishu.

Photographing Chu manuscripts using the infrared reflectography camera system(winter,2002)

Activities of the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture

Professor Kudo is the Director Of the Waseda University Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture. This is a Project Research Institute, which object is to establish a new theory on ancient Chinese civilization that traditionally has been centrally based upon the Huang He (Yellow River) region. We aim to do this by positioning the regional history research of the "Bashu Culture" within Sichuan in the upper river region of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) the core of our research, and by also researching its relation with the "Chu Culture" within Hubei in the lower river region of the Chang Jiang, and thereby examining ancient Chinese civilization from the viewpoint of regional culture in the Chang Valley region. The institute officially started in April 2000, but we will go back further and explain the activities of the Research Team of Chang Valley Culture, the predecessor of the institute, in order to answer the simple question "why Sichuan?" Professor Kudo's interest in Sichuan began with the research of the aforementioned Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi. Through his research of the Rishu, Professor Kudo revealed that Yu, a legendary figure known as the "the sacred king of water control" or "the Founder of the Xia Dynasty," was in fact worshiped as an Azilian god amongst the non-Han people "Ranmang" in the northwest of ancient Sichuan. Nowadays, this region is inhabited by the Qiang people, a minority race which to this day inherit rich legends and ancient ruins pertaining to Yu. In the times of Yin dynasty, the Qiang people lived in the upper and middle regions of the Huang He, but later moved and settled in the upper river region of the Ming River, one of the main tributaries of the Chang Jiang. The Chinese sociologist Fei Xiaotong named this kind of migration route the "Minzu Zoulang", and in these "Minzu Zoulang" areas, a diverse multiple-culture caused by mutual interaction of different ethnic groups is evident. The team got to know Sichuan Union University (currently Sichuan University) professor Lu Ding (currently professor at the College of Arts), who at the time was visiting Waseda University, and through his acquaintance visited Sichuan for the first time in Summer 1994, embarking on an ethnic research in a village of the Qiang people within the region of the Ming River, a main Chang Jiang tributary. Later in Summer 1997, we teamed up with the Sichuan Union University College of Arts through a research program agreement, and established the "China-Japan Joint Research Center" within the College of Arts, and up till 2001 was engaged in joint Chinese-Japanese ethnic research of the Qiang, the Baima Tibetan people, an ethnic group who have been suggested to have relations with the Di people who were in ancient times associated with the Qiang, and the rGyalrong Tibetan people who habit the uppermost regions of the Ming River and the Dadu River region. Findings from these individual researches have been published in the magazine "Shiteki" published by the Toyoshi-Konwakai(the Society of Asian Studies) Waseda University and the "Bulletin of the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture of Waseda University", the annual journal of this institute, and furthermore two books were published as the result of the joint research which are "Research on the Society, History, and Culture of Qiangzu" (Co-edited by Lu Ding and Motoo Kudo, Sichaun People's Publishing House, 2000), and "Integrated Research on the Humanities, History, and Culture of the West Sichuan in China" (Co-edited by Lu Ding and Motoo Kudo, Sichuan University Press, 2003). There is also a feature article titled "Sichuan Minzu Zoulang" in the journal "Intriguing ASIA" No.5 (Bensey Publishing Inc., 1996), aimed at the general reader.

Field study of the tombs of the Warring-States Period at Hojiaping at Qingchuan Country, Sichuan Province, which is located on the migration route the Qin people took to Bashu(summer,2005)

When considering the issue of migration of ethnic groups in ancient times symbolized by the "Minzu Zoulang" , one important key factor is the Neolithic age castle ruins unearthed near the Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province. Therefore in summer 1995, our team organized a joint Japanese-Chinese archeological research, together with the Sichuan Union University and The Archaeological Team of Chengdu City (currently Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology), and embarked on a joint excavation of the site at Baodun in Xinjin County during November and December 1996, after obtaining permission from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China. Up till then, no castle ruins older than 4,000 years were discovered in Sichuan, and the excavation revealed that the site at Baodun was a Neolithic age ruins with castellated walls, and attracted tremendous interest from in and out of China. This was because traditional Chinese cities were surrounded by walls, and it is said that there is a close affinity between the emergence of castellated walls and the emergence of urban civilization. Therefore, as the first Neolithic age castle ruins discovered in the upper regions of the Chang Jiang, the site at Baodun holds an important meaning in the forming process of the regional culture of the Chengdu plains. The results of this excavation were published as "Baodun Site" (Chengdu Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology / Sichuan University Department of History Teaching & Research Section of Archeology / Waseda University Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture / ARP, 2000). Since then the research team arranged a joint archeological research of the site at Mangcheng in DuJiang yan, a similar castle ruin to the site at Baodun, and embarked on an excavation during 1998 and 2000 after obtaining special ratification from the State Council of China, the results of which are currently being summarized. As explained above, the Waseda University Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture has promoted regional history research combining ethnicity, archeology and history based on Sichuan since 1994. What propelled this into a much larger academic research was the fact that the Waseda University Research Center for Enhancing Local Cultures in Asia was adopted as the 21st Century COE Program in October 2002. As professor Kudo has previously introduced this Research Center in the first issue of this journal, in this article we will focus on the activities of the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture, which has played a central role in this Research Center. We suggested a research model named the "Sichuan Model" , and by setting the main research topic of the research center 'the confirmation and the restructuring of bilateral and multilayered various relationships between Chinese civilization and regional cultures' , our research institute proposed three research themes which are: "The derivation of regional culture";"The political, economical, and cultural effects that the founding of the Qin and Han Dynasties had on the region";"Regional cultures in post-Qin and Han Dynasty times". A new field that arose at this time was Hubei Province, situated to the east of Sichuan Province. This region has not only produced Chu bamboo scripts including the aforesaid the Chu bamboo-scripts excavated at Baoshan, but Qin and Han Dynasty era bamboo scripts such as the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi and the Han bamboo-scripts excavated at Zhangjiashan have also been unearthed. In other words, the Hubei region is an ideal field for examining in concrete terms the process of how the Chu culture, a regional culture, changed between the Warring-States Period and the formation of a unified dynasty of Qin and Han. The Bashu culture in Sichuan is similar to the Chu culture in terms of being conquered by Qin and incorporated into the Chinese civilization, but as Sichuan has very little written material from pre-Qin times, the aforesaid approach for historical research was taken by integrating ethnical research and archeological research by joint Japanese-Chinese teams together with traditional historical sources of literature. The Chu culture, however, has an abundance of unearthed written material in addition to historical literature passed down, and has a better environment of resources. Therefore, the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture signed an academic agreement with the Wuhan University Graduate School of Humanities, where professor Chen Wei, an acquaintance of professor Kudo is affiliated to, and established the "Center for Collaborative Research on Chu Culture and Excavated Manuscripts from the Chu Region" to embark on a joint research. A noteworthy fact is that this joint research center installed an infrared reflectography camera system to photograph the "Ernian-luling" and the "Zouyanshu" , the Han bamboo scripts excavated at Zhangjiashan which has received attention in relation to the Qin legislation resources from the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi, and created a new transcript and annotations through the collaboration of our research institute, Wuhan University, and the Museum of Jingzhou, the holder of the Han scripts. In China, prior to this, there has never been a case in which a foreign research institution has been involved in joint research from the early stages of creating transcripts and annotations, and when this new text is published (due in June 2007 by Shanghai Guji Chubanshe), it should attract attention as a new model for joint research between China and Japan. Meanwhile, field investigation in Sichuan during the COE period consisted of research of migration routes and tombs of the Qin people who immigrated to the land of Shu after the Warring-States Period, with the objective being the research regarding the occupational system by Qin in the Bashu region. The results from this COE are published in "ChangJiang Valley and the Local Cultures of Bashu, Chu" (Asia Regional Culture Library, edited by Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture, Yuzankaku Inc. 2006). Established as a Project Research Institute with a limited lifetime of no longer than five years, the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture had become a core unit of The 21st Century COE Program, and was closed in March 2007 with the end of the COE Program. However the Research Institute started a new life from April 2007 as a Project Research Institute within the Organization of Asian Studies of Waseda University. In addition to the "Bashu Culture" in the upstream regions of the Chang Jiang and Sichuan as well as the "Chu Culture" in the midstream regions, the new research program will also include in its scope the "Wuyue Culture" in Jiang su and ZheJiang in the downstream region. Despite this, our basic stance will remain the same, which is: academic research integrating history, archeology and folklore; local field study; and international joint research through collaboration with Chinese research institutes.

Activities of the Kudo Office

Currently professor Kudo acts as an advisor for 12 graduate students (seminar students), who consist of four Master's Program students and eight Doctoral Program students. This is a relatively large number of students for a seminar. These students cover a wide range of research eras from Ying to the Three Kingdoms period, and a variety of topics including politics, law, philosophy and ethnicity. It is impossible to introduce the research of all members due to limited space, but in order to explain the diversity of their researches, names and theses of those who received their doctorates in 2006 as a result of the education of Young Scientists in the COE program are listed as follows: Michiru Obata, "Taoism and International Relations in Ancient East Aisa"; Hiroyuki Honma, "The administrative structure and bureaucracy of the Qu-shi Gaochang Kingdom" ; Daisuke Mizuma, "The Criminal Laws of the Qin and Han Dynasties"; Masashi Mori, "Studies on the Culture and Manners of Chu during the Warring-States Period as seen in the Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts Excavated in Chu Area; Mainly on the Chu Silk Manuscripts Unearthed at Zidanku in Changsha". The seminar students attend lectures by professor Kudo as well as research groups organized by professor Kudo and others. Besides the seminar students, other graduate students majoring in different fields and those from other universities, as well as researchers and part-time lecturers sometimes attend these lectures and research groups.

Aerial photography using a large kite during the minority race research at Qiang Village, Tao Ping, Li County, Aba Tibetan Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province(summer,1999)

Instruction on Asian History

Once a week, one student gives a 40 to 60 minute report on their research, to which professor Kudo gives advice and asks other seminar students of their opinions. The seminar students further develop their reports from here to write either Master's Theses (Master students) or theses for academic journals and Doctoral Dissertations (Doctorate students).

Special Lectures in Asian History

Between 1998 and 2002 we read the biographies of Nanman and Xinanyi in "Houhanshu" edited by FanYe from the Song Dynasty, and created a detailed annotated translation. This document contains the history of non-Han people in southeastern China from ancient times to the Latter Han era. The completed annotated translation was published as "An annotated translation of the biographies of Nanman and Xinanyi in "Houhanshu" (1)-(3)" ("Bulletin of the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture" Vol.1-3, 2002-2005). From 2001, in parallel with the biographies of Nanman and Xinanyi we have been reading the biographies of Xiqiang in "Houhanshu". This document contains the history from ancient times to the Latter Han era of the ethnic group known as the "Xiqiang" people who lived in northeastern China. Parts of this annotated translation has been published as "An annotated translation of the biographies of Xiqiang in "Houhanshu" (1) & (2)" ("Bulletin of the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture" Vol.4 & 5, 2006-2007), and is to be continued.

Seminars in Asian History

Between 1997 and 2006 we read the Thirteen Chapters Including "Shoufa" and "Shouling" from the Han bamboo-scripts excavated at Yinqueshan, and created a detailed annotated translation. The Han bamboo-scripts excavated at Yinqueshan is a group of early Former Han bamboo scripts unearthed from the Han tomb no.1 and no.2 at Yinqueshan in Linyi City, Shandong Province in 1972. The "Thirteen Chapters Including "Shoufa" and "Shouling"" is a document contained within these, and presents ideology on the way politics, systems, and the military should be. The completed annotated translation was published as the "Studies on the Thirteen Chapters Including "Shoufa" and "Shouling" of the Han Bamboo Manuscripts, Excavated at Yinqueshan (1)-(6)" by the Waseda University Research Group of Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts ("Studies on Chinese Excavated Materials" Vol.6 -11, 2002-2007). Furthermore, since the middle of 2006, we have started reading the Han bamboo-scripts excavated at Yinwan. This is a group of bamboo scripts unearthed from the Han tomb no.6 at Yinwan in Donghai County, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province in 1993, and consists of documents regarding local government administration in the last years of the Former Han dynasty.

The Waseda University Research Group of Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts

This group was established during 1997, for the purpose of deciphering bamboo and silk manuscripts from the Warring-States Period, Qin and Han. Initially the group was involved in the study of letter shapes of the Chu bamboo-scripts excavated at Baoshan from the Warring States period, and the deciphering of the Chu bamboo-scripts excavated at Guodian. In November 2001, the "Ernian-l?ling" from the Han bamboo-scripts excavated at Zhangjiashan was made public for the first time, and from January 2002 the group started to create a annotated translation of the "Ernian-l?ling". The Han bamboo-scripts excavated at Zhangjiashan is a group of early Former Han bamboo scripts unearthed from the Han tomb no.247 at Zhangjiashan in Jingzhou district, Jingzhou City, Hubei Province between 1983 and 1984. The "Ernian-l?ling" is a document contained within these, and contains texts of legal codes of early Former Han dynasty. The completed annotated translation was published as "An annotated translation of the bamboo-scripts from the Han tomb 247 at Zhangjiashan (1)-(5)" by the Waseda University Research Group of Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts ("Bulletin of the Research Institute of Chang Valley Culture" Vol.1-5, 2002-2007). In addition to this, in 2004 and 2005, as mentioned earlier, in order to create a new text for the "Ernian-luling" and the "Zouyanshu" in collaboration with the Center of Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts of Wuhan University and the Museum of Jingzhou, our group studied the "Ernian-l?ling" and the "Zouyanshu". Starting in 2006, the group is reading the Qin bamboo-scripts excavated at Shuihudi in comparison with the "Ernian-luling", and is currently creating an annotated translation.

(Written by Daisuke Mizuma & Masashi Mori)

Field study of the Jinniu Rord, at Hanzhong City, Shanxi Privince, where is one of the migration route of Qin people that connects Shu with Hanzhong(winter,2007)