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Japan – The Eastern End of the Silk Road
The Han visionary Emperor Wu of China, who reigned from 141 to 87 BCE, was found of science and sponsored the creation of several universities in his country. He regularly launched military campaigns to strengthen his power, but mainly to maraud the nomadic tribes of the Xiongnu on their northern and western borders, who often harassed them. In one of the trips made by Wu’s emissary to meet the Yuezhi people of the West to negotiate help to defeat the Xiongnu, Wu’s agent came into contact with the Greco-Bactrians, who rode mighty horses, much faster and larger the ones the Chinese had in their country. This encounter resulted in an organised and efficient horse breeding program throughout the land that equipped the Chinese cavalry, resulting in the defeat of the Xiongnu.
The successful horse breeding inspired Wu to speculate on what else might be gained through trade with the west and the Silk Road, was born. Along the years, it became an incredible network of trade routes, operational between 130 BCE to 1453 CE, which opened up China to the West. The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in Chinese silk carried out along its length.
The Chinese took great interest in the safety of their trade products and extended the Great Wall to ensure the protection of the trade route. The Silk Road network had also strategically located trading posts, markets and thoroughfares designed to streamline the transport, exchange, distribution and storage of goods. The northern Mesopotamian region (present-day Iran) became China’s closest partner in trade, as part of the Parthian Empire.
Routes extended from the Greco-Roman metropolis of Antioch across the Syrian Desert via Palmyra to Ctesiphon (the Parthian capital) and Seleucia on the Tigris River, a Mesopotamian city in modern-day Iraq. From Seleucia, routes passed eastward over the Zagros Mountains to the cities of Ecbatana (Iran) and Merv (Turkmenistan), from which additional routes traversed to modern-day Afghanistan and eastward into Mongolia and China. The map below shows trading routes used around the 1st century CE by the network of the Silk Road. The red routes are on land and the blue lines indicate maritime routes. The routes remained largely valid for the period between 500 BCE to 500 CE.
The European explorer Marco Polo (1254–1324 CE) traveled on these routes and described them in depth in his famous work but he is not credited with naming them. Both terms for this network of roads were coined by the German geographer and traveler, Ferdinand von Richthofen, in 1877 CE, who designated them ‘Seidenstrasse’ (silk road) or ‘Seidenstrassen’ (silk routes). Polo, and later von Richthofen, mentions the goods which were transported back and forth on the Silk Road. Polo’s journeys across the Silk Road became the basis for his book, “The Travels of Marco Polo”, which gave Europeans a better understanding of Asian commerce and culture.
The Travels of Marco Polo Trade along the Silk Road economic belt included fruits and vegetables, livestock, grain, leather and hides, tools, religious objects, artwork, precious stones and metals. Commodities such as paper and gunpowder, both invented by the Chinese during the Han Dynasty, were also amongst the most-traded items between the East and West. The paper’s arrival in Europe fostered significant intellectual and industrial change, with the written word becoming a key form of mass communication for the first time. The eventual development of Gutenberg’s printing press allowed for the mass production of books and, later, newspaper, which enabled a wider exchange of news and information. In addition, the rich spices of the East quickly became popular in the West, and changed cuisine across much of Europe. Similarly, techniques for making glass migrated eastward to China from the Islamic world.
Objects found "misplaced", probably traded in the Silk Road
A late Zhou or early Han Chinese bronze mirror inlaid with glass, incorporated with Greco-Roman artistic patterns
Sogdian man on a Bactrian camel, sancai ceramic glaze, Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907)
Haku-ruri no hei (white glass ewer), found in Japan, which is probably from Iran, Iraq, or Syria.
Bronze coin of Constantius II (337–361), found in Karghalik, Xinjiang, China
Green Roman glass cup unearthed from an Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) tomb, Guangxi, southern China
A lion motif on Sogdian polychrome silk, 8th century, most likely from Bukhara
During the Asuka period (538-710 CE), goods from Central Asia made their way to Japan on the Silk Road via China and Korea. By the Nara Period (710 to 794 CE) trade links between Japan and Central Asia on the Silk Road were well established. Nara, the ancient capital of Japan was regarded as the eastern end of the Silk Road, which brought continental Asian culture, including Buddhism, to Japan. Nara became the centre of Japan’s governance and saw the creation of some of the country’s most significant Buddhist temples and monuments, many of which remain today.
Treasures brought on the Silk Road to Japan include amongst many things, reindeer antlers, a Persian brocade, an amber and mother-of-pearl inlaid mirror, and many paintings.
Traders also brought an inlaid red sandalwood go game board as a special gift to Emperor Shomu (701-756) from China, which allegedly, he cherished. The surface of the go board (known as Mokuga Shitan no Kikyoku) is made of ivory. On the sides are images of camels and designs associated with Central Asia. The go stones are pieces of ivory died red and navy blue.
The massive economic impact of the Silk Road affected the life of almost everyone (directly or indirectly) living in the countries involved. Alas, along this network disease traveled also, spreading the bubonic plague of 542 CE which is thought to have arrived in Constantinople by way of the Silk Road and which decimated the Byzantine Empire. In 585, Emperor Bidatsu of Japan was killed, most likely by smallpox. Yet, the Silk Road was the catalyst of important cultural exchanges. Art, philosophy, technology, language, science, architecture, religion and every other element of civilisation were transmitted along with the commercial goods the dealers carried from country to country.
In 1453 CE, the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople and set to boycott trade with the west. The closing of the Silk Road forced merchants to take to the sea to ply their trade, thus initiating the Age of Discovery which led to worldwide interaction and the onset of a global community. In its time, the Silk Road served to broaden people’s understanding of the world they lived in; its closure would propel Europeans across the ocean to explore, and eventually conquer, the so-called New World of the Americas. In this way, the Silk Road can be said to have established the groundwork for the development of the modern world.
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