Chucho Jijitsu (The record of the central nation) (中朝事実)
Chucho Jijitsu (The record of the central nation) is a history book about the thought of reverence for the emperor, written by Soko YAMAGA. The book was written in 1669. It consists of two volumes. It has one-volume appendix. Soko YAMAGA was a leading scholar of Confucianism and military science.
Contents of "Chucho Jijitsu"
Confucianism was popular in Japan then, and people were so influenced by it that they were apt to think anything about China was great and superior to the Japanese one. In addition, the Confucianism's view of the world is based on the Sinocentrism that the Chinese empire is stronger than any other nearby barbarian countries and that the Chinese people are ethically superior to the barbarian. Soko argued against the Sinocentrism in the book. In China at that time, the Ming Dynasty of the Han race was destroyed and the Manchurian who was a barbarian living in the north of the Great Wall of China became the emperor and established the Qing dynasty. Historically, the dynasties in China had changed many times, and the vassals often rebelled and killed their lords to take over them. China has no strong power or bonds between lords and vassals. On the other hand, Japan has never been invaded and controlled by foreign countries and it has been under the emperors' ruling of unbroken imperial line and kept the bonds between lords and vassals. This book asserts that it is Japan, not China, that is the central kingdom.
Soko YAMAGA's Theory of "Unbroken Line of the Emperors"
In the Edo period, the sonnoka (people with reverence for emperors) emphasized the "unbroken line of emperors" which implied the incredibly long history and continuity of the imperial family, to heighten respect and support for emperors. Soko YAMAGA claimed that the imperial lineage in the mythological age prior to Jinmu had lasted two million years. He argued as follows in "Chucho Jijitsu."