Damjing

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Damjing
The Three Gods of Paper-making, Cai Lun with Donchō (on the left) and Mochizuki Seibee (who brought the art to Nishijima (西嶋にしじま)) (Minobu Town Museum of History and Folklore)[1]
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese曇徵どんちょう
Korean name
Hangul담징
Hanja曇徵どんちょう
Japanese name
Kanji曇徴どんちょう
Hiraganaどんちょう

Damjing (Korean: 담징; Hanja: 曇徵どんちょう), or Donchō (in Japanese), was a Korean Buddhist priest who was sent to ancient Japan from Goguryeo around 610. How his name was pronounced in the Goguryeo language is unknown.

Almost nothing has come down about him besides a few lines in the Nihon Shoki (720 A.D.), which is almost the only reliable source.

In the Spring, March, the 19th year [of Empress Suiko],[2] the king of Koma[3] offered up [the] priest[s] Donchō and Hōjō[4] as tribute [to Japan]. Donchō was familiar with the Five Classics. He produced colors, paper and ink well, moreover made watermill.[5] Has making watermill presumably started ever since?"

— Nihon Shoki, Vol. 22　[6]

On the grounds that this is the first appearance about the manufacture of paper, it has been said, all in all, from the Edo period, that he brought papermaking skills to Japan first. However, there is no sufficient grounds to say so from the text; as to the watermill, it is mentioned that he probably introduced it first, while papermaking is not mentioned. If he had done so, it should have been mentioned along with the mention of the watermill. B. Jugaku, in his study The Japanese Paper, making a comparative review of surviving ancient documents, concludes the text is a compliment for the Buddhist priest who was also familiar with Confucianism, what is more, never ignorant of crafts; and if properly read, it does not state that he was the first person to bring the methods for color, ink and papermaking, rather that he was quite a craftsman for producing them.[7] Additionally, at that time, maintenance of the state apparatus, which required enormous amounts of paper such as for family registers, had been started.[8] The facts of the time support such a reading.

Biography of Prince Shōtoku (written in 917 or maybe 992) tells that Prince Shōtoku invited him to Ikaruga-no-miya Palace, and afterward kept him at Hōryū-ji.[9] However, it is not regarded as an historical fact since the book is a grand sum of mythical biographies about him.[10]

In Korea, in recent years, some people have claimed that the wall painting in the Kondō of Hōryū-ji was made by Damjing,[11] but this is not based on any surviving documents. Furthermore, the original temple was burned around 670 and the current one is a reconstruction from the late 7th century.

Notes and references[edit]

  1. ^ 西嶋にしじまの『造みやつこ紙し三さん神像しんぞう』の掛かけ軸じく [Hanging scroll with the Three Gods of Paper-making, Nishijima] (in Japanese). Minobu Town. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  2. ^ 610 A.D.
  3. ^ Koma（高麗こうらい） is Goguryeo in this context. The king was Yeong-yang.
  4. ^ 法定ほうてい. Beopjeong in modern Korean.
  5. ^ To be exact, 碾磑 is a mortar to grind grain by water power.
  6. ^ Original text : 十じゅう八はち年ねん春はる三さん月がつ 高麗こうらい王おう貢みつぎ上じょう 僧そう曇徵どんちょう・法定ほうてい 曇徵どんちょう知ち五經ごきょう 且能作さく彩色さいしき及紙墨すみ 并造碾磑 蓋ぶた造づくり碾磑始はじめ于是時じ歟.
  7. ^ 寿ことぶき岳文たかふみ章あきら(JUGAKU, Bunshō), 日本にっぽんの紙かみ (The Japanese Paper), 日本にっぽん歴史れきし叢書そうしょ 新装しんそう版ばん, 吉川弘文館よしかわこうぶんかん, (1967, 1996), pp. 1-21.
  8. ^ 柳橋やなぎはし真しん(YANAGIBASHI Shin), "和紙わし (Washi)" in Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, Kato Shuichi(ed.), Tokyo: Heibonsha, 2007.
  9. ^ From 聖徳太子しょうとくたいし伝でん暦れき, "十じゅう八はち年ねん春はる三さん月がつ 高麗こうらい僧そう曇徴どんちょう・法定ほうてい二に口くち來らい 太子たいし引入斑鳩いかる宮みや 問とい之の以昔身み微ほろ言げん 二に僧そう百ひゃく拜はい 啓けい太子たいし曰 我が等とう學がく道みち年ねん久ひさ 未知みち天眼てんがん 今いま遙はるか想そう昔むかし 殿下でんか弟子でし而遊衡山者しゃ也 太子たいし命いのち曰 師し等とう遲おそ來き 宜むべ住じゅう吾われ寺てら 即そく置おけ法隆寺ほうりゅうじ."
  10. ^ 坂本さかもと太郎たろう (SAKAMOTO Tarō), the article on Prince Shōtoku, in 国史こくし大だい辞典じてん (The Grand Dictionary of Japanese History), 吉川弘文館よしかわこうぶんかん, (1979-1997).　Additionally, any precedent biographies never tell the episode.
  11. ^ e.g. articles on Damjing at 글로벌 세계 대백과사전 (in Korean) and EncyKorea(in Korean)

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

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