A Brief Survey of Japan

A ruler treats the foreigners beyond the borders with distance rather than closeness, keeping them outside. Japan is one of the eastern barbarians, separated by a vast sea. Whether its customs are admirable or ugly is hardly worth ranking, but its people are fickle in their allegiance and skilled in deception. Their speech is unintelligible, so one cannot know where they stand; their ways are unfamiliar, so their true intentions are hard to fathom. If preparations to control them are inadequate, the borderlands will be lost. Even so, they must not be neglected. In the year Guiwei of the Jiajing reign, an upheaval broke out without warning. Those responsible for handling such matters knew that one must not shirk hardship, yet could not even look after themselves, let alone anyone else. At the time, Marquis Zheng Chongshan of Southern Fujian governed Dinghai. Witnessing the grave consequences, he said that the past had been lost because no preparations were made in advance, and that steps should now be taken to prevent future calamities. For years, I had studied the classics and cultivated my character, waiting to be of use. He humbly commissioned me to compile this account, so that loyal officers serving on the frontier could study it and plan for the defense of the realm. It is called an examination because it draws on historical records and widely gathered accounts from elders, rather than inventing stories to mislead people. It is called an outline because matters of no great importance are only sketched in broad strokes, without burdening the reader with excessive detail.