郑舜功生平大要与《日本一鉴》的撰著

The biographical note of Zheng Shungong and his RIBENYIJIAN

倭寇现象贯穿整个明代,与之相伴,明代产生了数量众多的御倭著述,《日本一鉴》是其中很特出的一部。该书作者郑舜功曾两赴日本考察,书中众多的内容皆融合了作者亲身的经历与见闻,其关于日本的记载与倭寇的考述,极具研究价值。《日本一鉴》撰著的原由同作者坎坷的人生经历紧密相关。嘉靖时期倭寇肆虐东南沿海,为了应对危局,明朝廷推行了广开言路的政策,在此背景下,郑舜功以布衣的身份进京建言,由此获得兵部的举荐,为浙、直、闽诸省军务总督杨宜所辟用,授命出使日本。郑舜功回国后却受到了续任总督胡宗宪的迫害,被执下狱,后来虽得平反,但有慨于抱负未展,遂以张骞出使西域为自况,撰著《日本一鉴》以记录当年出使日本的业绩,以待知者。

Wakō existed all through the Ming Dynasty, also, there were many works on how to defend the Wakō, of which the book RIBENYIJIAN is an excellent and special one. The author Zheng Shungong went to Japan to investigate two time. So he wrote the book with what he had seen and heard about Japan and Wakō, which makes it valuable in research. The work was written closely related to Zheng＇s life experiences. During Chia-ching era, Wakō severly harassed Chinese southeast coast. To deal with this crisis situation, the Ming Dynasty adopted an open channel to allow people to suggest. In this got background, Zheng Shungong went to Peking to suggest as a civilian without any official position, and got recommended by Ming＇s army headquarters to work under Yang Yi, who was then in charge of the troops of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Fujian. Zheng was sent to Japan as an ambassador, but when he came back, he was assigned to prison by Hu Zongxian the successor. Although rehabilitated later, Zheng felt regretful about not achieving his ambition, so he wrote RIBENYIJIAN to record his contribution in Japan to let coming generations know that as Zhang Qian did, who was once delegated to Xiyu in Han dynasty.