The “Riben dao ge” and the Sinosphere

Abstract

The “Riben dao ge” is a well-known poem in the history of East Asian literary exchanges. The poem was written by Sima Guang during his appointment at the Palace Library, expressing his cultural expectations as well as some satirical remarks about Qian Gongfu. The earliest proponent of the theory that the “Riben dao ge” was written by Sima Guang was the Japanese Meiji-era scholar Kusaka Hiroshi, who influenced Yang Shoujing. From the standpoint of cultural history, the “Riben dao ge” is intimately connected to the Edo-era concept of lost and surviving books; Chosŏn’s goodwill missions, moreover, played a vital role in the dissemination of the poem in Japan. The “Riben dao ge’s” many influences across Japan and Chosŏn demonstrated an interest in the Chinese cultural issue of “searching for lost rituals among the people.”