The Figures of Kōho and Li-mi-i, and the Origins of the Case for a Christian Missionary Presence in Tenpyō Era fapan

摘要

In 1916 P.Y.Saeki devoted a page of his book "The Nestorian Monument in China," to a short thought experiment which linked a Persian by the name of Li-mi-itwho was present in Emperor Shōmu'st聖武天皇 court and whose arrival was mentioned in the Shoku Nihongi with a priest named on the Nestorian Stele.Since that first suggestion, several scholars have expounded the idea that Li-mi-i and another figure who arrived alongside him, Kōho Tōchō 皇甫東朝 , were Christians and/or missionaries.In this paper I assess these claims, returning to the Shoku Nihongi in order to suggest that there is a lack of data to establish them as true.I then seek to explore the origins of this theory situating it within the joint context of Japan's imperial expansion and her modernization.Whilst the latter cannot be conclusive, I hope that it may shed light on the significance of the theory which can be seen as a search to discover Japanese history, a statement of the equality between Japanese and Western histories, or an attempt to justify imperial aims in China academically.