| Chapter 1: | The Transnational Travels of the Yijing 易經 or Classic of Changes |
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Chapter 1
The Transnational Travels
of the Yijing 易經 or
Classic of Changes
Perspectives from the Sinosphere
Richard J. Smith
This chapter focuses on the ways that an ancient and highly venerated Chinese text—the Yijing 易經 or Classic of Changes (a.k.a. Zhou Changes 周易)—traveled among and within the countries of East Asia (the Sinosphere) in the period from circa 1600 to circa 1900. My goal is to offer a brief summary and analysis of this “transnational” process1 as it pertains to Yijing exegesis in Qing dynasty China (1644–1912); Tokugawa Japan (1603–1868); Lê dynasty (1428–1789) and early Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945) Vietnam; and Chosŏn Korea (1392–1910). Since my emphasis is on scholarship, rather than on the myriad other ways that the Yijing influenced the cultures of East Asia, I have decided to omit the Ryūkyū (a.k.a. Liuqiu) Kingdom (1429–1879) from this discussion on the grounds