View source for Abe no Nakamaro

{{Short description|Japanese poet and administrator in China}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{family name hatnote|Abe|lang=Japanese}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = 
| image            = Hyakuninisshu 007.jpg
| image_upright    = yes
| caption          = Abe no Nakamaro from ''Hyakunin Isshu''
| native_name      = 阿倍 仲麻呂
| native_name_lang = jp
| birth_date       = {{circa|698}}
| birth_place      = [[Yamato Province]], Yamato (now Japan)
| death_date       = {{circa|770}}
| death_place      = Chang'an, [[Shaanxi Province]], Imperial China
| occupation       = Poet, Japanese scholar, politician
| language         = Japanese
| period           = [[Nara period]]
| genre            = [[Waka (poetry)|Waka]]
| notable_works    = ''[[Hyakunin Isshu]]'' (contributor)
| portaldisp       = yes
}}

{{Nihongo|'''Abe no Nakamaro'''|阿倍 仲麻呂||{{circa|698}} – c. 770}}, also known by his Chinese name '''Chao Heng''' ({{lang-zh|c=晁衡}}, pronounced ''Chōkō'' in Japanese), was a Japanese scholar and ''[[Waka (poetry)|waka]]'' poet of the [[Nara period]]. He served on a Japanese envoy to [[Tang dynasty|Tang China]] and later became the Tang ''[[Protectorate (imperial China)|duhu]]'' (protectorate governor) of [[Annan (Tang protectorate)|Annan]] (modern [[Vietnam]]).<ref name="nussbaum3">{{cite book |last1=Louis-Frédéric |first1=Nussbaum |author1-link=Louis Frédéric |title=Japan Encyclopedia |date=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-01753-5 |page=3 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Japan_Encyclopedia/p2QnPijAEmEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA3&printsec=frontcover |access-date=3 October 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

== Early life ==
He was a descendant of {{ill|Prince Hikofutsuoshi no Makoto|ja|彦太忍信命}}, the son of [[Emperor Kōgen]] and first son of {{ill|Abe no Funamori|ja|阿倍船守}}. As a young man he was admired for having outstanding academic skills.

== Career ==
[[File:阿倍仲麻呂，あべ の なかまろ，A-bei zhong-ma-lv - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Memorial in [[Xi'an]]]]
In 717–718, he was a member of the [[Japanese missions to Tang China|Japanese mission to Tang China]] (''Kentōshi'') along with [[Kibi no Makibi]]<ref>Nussbaum, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA512&dq= "Kibi no Makibi"] at p. 512.</ref> and [[Genbō]].<ref>Nussbaum, [https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC&pg=PA235&dq= "Gembō"] at p. 235.</ref>  They returned to Japan; he did not.

In China, he passed the [[Imperial examination|civil-service examination]]. Around 725, he took an administrative position and was promoted in [[Luoyang]] in 728 and 731. Around 733 he received {{ill|Tajihi Hironari|ja|多治比広成}}, who would command the Japanese diplomatic mission.

In 734, Abe tried to return to Japan, but the ship that was to take him back sank not long into the journey, forcing him to remain in China for several more years. In 752, he tried again to return, with the mission to China led by [[Fujiwara no Kiyokawa]], but the ship he was traveling in was wrecked and ran aground off the coast of [[Annan (Tang protectorate)|Annan]] (modern day northern [[Vietnam]]). He managed to return to [[Chang'an]] in 755.

After the [[An Lushan Rebellion]] started later in 755, it became unsafe to return to Japan and Nakamaro abandoned his hopes of returning to his homeland. He took several government posts and rose to serve as [[Protectorate (imperial China)|Duhu (Governor-protector)]] of [[Annam (Chinese province)|Annam]] between 761 and 767, residing in Hanoi. He then returned to Chang'an and was once again planning his return to Japan when he died in 770, at the age of 72.

Abe was a close friend of the Chinese poets [[Li Bai]] and [[Wang Wei (Tang dynasty)|Wang Wei]], Zhao Hua, Bao Xin, and [[Chu Guangxi]].<ref name="nussbaum3"/>

== Legacy ==
[[File:Abe-no-nakamaro.jpg|thumb|right|This image of Abe no Nakamaro is part of [[Hokusai|Hokusai's]] series of ''One Hundred Poets'']]
Abe is known for a poem filled with intense longing for his home in [[Nara, Nara|Nara]]. One of his poems was included in the anthology ''[[Hyakunin Isshu]]'':<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mostow |first1=Joshua S. |title=Pictures of the Heart: The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image |date=1 January 1996 |publisher=[[University of Hawaii]] Press |isbn=978-0-8248-1705-3 |pages=161-164 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pictures_of_the_Heart/U0KcAwrVksQC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA161&printsec=frontcover |access-date=3 October 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
{{waka|天の原ふりさけ見れば春日なる|三笠の山に出し月かも
|reading=ama no hara furisakemireba Kasuga naru<br/>Mikasa-no-yama ni ideshi tsuki ka mo
|translation=When I look up into the vast sky tonight, is it the same moon that I saw rising from behind Mt. Mikasa at Kasuga Shrine all those years ago?<ref>McMillan 2010, p.7</ref>
|source=''[[Kokin Wakashū]]'' 9:406
}}

Abe's place in Japanese cultural history is confirmed in [[Hokusai]]'s ''Hyakunin Isshu'' series of [[ukiyo-e]] woodblock prints.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Machotka |first1=Ewa |title=Visual Genesis of Japanese National Identity: Hokusai's Hyakunin Isshu |date=2009 |publisher=Peter Lang |isbn=978-90-5201-482-1 |pages=92-95 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Visual_Genesis_of_Japanese_National_Iden/2VZDzGQlPd8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA92&printsec=frontcover |access-date=3 October 2025 |language=en}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Japanese missions to Imperial China]]
* [[Japanese missions to Tang China]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*{{cite book|last=McMillan|first=Peter|title=One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Translation of the ''Ogura Hyakunin Isshu''|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|year=2010|location=New York|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2gvYfrpOi8C|isbn=9780231143998}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category-inline}}

{{Notable foreigners who visited China}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abe no, Nakamaro}}
[[Category:690s births]]
[[Category:770 deaths]]
[[Category:People of the Nara period]]
[[Category:Japanese male poets]]
[[Category:7th-century Japanese poets]]
[[Category:Tang dynasty jiedushi]]
[[Category:Hyakunin Isshu poets]]
[[Category:Japanese emigrants to China]]
[[Category:Japan–Vietnam relations]]
[[Category:Japanese ambassadors to the Tang dynasty]]