Abe no Nakamaro

Who They Were

Abe no Nakamaro (阿倍仲麻呂, あべのなかまろ) was a Japanese writer, poet, and bureaucrat who lived from 698 to 770. He was born in Yamato Province into the Abe clan, a powerful family with deep ties to the imperial court. His father, Abe no Funamori, served in the court hierarchy, and Nakamaro followed a path that would take him far beyond Japan's shores.

Nakamaro is classified as a writer and poet, but his career was defined by service in the Tang Empire, where he spent most of his adult life. He is one of the few Japanese figures of the Nara period whose career unfolded almost entirely on the Asian continent rather than in the Japanese capital.

Life and Career

In 717, Nakamaro traveled to Tang China as part of a Japanese envoy mission. He was selected as a student, a common route for young men of noble families seeking education in the most advanced civilization of the age. Once in Chang'an, the Tang capital, he proved so capable that he never returned to Japan.

Nakamaro entered the Tang bureaucracy and rose steadily through its ranks. He held a series of significant titles: Director of the Palace Library, a post that placed him at the center of imperial scholarship; yushi zhongcheng, a censorial role overseeing official conduct; and sanqi changshi, a title attached to the imperial retinue. He also served as jiedushi, a regional military governor, and as duhu, the protectorate governor of Annan, which covered territory in modern Vietnam. His highest honors included the title guanglu dafu, a senior honorary rank, and the position of Minister of the Guards.

The Japanese court did not forget him. In 753, a new envoy mission arrived in China, and Nakamaro requested permission to return home. The Tang emperor granted his request, and he set sail with the returning Japanese ships. The voyage ended in disaster: his vessel was wrecked, and he was cast ashore in what is now Vietnam. He made his way back to Chang'an, where he resumed his official career and remained for the rest of his life. He died in Chang'an around 770.

Why They Matter

Nakamaro matters for two reasons. First, he is a rare example of a Japanese who reached the highest levels of the Tang imperial government. No other Japanese of his era held comparable rank in a foreign court. His career demonstrated that a Japanese scholar could compete with the best minds of the Tang world on their own terms.

Second, he was a poet. He wrote in both Japanese and Chinese, and his waka — classical Japanese verse — survives in the anthology Hyakunin Isshu, where his poem about gazing at the moon and longing for home is among the most famous in the collection. That poem, written while he was in China, captures the loneliness of a man who spent fifty years away from his homeland. His Chinese-language works include the poems 銜命還国作 (kanmei kankokusaku, "Composed on Imperial Orders When Returning to My Country") and 無題 (mudai, "Untitled").

His life also illustrates the reach of Tang culture. A Japanese nobleman could leave his island home, master a foreign language and bureaucracy, and become a governor of a distant province of the world's largest empire. Nakamaro's career is a testament to the cosmopolitanism of the eighth-century East Asian world.

The Name in Japanese

The name is written 阿倍仲麻呂, read あべのなかまろ, and romanized as Abe no Nakamaro. The particle の (no) is a possessive or connective marker and is not part of the written name itself; it appears only in speech and romanization.

Character by character:

• 阿 (あ, a): In this name, it functions as the first character of the clan name. Its standalone meaning is "corner" or "to flatter," but in 阿倍 it is used phonetically to represent the sound "a" with no semantic weight. The character is common in Japanese names and place names for its sound value.

• 倍 (べ, be): The second character of the clan name. Its standalone meaning is "double" or "to multiply," but here it is purely phonetic, contributing the sound "be" to form 阿倍 (Abe).

• 仲 (なか, naka): The first character of the given name. Its meaning is "middle" or "between." In this name it carries the sense of "middle" and is read as なか (naka).

• 麻 (ま, ma): The second character of the given name. Its meaning is "hemp" or "flax," but in this name it is used phonetically for the sound "ma." Hemp was a common crop in ancient Japan, and the character appears in many old names for its sound.

• 呂 (ろ, ro): The final character of the given name. Its meaning is "spine" or "backbone," but here it is phonetic, providing the sound "ro." Together, 麻呂 (まろ, maro) was a common suffix in ancient Japanese male names, originally meaning "I" or "me" as a first-person pronoun, and later used as an affectionate or respectful element in men's names.

The full name thus breaks down as: 阿倍 (Abe, the clan name, written phonetically) + 仲 (naka, "middle") + 麻呂 (maro, a male name suffix). The の (no) in the spoken form connects the clan name to the personal name, as was standard for aristocratic names of the period.

Legacy

Nakamaro's legacy survives in several forms. His waka is still memorized by Japanese schoolchildren, and his story of exile and longing resonates in a culture that has long valued the theme of nostalgia for home. The poem in the Hyakunin Isshu is one of the anthology's most anthologized pieces, and his name appears in countless textbooks and cultural references.

In China, he is remembered under his Chinese name Chao Heng (晁衡, read Chōkō in Japanese). Chinese historical records note his service and his friendship with the great Tang poets Li Bai and Wang Wei, both of whom wrote poems about him. When Nakamaro was believed drowned after the shipwreck of 753, Li Bai composed a mourning poem for him; Nakamaro's survival and return to Chang'an made the poem a famous near-elegy.

Modern scholarship has also taken an interest in his career as a case study in Tang administration and Japanese-Chinese relations. His rise to the post of duhu of Annan — a governor of a region that now includes parts of Vietnam — makes him a figure in the broader history of East and Southeast Asia, not merely of Japan. He remains a bridge figure: a Japanese who became Chinese, a poet who wrote in two languages, and a man who spent his life between two worlds without ever fully belonging to either.