The Ideological Background of the “Four Barbarians (四夷)” Inscriptions on the Bronze Mirrors of the Lelang Commandery

This article analyzes the emergence and ideological background of particular inscriptions frequently found on Han-style bronze mirrors, including those excavated from the Lelang Commandery, which begins with the phrase “Submission of the Four Barbarians (四夷服).” Provisionally termed the “Sayi inscription” in this study, this form follows a fixed pattern and first appeared in the late Western Han, continuing into the Eastern Han period. More than 500 examples of mirrors with this form of inscription have been identified, including five from the Lelang Commandery.<br/> The paper furthre argues that the inscription reflects the thoery of calamity (災異論), which had been emphasized since Dong Zhongshu in the early Western Han. Its immediate textual source can be traced to Jiuqupian (急就篇), compiled in the late Western Han. During Wang Mang’s Xin dynasty period, when political agendas or propagandas were actively inscribed into mirror texts, the format of this inscript was likely composed in the form consisting of phrases each seven Chinese characters in length.<br/> Although the original version of the inscription provided under the Xin dynasty was used the subsequent dynasties as well, because its themes contained broadly shared values, such as the subjugation of “foreign barbarians,” the fear of calamity and famine, and the wish for the people’s welfare. As a result, this inscription form continued to be used on bronze mirrors for an extended period, eventually exported to regions such as the Lelang Commandery and Japan.