Emperor Keitai Taming the Floods by Wan Li & Tang Zhuo, 134 x165cm, Oil on Canvas, 2020

      千百年来，大禹智慧勤劳、恭俭自律的形象流传到朝鲜半岛和日本，为当地人民所崇敬。从王仁传《论语》等到日本，成为日本的语言和人文教养的教材，其中提到的大禹形象就成为日本的楷模。直到今天，日本义务教育明文规定必须掌握2136个汉字。至此，日本开始融入汉字文明圈，儒家文化也得以在日本发扬光大。

      日本最早的禹王庙建于1228年，名古屋德川美术馆珍藏着1630年的禹王金像，全日本各地拥有165处尊崇大禹的多种实物痕迹。在大禹精神的感召下，由天皇亲自主导的治水工程始于1500年前。今日本福井县古时有一条名为九头龙川的大河，由于经年泛滥，民不聊生。此时，应神天皇的后人率民治水，克服重重困难获得成功，被拥戴为第26代天皇继位，史称继体天皇（450—531年）。

      画面展现了继体天皇怀揣对大禹的感激，手握记述大禹事迹的《论语·泰伯》篇，视察治理后的九头龙川河的情景。为了纪念继体天皇的治水伟业，人们在俯瞰九头龙川的山巅，竖立起一座巨大的石像，附近有祭祀继体天皇的足羽神社和刻有大禹为楷模的石碑。

   For thousands of years, the image of Yu the Great as a wise, industrious, thrifty, and self-disciplined man has spread to the Korean Peninsula and Japan, where it is revered by the local people. From the time when Wani spread the Confucian classics, including the Analects, to Japan, where they became textbooks for language learning and humanistic cultivating. Yu the Great thus became a glorious model for the Japanese people. To this day, compulsory education in Japan explicitly requires the mastery of 2,136 Chinese characters. This was the beginning of Japan’s integration into the Culture of the Sinographic World and the vigorous development of Confucianism in Japan.

   The earliest temple of King Yu in Japan was built in 1228. Now the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya holds a gold statue of King Yu dating from 1630. In addition, there are 165 various traces for worship the Yu the Great throughout Japan. Inspired by the spirit of the Yu the Great, the water control project directly led by the emperors themselves began 1,500 years ago. In the ancient times of present-day Fukui Prefecture, there was a large river called the Kuzuryūgawa River, which flooded over the years and made life unbearable for the people them. At this time, a descendant of Emperor Ōjin led the people to control the waters and succeeded against all odds, and were crowned as the 26th emperor, known as Emperor Keitai (450-531).

   The painting shows Emperor Keitai inspecting the Kuzuryūgawa River after its restoration, holding a copy of the book The Analects, Chapter Taibo of which recounts the deeds of Yu the great, in his hand, to show his very gratitude to this Legend. In order to commemorate Emperor Keitai’s great deeds of flood control, a huge stone statue was erected on the top of the mountain overlooking the Kuzuryūgawa River, and nearby is the Asuwa Shrine dedicated to Emperor Keitai and a stone monument inscribed with Yu the Great as a model.

“文化互译，沟通世界”