It is recorded in the official history of Tang that their thirst for knowledge in particular was so insatiable that some people from Japan sold goods bestowed by the emperor and spent all the money to buy books to take back to Japan.
中でも知識に対する貪欲さはすさまじく、皇帝から下賜された品々を売り払って、その代価ですべて書籍を購入して積み帰ったと唐の正史に記されるほどであった。