noun
the barbarians beyond the borders of old China
A historical yojijukugo referring collectively to non-Chinese peoples in the four cardinal directions as perceived in ancient Chinese cosmology. Rare in modern Japanese outside historical or literary contexts.
夷蛮戎狄という言葉は、古代中国の世界観を反映している。
The term 夷蛮戎狄 reflects the worldview of ancient China.
From Chinese 夷蛮戎狄, a compound of four characters each designating a non-Chinese ethnic group in one of the four directions: 夷 (eastern), 蛮 (southern), 戎 (western), 狄 (northern).