The present paper aims at giving a wide-scale review and a detailed discussion of the Japanese and Chinese studies on the Timurid — Ming Chinese contacts. The reason for this choice of subject is twofold. Firstly, the study of the Timurid — Ming relations may not only be interesting for the scholars of this particular period in East- and Central Asia, but also for those who desire to obtain a better understanding about the history of the Sino — foreign relations in general. Secondly, while the Western literature of the subject provides studies on so-called “easy-to-read” languages (English, German, French, and Russian), related studies in the Chinese and Japanese literature have never been properly summarised and discussed together. Therefore, the present paper attempts to fill in this gap by providing a detailed review of the Japanese and Chinese studies in which the level of theorisation and approach to the Timurid — Ming Chinese relations will also be discussed, wherever possible.