The Joseon Tongsinsa (Korean:조선통신사) were goodwill missions sent intermittently,at the request of the resident Japanese authority,by Joseon dynastyKorea to Japan. The Korean noun identifies a specific type of diplomatic delegation and its chief envoys. From the Joseon diplomatic perspective,the formal description of a mission as a tongsinsa signified that relations were largely "normalized," as opposed to missions that were not called tongsinsa.[1]
Diplomatic envoys were sent to the Muromachi shogunate and to Toyotomi Hideyoshi between 1392 and 1590. Similar missions were dispatched to the Tokugawa shogunate in Japan between 1607 and 1811.[2] After the 1811 mission,another mission was prepared,but it was delayed four times and ultimately cancelled due to domestic turmoil in Japan that resulted in the establishment of the Meiji Restoration in Japan,after which Japanese relations with Korea took a markedly different tone.
History
Starting in 1392 (the establishment of the Joseon dynasty in Korea),many diplomatic missions were sent from the Joseon court to Japan. At least 70 envoys were dispatched to Kyoto and Osaka before the beginning of Japan's Edo period.[3] The formal arrival of serial missions from Korea to Japan were considered important affairs and these events were widely noted and recorded.
Only the largest formal diplomatic missions sent by the Joseon court to Japan were called tongsinsa in Korean. The term tongsinsa may be misused to refer to the practice of unilateral relations,not the international relations of mutual Joseon-Japanese contacts and communication.[4] Up through the end of the 16th century,four embassies to Japan were called "communication envoys" or tongsinsa –in 1428,1439,1443 and 1590. After 1607,nine tonsingsa missions were sent to Japan up through 1811.[5]
The unique pattern of these diplomatic exchanges evolved from models established by the Chinese,but without denoting any predetermined relationship to China or to the Chinese world order.[6]
In the Edo period of Japanese history,these diplomatic missions were construed as benefiting the Japanese as legitimizing propaganda for the bakufu (Tokugawa shogunate) and as a key element in an emerging manifestation of Japan's ideal vision of the structure of an international order with Edo as its center.[7]
Impression of Joseon Tongsinsa mission in Japan –attributed to a Kanōschool artist,circa 1655
After the Japanese invasion of the Korean peninsula (1592–1598) severed diplomatic relations,a new phase of diplomatic relations had to be initiated. The formal embassies were preceded by preliminary negotiations which began in 1600,shortly after news of the Toyotomi defeat at the Battle of Sekigahara was received by the Joseon Court.
As an initial gesture in a process of re-establishing diplomatic relations and as an earnest gesture toward future progress,some Joseon prisoners were released at Tsushima Island. In response,a small group of messengers under the leadership of Yu Jeong were sent to Kyoto to investigate further. With the assistance of SōYoshitomo,an audience with Tokugawa Ieyasu was arranged at Fushimi Castle in Kyoto.[8] In 1604,Yu Jeong confirmed the Joseon interest in further developing relations;the Tokugawa shōgun reciprocated by releasing 1,390 prisoners-of-war.[9]
15th–16th century diplomatic ventures
In the 15th and 16th centuries,the Joseon court labeled four large-scale diplomatic missions to Japan as "communication envoys" or tongsinsa –in 1428,1439,1443 and 1590.[5]
In Japan's Muromachi period (1336–1573) and Azuchi–Momoyama period (1568–1603),these Joseon-Japanese diplomatic contacts were considered important events.
Diplomatic relations were severed in 1592 when Japanese armies invaded Joseon on Hideyoshi's orders. The ruptured bilateral relations were not restored immediately after the death of Hideyoshi in 1598,but following Hideyoshi's death the invading forces were withdrawn from Japanese-occupied positions on the Korean Peninsula.[13]
17th–19th century diplomatic ventures
In the 17th,18th and 19th centuries,the Joseon leaders sent twelve large-scale delegations to Japan,but not all were construed as "tongsinsa" envoys. The embassies consisted of 400 to 500 delegates;and these missions arguably contributed to the political and cultural development of Japan in addition to the range of ways in which bi-lateral relations were affected.[2]
The 1607,1617 and 1624 delegations were explicitly identified by the Joseon court as "Reply and Prisoner Repatriation Envoys," which were construed as less formal than a tongsinsa or "communication envoy." The term "tongsinsa" signified that diplomatic relations were under "normalized" conditions,[14] suggesting that these first three delegations after the severance of relations in 1592 were not under "normalized" conditions. It was not until the 1636 delegation that the term tongsinsa was used again by the Joseon court.[15]
Unlike the missions during the early Joseon era,Japan did not dispatch military commanders to greet the later Joseon missions,and only Joseon dispatched missions to Japan. However,this was not because diplomatic relations were unilateral or favored Japan –after Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea,Japanese envoys were forbidden by the Joseon court from traveling to Seoul,and Japanese missions to Korea were halted at the Japanese residence in Busan (during the invasions,the Japanese invading armies had taken the route used previously by Japanese missions to Seoul from Busan);in addition,the cost of dispatching these missions was shouldered in their entirety by the shogunate in Japan (which,in the context of the three "communication" missions that served to normalize relations between Korea and Japan after 1598,seems equitable),which by some estimates equaled the annual budget of the shogunate in cost.[15]
In Japan's Edo period (1603–1868),the Joseon-Japanese diplomatic contacts were considered significant events,with the exception of the 1811 delegation. The Joseon monarch's ambassador and retinue traveled only as far as Tsushima. The representatives of shōgunIenari met the mission on the island which is located in the middle of the Korea Strait between the Korean Peninsula and Kyushu.[16] After the 1811 mission,another mission was prepared,but it was delayed four times and ultimately cancelled due to domestic turmoil in Japan that resulted in the establishment of the Meiji Restoration in Japan.[15]
Congratulations on succession of shōgun Ienari.[33]
‡ The 1811 tongsinsa was incomplete;the delegation did not travel beyond Tsushima,where the Joseon envoys were met by representatives of the shogunate.
↑ Walraven, Boudewijn et al. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies, p. 361; Titsingh, p. 413; n.b., the name Tcho ying is a pre-Hepburn Japanese transliteration and Tchao hing is a pre-McCune–Reischauer Korean romanization devised by Klaproth et al. in 1834.
↑ Kim, Tae-Jun. (2006). Korean Travel Literature. p. 119; Walraven, p. 361; Titsingh, p. 416; n.b., the name Tota Yokf is a pre-Hepburn Japanese transliteration and Tchao ta ỹ is a pre-McCune–Reischauer Korean romanization devised by Klaproth et al. in 1834.
↑ Walraven, p. 361; Titsingh, p. 417; n.b., the name Kô tsi tsiou is a pre-Hepburn Japanese transliteration and Hong tschi tchoung is a pre-McCune–Reischauer Korean romanization devised by Klaproth et al. in 1834.
↑ Walraven, p. 361; Titsingh, p. 418; n.b., the name Tcho ying is a pre-Hepburn Japanese transliteration and Tchao hing is a pre-McCune–Reischauer Korean romanization devised by Klaproth et al. in 1834.
↑ Northeast Asia History Foundation: Korea-Japan relationsArchived 28 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine citing Bongsa ilbon si mun gyeonnik (Observation of the Janpanese Culture) by Jo Myeong-chae; Susa illok (Daily Records of Observations) by Hong Gyeong-hae; and Ilbon ilgi (Diary in Japan) by an unidentified writer.
Over the course of Japan's Edo period, the Ryūkyū Kingdom sent eighteen missions to Edo, the capital of Tokugawa Japan. The unique pattern of these diplomatic exchanges evolved from models established by the Chinese, but without denoting any predetermined relationship to China or to the Chinese world order. The Kingdom became a vassal to the Japanese feudal domain (han) of Satsuma following Satsuma's 1609 invasion of Ryūkyū, and as such were expected to pay tribute to the shogunate; the missions also served as a great source of prestige for Satsuma, the only han to claim any foreign polity, let alone a kingdom, as its vassal.
Yun Sunji was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period in the 17th century.
Im Gwang was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period.
Jeong Rip (1574–1629) was a scholar-official of the Joseon Dynasty Korea.
O Yun-gyeom (1559–1636) was a Korean scholar-official and Chief State Councillor of the Joseon period.
Kim Igyo was a scholar-official and Uuijeong of the Joseon dynasty Korea.
Hong Gye-hui was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period in the 18th century.
Yeo U-gil was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period.
Yun Jiwan (1635–1718) was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Jo Hyeong was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period, in the 17th century.
Hwang Yun-gil, also known as Hwang Yun'gil, was a Korean diplomat and ambassador of the Joseon period. He was a member of the Western faction in the Joseon court. He represented Joseon interests in a tongsinsa to Sengoku period in Japan when it was controlled by strongman Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
Byeon Hyo-mun (1396–?) was a Korean civil minister (munsin) from the Chogye Byeon clan during the early period of Korean Joseon Dynasty. He briefly served as a diplomat and an ambassador, representing Joseon interests in the Tongsinsa to the Ashikaga shogunate in Japan.
Jo Tae-eok, also known as Cho T'aeŏk, was an 18th-century Korean scholar-official and Jwauijeong of the Joseon period.
Hong Chi-jung (1667–1732) was a scholar-official and Prime Minister of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in the 18th century from 1729 to 1732.
Song Hui-gyeong was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period in the 15th century.
Yang Su was a Korean diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in a diplomatic mission to the Ashikaga shogunate in Japan.
Joseon missions to Japan represent a crucial aspect of the international relations of mutual Joseon-Japanese contacts and communication. In sum, these serial diplomatic ventures illustrate the persistence of Joseon's kyorin diplomacy from 1392 to 1910.
Pak Hŭi-chung was a scholar-official of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in 14th and 15th centuries.
Hwang Sin was a Korean officer of the Joseon period; in the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1588, Hwang placed first in the final civil service examination (Mungwa).
Joseon diplomacy was the foreign policy of the Joseon dynasty of Korea from 1392 through 1910; and its theoretical and functional foundations were rooted in Neo-Confucian scholar-bureaucrats, institutions and philosophy.
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