The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China

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The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China Page 75

by Samuel Hawley


  [713] Etsuko Hae-jin Kang, 108.

  [714] Jon Carter Covell and Alan Covell, Korean Impact on Japanese Culture. Japan’s Hidden History (Elizabeth, N.J.: Hollym, 1984), 106-109.

  [715] Peter Lee, The Record of the Black Dragon Year (Seoul: Institute of Korean Culture, Korea University, 2000), 38-40. No In’s account of his experiences is titled Kumgye ilgi (Diary of Kumgye). “Kumgye” was No’s pen name.

  [716] Ibid., 41-42. Chong Hui-duk wrote of his captivity in Wolbong haesang nok (Record of Wolbong’s Sea Voyage). “Wolbong” was Chong’s pen name.

  [717] See for example Kim Ha-tai, “The Transmission of Neo-Confucianism to Japan by Kang Hang, a Prisoner of War,” Transactions of the Korea Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 37 (1961): 83-103.

  [718] Lee, Black Dragon Year, 40-41 and 53-54; Estuko Hae-jin Kang, 111-125.

  [719] Francesco Carletti, My Voyage Around the World, trans. Herbert Weinstock (New York: Pantheon, 1964), 115. Weinstock’s translation, which refers to the Korean simply as Antonio, is based on a manuscript copy of Carletti’s account that Italian scholars now believe is “closer to the lost original than the 1701 [published] edition or the later versions derived from it” (xiv). The 1701 and 1878 editions refer to the Korean as Antonio Corea (Francesco Carletti, Ragionamenti di Francesco Carletti [Firenze: Nella Stamperia di Giuseppe Manni, 1701], Second Account, 40; Francesco Carletti, Viaggi di Francesco Carletti da lui raccontati in dodici ragionamenti [Firenze: G. Barbera, 1878], 198).

  [720] “I ‘Korea chipsongchon’ hu-e Antonio-si moguk pangmun,” Pusan maeil shinmun, Nov. 30, 1992.

  [721] Cho Chung-hwa, Dashi ssunun, 197. A second piece of evidence sometimes cited of Korean Imjin War captives in Europe is a charcoal drawing by the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) depicting a young man clad in distinctive Korean garb from the mid-Choson dynasty. It currently hangs in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu, California, above the title “Korean Man.” It has been suggested that the man in the drawing may even be Antonio Corea himself, who could have conceivably crossed paths with Rubens during the artist’s eight-year stay in Italy from 1600 to 1608. This is unlikely, as Rubens is believed to have done the drawing in Antwerp in 1617. A more plausible explanation is that the man in the drawing is not Korean at all, but rather a Jesuit missionary, or perhaps one of Rubens’ assistants, modeling the costume of a foreign land in which the Society of Jesus had hopes of proselytizing. This interpretation is supported by the following facts. First, the outfit worn by the man in the drawing appears to be a chollik, a long coat worn by yangban noblemen during the Choson dynasty—definitely not a garment for the lower classes who comprised the vast majority of Imjin War captives. (In any case the garment would have long since worn out by 1617.) Second, the Jesuits are known to have taken examples back to Europe of the native garb of those countries where they worked or hoped to work. In 1617 Rubens made a drawing of the priest Nicolas Trigault clad in one such costume, a Chinese robe and what appears to be a Korean hat (“Portrait of Nicolas Trigault S.J. in Chinese Costume,” Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The artist drew his “Korean Man” at roughly the same time, possibly using an outfit provided by Trigault, as a study for an Asian figure in his later painting “The Miracles of St. Francis Xavier” (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).

  [722] Also known as Asano Nagayoshi.

  [723] Keinen, Chosen nichinichi ki, in Turnbull, Samurai Invasion, 205.

  [724] Ibid., 206-207; Keinen, “Chosen nichinichi ki,” in Saryoro bonun, 254; Griffis, Corea, 137. Keinen notes that the abandonment of Japanese peasants was a violation of Hideyoshi’s order that no laborers should be left behind in Korea.

  [725] Yang Jae-suk, Imjin waeran, 351; Griffis, Corea, 137.

  [726] Elisonas, “Trinity,” 292.

  [727] According to Cho Chung-hwa, Dashi ssunun, 121-122, this name change was made by the government-sponsored scholar Hayashi Rasan (1583-1657) in the early years of the Tokugawa era.

  [728] Berry, 233.

  [729] Toyotomi Hideyoshi to Chunagon-sama (Hideyori), 20/(4~8)/Keicho 3 (sometime between May and Sept., 1598), in Boscaro, Letters, 73.

  [730] Sonjo sillok, vol. 22, 261 (21/10/Sonjo 30; Nov. 29, 1597).

  [731] Ibid., vol. 23, 52 (4/12/Sonjo 30; Jan. 10, 1598).

  [732] Yi Hyong-sok, vol. 2,1043.

  [733] Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 130 (11/Sonjo 30; Dec. 1597).

  [734] Elison, “Keinen,” 35.

  [735] Matsui monogatari and Kiyomasa Korai no jin oboegaki, in Turnbull, Samurai Invasion, 213.

  [736] Elison, “Keinen,” 35-36.

  [737] Sonjo sillok, vol. 23, 116-117 (3/1/Sonjo 31; Feb. 8, 1598).

  [738] Okochi Hidemoto, “Chosen ki,” in Saryoro bonun, 260-261.

  [739] Yu Song-nyong, 223.

  [740] Sonjo sillok, vol. 23, 135-136 (14/1/Sonjo 31; Feb. 19, 1598).

  [741] This account of the Battle of Tosan is derived from Sonjo sillok, vol. 23, 100-138 passim (28/12/Sonjo 30 to 16/1/Sonjo 31; Feb. 3-21, 1598); Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 130-131 (12/Sonjo 30; Jan. 1598); Yu Song-nyong, 222-224; Yang Jae-suk, Imjin waeran, 350-353; Yi Hyong-sok, vol. 2, 1045-1046; Griffis, Corea, 137-144; Hulbert, vol. 2, 35-37; Goodrich, vol. 1, 170.

  [742] Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 93, n. 29.

  [743] Asano Yukinaga (also called Yoshinaga) to Asano Nagamasa, 11/1/Keicho 3 (Feb. 16, 1598), in Brown, 241.

  [744] Elison, “Keinen,” 26-27.

  [745] Ibid., 38.

  [746] Griffis, Corea, 143.

  Chapter 28: “Even Osaka Castle is only a dream”

  [747] Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 133 (2/Sonjo 31; Mar. 1598); Goodrich, vol. 1, 170.

  [748] Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 86-87.

  [749] Letter from Ukita Hideie and twelve other daimyo to Hideyoshi’s representatives Ishida Mitsunari, Natsuka Masaie, Mashita Uemon, and Maeda Gen’i, 26/1/Keicho 3 (Mar. 3, 1598), Elisonas, “Trinity,” 287, footnote 75.

  [750] Yi Hyong-sok, vol. 2, 1726 (Yi also lists a secondary 1,000-man unit at Pusan under Terazawa Masanori); Turnbull, Samurai Invasion, 217; Berry, 233; Murdoch, 357.

  [751] Yi Pun, 230; Sonjo sillok, vol. 22, 254 (20/10/Sonjo 30; Nov. 28, 1597); Diary entry for 16/11/Chongyu (Dec. 24, 1597), Yi Sun-sin, Nanjung ilgi, 330.

  [752] Sonjo sillok, vol. 23, 279-280 (18/3/Sonjo 31; April 23, 1598).

  [753] Ibid., vol. 24, 5-6 (3/4/Sonjo 31; May 7, 1598).

  [754] Yi Sun-sin’s report to Seoul, ibid., vol. 23, 279-280 (18/3/Sonjo 31; April 23, 1598).

  [755] Yu Song-nyong, 217-218.

  [756] Yi gives little information in his war diary of what shipbuilding activity was going on under his command, but it is clear that work was taking place, for in his entry on 10/12/Chongyu (Jan. 16, 1598) he mentions that “I went to the shipbuilding yard,” and on 2/1/Musul (Feb. 7, 1598) that “At dawn a new warship was completed” (Yi Sun-sin, Nanjung ilgi, 333 and 337).

  [757] Sonjo sillok, vol. 23, 235 (22/2/Sonjo 31; Mar. 28, 1598).

  [758] Ibid., vol. 23, 305 (29/3/Sonjo 31; May 4, 1598); Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 133 (3/Sonjo 31; April-May, 1598).

  [759] Goodrich, vol. 1, 169-170.

  [760] Huang, “Lung-ch’ing,” 573.

  [761] Goodrich, vol. 1, 167-169.

  [762] Sonjo sillok, vol. 24, 7-9 (5-6/4/Sonjo 31; May 9-10, 1598); Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 136 (6/Sonjo 31; July, 1598).

  [763] Yi Pun, 232; Yang Jae-suk, Imjin waeran, 357.

  [764] Sonjo sillok, vol. 23, 303-304 (27 and 29/3/Sonjo 31; May 2 and 4, 1598).

  [765] Hideyoshi to Gomoji, 17/6/Keicho 3 (July 20, 1598), in Boscaro, Letters, 76.

  [766] Berry, 234.

  [767] Oath of loyalty dated 15/7/Keicho 3 (Aug. 16, 1598), ibid., 234-235.

  [768] Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 136 (6/Sonjo 31; July 1598).

  [769] Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 87-90; Huang, “Lung-ch’ing,” 573; Hulbert, vol. 2, 39.

  [770] Goodrich, vol. 2, 964- 965.

&nbs
p; [771] Sonjo sillok, vol. 24, 209-210 (28/6/Sonjo 31; July 30, 1598).

  [772] Ibid., vol. 24, 222-223 (3/7/Sonjo 31; Aug. 4, 1598).

  [773] Ibid., vol. 24, 210 (28/6/Sonjo 31; July 30, 1598).

  [774] Yu Song-nyong, 218.

  [775] Yi Pun, 232-233; Sonjo sillok, vol. 24, 314 (13/8/Sonjo 31; Sept. 13, 1598).

  [776] Yi Pun, 233-234; Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 103 (5/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 3, 1598); Jho Sung-do, 208-210; Park Yune-hee, 228-230.

  [777] Hideyoshi to Ieyasu, Chikuzen, Terumoto, Kagekatsu, and Hideie, 5/8/Keicho 3 (Sept. 5, 1598), in Boscaro, Letters, 77.

  [778] Ibid., 77-78. An alternate translation in Berry, 235, reads, “My life / Came like dew / Disappears like dew. / All of Naniwa / Is dream after dream.”

  Chapter 29: The Last Act

  [779] Sonjo sillok, vol. 24, 248-249 (11/7/Sonjo 31; Aug. 12, 1598); Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 140 (7/Sonjo 31; Aug. 1598).

  [780] Goodrich, vol. 2, 1451-1452; Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 158 (10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 1598); Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 182 (25/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 22, 1598).

  [781] The Five Regents (go-tairo) were Tokugawa Ieyasu, Maeda Toshiie, Mori Terumoto, Uesugi Kagekatsu, and Ukita Hideie. The Five Commissioners (go-bugyo) ranked just below them were Ishida Mitsunari, Natsuka Masaie, Mashita Nagamori, Asano Nagamasa, and Maeda Gen’i.

  [782] Letter from the Five Commissioners to Nabeshima Naoshige, 25/8/Keicho 3 (Sept. 25, 1598); letter from Mashita Nagamori (one of the Five Commissioners) to Shimazu Yoshihiro, same date, in Elisonas, “Trinity,” 288.

  [783] Ibid., 288-289.

  [784] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 120-121 (12/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 10, 1598); Yang Jae-suk, Dashi ssunun, vol. 2, 242-243; Goodrich, vol. 1, 171, and vol. 2, 966; Yang Jae-suk, Imjin waeran, 356.

  [785] Yang Jae-suk, Imjin waeran, 357.

  [786] Goodrich, vol. 1, 170.

  [787] Sonjo sillok, vol. 24, 305 (9/8/Sonjo 31; Sept. 9, 1598).

  [788] Ibid., vol. 24, 329 (24/8/Sonjo 31; Sept. 24, 1598).

  [789] Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 87 and 91-93.

  [790] Ibid., 94.

  [791] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 32 (21/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 20, 1598).

  [792] Ibid., vol. 25, 33-35 (21/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 20, 1598).

  [793] Ibid., vol. 25, 39 (22/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 21, 1598).

  [794] Ibid., vol. 25, 60 (25/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 24, 1598); Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 100-101.

  [795] Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 103-104.

  [796] Ibid., 112-114.

  [797] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 73 (27/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 26, 1598) and 89 (30/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 29, 1598); Yi Hyong-sok, vol. 2, 1086.

  [798] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 95 (2/10/Sonjo 31; Oct. 31, 1598) and 103 (4/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 2, 1598).

  [799] Ibid., vol. 25, 120 (12/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 10, 1598).

  [800] Seikan roku, in Turnbull, Samurai Invasion, 220.

  [801] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 125 (16/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 14, 1598); Murdoch, 358; Hulbert, vol. 2, 46; Turnbull, Samurai Sourcebook, 249-250.

  [802] This figure of 38,700 is referred to in a letter of appreciation sent from the Five Regents (Tokugawa Ieyasu and others) to Shimazu Yoshihiro, 9/1/Keicho 4 (Feb. 4, 1599), in Cho Chung-hwa, Paro chapun, 164.

  [803] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 114 (8/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 6, 1598) and 116 (10/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 8, 1598).

  [804] Ibid., vol. 25, 125 (16/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 14, 1598).

  [805] Sin Heum, “Sangchonjip,” in Saryoro bonun, 265.

  [806] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 13 (7/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 6, 1598).

  [807] Ibid., vol. 25, 69 (26/9/Sonjo 31; Oct. 25, 1598); Hulbert, vol. 2, 47.

  [808] Diary entries for 20-22/9/Musul (Oct. 19-21, 1598), Yi Sun-sin, Nanjung ilgi, 338-339.

  [809] Diary entry for 3/10/Musul (Nov. 1, 1598), ibid., 340-341; Report from Commander-in-Chief Kwon Yul in Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 116 (10/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 8, 1598); Report from Yi Sun-sin in Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 122 (13/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 11, 1598); Sin Heum, “Sangchonjip,” in Saryoro bonun, 268; Jho Sung-do, 215-216; Goodrich, vol. 1, 171; Turnbull, Samurai Invasion, 224-225.

  [810] Report from Yi Dok-hyong in Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 119-120 (12/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 10, 1598); Sim Heum, “Sangchonjip,” in Saryoro bonun, 268-269.

  [811] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 120 (12/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 10, 1598); diary entry for 6/10/Musul (Nov. 4, 1598), Yi Sun-sin, Nanjung ilgi, 341.

  [812] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 96 (2/10/Sonjo 31; Oct. 31, 1598) and 128 (20/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 18, 1598); Goodrich, vol. 1, 171.

  [813] The Wanli emperor’s imperial edict, in Kuno, vol. 1, 172-173.

  [814] According to Aston, 61, news of Hideyoshi’s death on September 18, 1598 reached his commanders in Korea a week after the Battle of Sachon, in other words in early November.

  [815] Sansom, 389.

  [816] Goodrich, vol. 1, 171.

  [817] Ibid., vol. 2, 968.

  [818] Diary entries for 8-13/11/Musul (Dec. 5-10, 1598), Yi Sun-sin, Nanjung ilgi, 342.

  [819] Jho Sung-do, 218-219.

  [820] Yi Pun, 235-236; Park Yune-hee, 238-240; Jho Sung-do, 219-221.

  [821] Ahn Bang-jun, “Noryang kisa,” in Saryoro bonun, 272-273.

  [822] The figure of three hundred Japanese ships is given by Korean government minister Yi Dok-hyong, who was at Sunchon with General Liu Ting at the time and thus near the scene of the battle, in the report that he sent to Seoul just days after the event (Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 187-188 [27/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 24, 1598]). Yi Hyong-sok, vol. 2, 1117-1118, gives the higher figure of five hundred ships, manned by 12,000 troops.

  [823] Yang Jae-suk, Dashi ssunun, vol. 2, 256 and 259-260; Goodrich, vol. 1, 173-174.

  [824] Dividing the number of men in Shimazu’s fleet (12,000) by the number of his ships (300) gives an average of 40 men per ship, suggesting that many of the Japanese vessels in the Noryang battle must have been quite small.

  [825] Sin Kyong, “Chaejobonbangji,” in Saryoro bonun, 273-274; Goodrich, vol. 1, 172.

  [826] Jho Sung-do, 224.

  [827] Cho Chung-hwa, Paro chapun, 174.

  [828] Ahn Bang-jun, “Noryang kisa,” in Saryoro bonun, 275-276.

  [829] Yi Pun, 237-238; Yu Song-nyong, 225; Sonjo sujong sillok, vol. 4, 159-160 (11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 1598); Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 187-188 (27/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 24, 1598); Park Yune-hee, 243-246; Jho Sung-do, 224-228; Yang Jae-suk, Dashi ssunun, 259-262.

  [830] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 187-188 (27/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 24, 1598).

  [831] Ibid., vol. 25, 182 (24/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 21, 1598).

  [832] Ibid., vol. 25, 178-179 (21/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 18, 1598); Turnbull, Samurai Invasion, 227.

  [833] Sonjo sillok, vol. 25, 184 (25/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 22, 1598) and 189 (28/11/Sonjo 31; Dec. 25, 1598).

  [834] Elisonas, “Trinity,” 290.

  [835] Goodrich, vol. 1, 172.

  [836] Yi Pun, 238-241; Yu Song-nyong, 226; Jho Sung-do, 230-232.

  [837] Sonjo sillok, vol. 24, 57 (22/4/Sonjo 31; May 26, 1598).

  [838] Ibid., vol. 25, 112-114 (7-8/10/Sonjo 31; Nov. 5-6, 1598).

  [839] Bacon, “Chingbirok,” 9.

  [840] Hulbert, vol. 2, 45.

  [841] Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 114.

  [842] Goodrich, vol. 1, 172 and vol. 2, 967-968; Huang, “Lung-ch’ing,” 583.

  [843] Arthur Hummel, ed., Eminent Chinese of the Ch’ing Period (Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1943), 885-886; Ledyard, “Confucianism,” 112-113.

  [844] Bito Masahide, “Thought and Religion, 1550-1700,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 4, Early Modern Japan, ed. John Whitney Hall (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 393-395.

  PART 6: AFTERMATH

  [845] Kim Jong-gil, Slow Chrysanthemums. Classical Korean Poems in Chinese (London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1987), 79.

  Chapter 30: What Came Next

  [846] Movable type from Korea would remain in widespread use in Japan only until about 1625. Thereafter, as the Japanese publishing industry be
came increasingly commercial, publishers returned to the cheaper method of printing from carved wood blocks. According to modern research, eighty percent of the books published between 1593 and 1625 were printed with movable type. This figure fell to twenty percent between 1625 and 1650, and thereafter to nearly zero (Donald Shively, “Popular Culture,” in The Cambridge History of Japan, vol. 4, Early Modern Japan, ed. John Whitney Hall [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991], 726-727).

  [847] Etsuko Hae-jin Kang, 107-108; Tennant, 176.

  [848] Kuno, vol. 1, 173-174.

  [849] Tony Michell, “Fact and Hypothesis in Yi Dynasty Economic History: The Demographic Dimension,” Korean Studies Forum 6 (Winter-Spring 1979/1980): 77-79; Palais, Confucian Statecraft, 366. By way of comparison, some one million Korean civilians died as a result of the Korean War of 1950-53.

  [850] Palais, Confucian Statecraft, 104. “In the mid-fifteen century households held parcels of land measured in kyol, not really a measure of land area but a constant measure of crop yield produced by an area that varied from 2.25 to 9.0 acres, depending on the fertility of the land” (ibid., 105-106).

  [851] Reconstruction of Kyongbok Palace would not begin until 1865. Until then the kings of Choson Korea resided at the smaller subsidiary palace of Changdok (Clark and Clark, 75).

  [852] James Palais, “A Search for Korean Uniqueness,” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 55, no. 2 (Dec. 1995): 415.

  [853] Peter Lee, Sourcebook, vol. 1, 179.

  [854] Edwin Reischauer and John Fairbank, East Asia: The Great Tradition (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1960), 332-333. (1 tael = 1.3 ounces, or 36.855 grams.)

  [855] Jacques Gernet, A History of Chinese Civilization, trans. J. R. Foster (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), 431.

  [856] Gale, History, 275-276.

  [857] “Fengshi Riben jilue (Brief Account of an Ambassadorial Mission to Japan),” in Voices from the Ming-Qing Cataclysm, trans. and ed. Lynn Struve (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1993), 114-121.

  [858] Charles Hucker, China’s Imperial Past (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1975), 295.

  [859] Yi Pyong-gyu, Ilsongnokm quoted in James Palais, Politics and Policy in Traditional Korea (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1975), 229-230.

 

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