Pak Hŭijung

1423 mission to Japan

King Sejong dispatched a diplomatic mission to Japan in 1423. This embassy to court of Ashikaga Yoshinori was led by Pak Hŭijung.

The delegation from the Joseon court traveled to Kyoto in response to a message sent by the Japanese shogun; and also, the delegation was charged with conveying an offer to send a copy of a rare Buddhist text.

A diplomatic mission conventionally consisted of three primary figures—the main envoy, the vice-envoy, and a document official. Also included were one or more official writers or recorders who created a detailed account of the mission. In this instance, the vice-envoy was Yi Ye, who would return to Japan in 1432 as ambassador.

The Japanese hosts may have construed these mission as tending to confirm a Japanocentric world order. The Joseon diplomats were more narrowly focused in negotiating protocols for Joseon-Japan diplomatic relations.

Recognition in the West

Pak Hŭijung's historical significance was confirmed when his mission was specifically mentioned in a widely distributed history published by the Oriental Translation Fund in 1834.

In the West, early published accounts of the Joseon kingdom are not extensive, but they are found in Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (published in Paris in 1832), and in Nihon ōdai ichiran (published in Paris in 1834). Joseon foreign relations and diplomacy are explicitly referenced in the 1834 work.

Notes

References

• Daehwan, Noh. "The Eclectic Development of Neo-Confucianism and Statecraft from the 18th to the 19th Century," Korea Journal (Winter 2003).
• Kang, Etsuko Hae-jin . (1997). Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century. Basingstoke, Hampshire; Macmillan. ;
• Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/[Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 84067437
• Walraven, Boudewijn and Remco E. Breuker. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies; Essays in Honour of Boudewijn Walraven. Leiden: CNWS Publications. ;

References

1. Kang, Etsuko H. (1997). [https://books.google.com/books?id=4f0jnNzdRb4C&pg=PA275&dq= ''Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century,'' p. 275.]
2. Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon,'' p. 330.
3. Walraven, Boudewign ''et al.'' (2007). ''Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies,'' p. 362.
4. Kang, [https://books.google.com/books?id=4f0jnNzdRb4C&pg=PA72&dq= p. 72.]
5. Arano Yasunori (2005). [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=316361 "The Formation of A Japanocentric World Order,"] ''The International Journal of Asian Studies,'' vol. 2, pp 185-216.
6. Vos, Ken. [http://www.rmv.nl/publicaties/11Koreavroeg/e/accidentalacquisitions.pdf "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1,"] {{webarchive. link. (2012-06-22 p. 6.)