Im Gwang (1579–1644) was a scholar-official of the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and r ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

. He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in the 4th

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

diplomatic mission to the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

in Japan.Toby, Ronald P. (1991). ''State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu,'' pp. 205-207; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon,'' p. 411; n.b., the name ''Nin kwô'' is a pre- Hepburn Japanese

transliteration Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus ''trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or L ...

and ''Jin kuang'' is a pre- McCune–Reischauer, Korean

romanization Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, a ...

devised by

Julius Klaproth Heinrich Julius Klaproth (11 October 1783 – 28 August 1835) was a German linguist, historian, ethnographer, author, orientalist and explorer. As a scholar, he is credited along with Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, with being instrumental in turni ...

and

Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat (5 September 1788 – 2 June 1832) was a French sinologist best known as the first Chair of Sinology at the Collège de France. Rémusat studied medicine as a young man, but his discovery of a Chinese herbal treatise ...

in 1834.

1636 mission to Japan

In 1636,

King Injo Injo of Joseon (7 December 1595 – 17 June 1649), born Yi Jong, was the sixteenth ruler of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He was the grandson of King Seonjo and son of Prince Jeongwon. He was the king during the Later Jin invasion of Joseon, ...

sent a mission to Japan led by Im Gwang.Titsingh, p. 411. This diplomatic mission functioned to the advantage of both the Japanese and the Koreans as a channel for developing a political foundation for trade. This delegation was explicitly identified by the Joseon court as a "Communication Envoy" (''tongsinsa''). The mission was understood to signify that relations were "normalized." According to the

Japanese calendar Japanese calendar types have included a range of official and unofficial systems. At present, Japan uses the Gregorian calendar together with year designations stating the year of the reign of the current Emperor. The written form starts with t ...

, the mission reached Japan in the 12th month of the 13th year of ''

Kan'ei was a after ''Genna'' and before ''Shōhō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1624 through December 1644. The reigning emperors and empress were , and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 411./ref> Chang ...

'' (1635). This mission to the court of Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu in Edo also encompassed a pilgrimage to the first shogun's mausoleum at

Nikkō is a city located in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,239 in 36,531 households, and a population density of 55 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is a popular destination for Japanese and ...

. The grand procession of the shogun and his entourage, which included the Joseon ambassador and his retinue, was recorded to have occurred in the 4th month of the 14th year of ''Kan'ei'', as reckoned according to the Japanese calendar.

Recognition in the West

Im Gwang's historical significance was confirmed when his mission and his name were 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 by Hayashi Shihei (1738–93) was published in Japan in 1785. This book represents one of the earliest attempts to define Japan in terms of its outer boundaries. It represented a modern effort to distinguish Japan from the neighboring nations. ...

'' (published in Paris in 1832),Vos, Ken
"Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1,"
p. 6. 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). * Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). ''Frontier contact between chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan.'' London:

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

. * Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). iyun-sai_Rin-siyo/Hayashi_Gahō,_1652.html" ;"title="Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652">Hayashi_Gahō.html" ;"title="iyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō">iyun-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
* Toby, Ronald P. (1991)
''State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu.''
Stanford: Stanford University Press. * Walker, Brett L
"Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay,"
''Early Modern Japan.'' Fall, 2002, pp. 44–62, 124-128.

External links

Joseon Tongsinsa Cultural Exchange Association 조선통신사연구 (''Journal of Studies in Joseon Tongsinsa'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Im, Gwang 1579 births 1644 deaths 17th-century Korean people Korean diplomats Pungcheon Im clan

1636 mission to Japan

Recognition in the West

See also

Notes

References

External links