The Gyehae Treaty was signed in 1443 ("gyehae" is the Korean name of the year in the

sexagenary cycle The sexagenary cycle, also known as the Stems-and-Branches or ganzhi ( zh, 干支, gānzhī), is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus a total of sixty years for one cycle, historically used for recording time in China and t ...

) between 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 ...

and

Sō Sadamori Sō, So or Sou (written: 宗 or 宋) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: * (born 1953), Japanese long-distance runner, twin brother of Takeshi * (born 1953), Japanese long-distance runner, twin brother of Shigeru * (1715 ...

as a means of controlling Japanese piracy and legitimizing trade between

Tsushima island is an island of the Japanese archipelago situated in-between the Tsushima Strait and Korea Strait, approximately halfway between Kyushu and the Korean Peninsula. The main island of Tsushima, once a single island, was divided into two in 167 ...

and three Korean ports. It is also called ; 1443 is the third year of the Kakitsu era in the Japanese calendar.

Precedents

Tsushima was then an important trade center. The private trade started between

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificat ...

, Tsushima, Iki, and Kyūshū, but halted during the

Mongol invasions of Japan Major military efforts were taken by Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty in 1274 and 1281 to conquer the Japanese archipelago after the submission of the Korean kingdom of Goryeo to vassaldom. Ultimately a failure, the invasion attempts are of m ...

between 1274 and 1281. The

Goryeosa The ''Goryeosa'' (), or ''History of Goryeo'', is the main surviving historical record of Korea's Goryeo dynasty. It was composed nearly a century after the fall of Goryeo, during the reign of King Sejong, undergoing repeated revisions between ...

, a history of the Goryeo dynasty, mentions that in 1274, an army of Mongol troops that included many Korean soldiers killed a great number of Japanese on the islands. Tsushima became one of the major bases of the

wokou ''Wokou'' (; Japanese: ''Wakō''; Korean: 왜구 ''Waegu''), which literally translates to "Japanese pirates" or "dwarf pirates", were pirates who raided the coastlines of China and Korea from the 13th century to the 16th century.

, Japanese pirates, also called ''wakō'', along with the Iki and Matsuura. Repeated pirate raids made the Goryeo dynasty and the subsequent

Joseon 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 re ...

dynasty at times placate the pirates by establishing trade agreements and negotiate with the Muromachi shogunate and its deputy in Kyūshū and at times use force to neutralize the pirates. In 1389, General

Pak Wi Pak or PAK may refer to: Places * Pakistan (country code PAK) * Pak, Afghanistan * Pak Island, in the Admiralty Islands group of Papua New Guinea * Pak Tea House, a café in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan Arts and entertainment * PAK (band), an Am ...

(朴威) of Goryeo attempted to clear the island of Wokou pirates, but uprisings in Korea forced him to return home. On June 19, 1419, the recently-abdicated King

Taejong of Joseon Taejong of Joseon (13 June 1367 – 8 June 1422), personal name Yi Bang-won ( Korean: 이방원; Hanja: 李芳遠), was the third ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea and the father of King Sejong the Great. Before ascending to the throne, he ...

sent General

Yi Jongmu Yi Jong-mu (1360–1425) was a Korean general who led the Oei Invasion of Tsushima Island in 1419. He was noted for leading a fleet of 227 ships and 17,285 soldiers which landed at the Tsushima Island in Aso Bay on June 19, 1419, which was met ...

to an expedition to Tsushima Island to clear it of the Wokou pirates, using a fleet of 227 vessels and 17,000 soldiers, known in Japanese as the

Ōei Invasion The , known as the Gihae Expedition ( (己亥東征)) or Conquest of Tsushima (대마도 정벌(對馬島征伐)) in Korean, was a 1419 invasion from Joseon against wokou (Japanese pirate) bases on Tsushima Island, which is located in the middle ...

. The Korean army returned to the Korean Peninsula on July 3, 1419, and Korea gave up occupation of Tsushima. In 1443, the Daimyo of Tsushima,

proposed a Gyehae treaty. The number of trade ships from Tsushima to Korea was decided by this treaty, and the Sō clan monopolized the trade with Korea.

Terms

This treaty was signed by Joseon dynasty king

Sejong the Great Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do (Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great (Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initial ...

and the Lord of Tsushima island in 1443. The ''

daimyō were powerful Japanese magnates, feudal lords who, from the 10th century to the early Meiji period in the middle 19th century, ruled most of Japan from their vast, hereditary land holdings. They were subordinate to the shogun and nominall ...

'' of the So clan of Tsushima island was granted rights to conduct trade with Korea in fifty ships per year, in exchange for receiving a substantial

stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work p ...

from the Korean government and aiding to stop any Japanese coastal pirate raids on Korean ports. The treaty was discarded by the revolt of the Sampo in 1510.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Japan–Korea relations History of the foreign relations of Japan Gyehae 1440s in Japan 1443 in Asia 15th century in Korea Gyehae

Precedents

Terms

See also

References