Yeo U-gil (1567-1632) 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 re ...

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 A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

, representing

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 ...

interests in the 1st

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 characteriz ...

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.

1607 mission to Japan

This embassy represented King

Seonjo of Joseon Seonjo of Joseon (26 November 1552 – 16 March 1608) was the fourteenth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea from 1567 to 1608. He was known for encouraging Confucianism and renovating state affairs at the beginning of his reign. However, politi ...

, traveling to Edo for an audience with Shogun

Tokugawa Hidetada was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate. Early life (1579–1593) Tokugawa Hidetada was bo ...

; and Yeo U-gil was the chief Joseon envoy. The diplomatic mission functioned to the advantage of both the Japanese and the Koreans as a channel for maintaining a political foundation for trade. This delegation was explicitly identified by the Joseon court as a "Reply and Prisoner Repatriation Envoy" (회답겸쇄환사, 回答兼刷還使). The mission was not understood to signify that relations were "normalized." A diplomatic mission conventionally consisted of three envoys—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 1607, Yeo U-gil was the main envoy and Kyŏng Sŏn was the vice-ambassador.Cox, Rupert A. (2007)
''The culture of copying in Japan: critical and historical perspectives,'' p. 108 n50.
/ref>

Notes

References

* Cox, Rupert A. (2007). ''The Culture of Copying in Japan: Critical and Historical Perspectives.'' 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, and ...

. * 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. ; * Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). ''Frontier contact between chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan.'' London:

. * Walker, Brett L
"Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay,"
''Early Modern Japan.'' Fall, 2002, pp. 44–62, 124-128. * 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. ;

External links

Joseon Tongsinsa Cultural Exchange Association 조선통신사연구 (''Journal of Studies in Joseon Tongsinsa'')
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yeo, U-gil 1567 births 1632 deaths 17th-century Korean people Korean diplomats Hamyang Yeo clan 17th-century Korean diplomats

1607 mission to Japan

See also

Notes

References

External links