Yi Ye (; 1373–1445) was a nobleman and

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 ...

n civil minister and diplomat during the early

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 ...

. He served as an ambassador to the

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese Ashikaga shogunate and founded the Hakseong Yi

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

(). He is notable for having negotiated the release of 667 Korean captives from '' wokou'' pirates in over 15 diplomatic missions, and for facilitating bi-national cooperation with Japan.

Biography

Early years

Yi Ye was born to a '' chungin'' (middle-class) family of a minor official in 1373 in

Ulsan Ulsan (), officially the Ulsan Metropolitan City is South Korea's seventh-largest metropolitan city and the eighth-largest city overall, with a population of over 1.1 million inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of the country, neighboring ...

Gyeongsang Province Gyeongsang ( ko, 경상도, ''Gyeongsang-do''; ) was one of the eight provinces of Korea during the Joseon dynasty. Gyeongsang was located in the southeast of Korea. The provincial capital was Daegu. The region was the birthplace of the Kingd ...

during the last two decades of the

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 unificati ...

period. When he was eight years-old, his mother was kidnapped by the wokou. On January 1, 1397, around 3000 wokou raiders invaded Uljupo harbor () in southeastern Korea and captured the county governor, Yi Eun (). While other officials allegedly fled the attack, then-junior bureaucrat Yi Ye volunteered to join the captives in order to continue his duties to the governor. The pirates relocated the prisoners to

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 1671 b ...

, where Yi Ye learned the

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ma ...

from one of the soldiers. As a hostage, Yi persistently pleaded for the governor's release, and his display of loyalty impressed the pirates into agreeing to a mediation arranged by the Ashikaga shogunate. In February 1397, a Korean diplomatic goodwill mission, or ''

Joseon Tongsinsa The Joseon Tongsinsa were goodwill missions sent intermittently, at the request of the resident Japanese authority, by Joseon dynasty Korea to Japan. The Korean noun identifies a specific type of diplomatic delegation and its chief envoys. From ...

'', facilitated the safe return of the governor and Yi Ye. Yi's actions were commended by the Joseon royal court, which opened an opportunity for him to rise from a position of a local middle-class official to that of a central government diplomat with '' yangban'' status (merit-based aristocrat). Yi Ye eventually traveled back to Tsushima Island in 1400, after receiving permission by the royal court to join the diplomatic entourage of the envoy

Yun Myeong Yun Myeong (?-?) was a scholar-official of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in the 15th century. He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in a diplomatic mission to the Ashikaga shogunate in Japan. 1406 mission to Japan King ...

(). He attempted to locate the whereabouts of his mother during this visit, but was unsuccessful.

Diplomatic career

During the 1st year of King Taejong's reign in 1401, Yi received his first assignment as a delegate to Japan, where he would travel to

Iki Island , or the , is an archipelago in the Tsushima Strait, which is administered as the city of Iki in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The islands have a total area of with a total population of 28,008. Only four (4) of the twenty-three (23) named islands ...

to repatriate 50 Korean prisoners. Yi continued to commute yearly between the two nations in a diplomatic function to find and negotiate for release Korean captives such that about 500 were freed by 1410. On January 27, 1416, Yi was captured by pirates and was sent to the

Ryukyu Islands The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni ...

. He was able to return to Korea, but revisited Ryukyu in the same year to arrange for the freedom of 44 others by July 23. During the 18th and last year of King Taejong's reign in 1418, the death of Tsushima governor Sō Sadashige (宗貞茂) prompted the Joseon royal court to dispatch Yi on April 24 with gifts of condolences consisting of rice, beans, and papers. The significance of this gesture was to continue friendship between Joseon and the island's ruling

Sō clan were a Japanese clan claiming descent from Taira no Tomomori. Papinot, Jacques Edmond Joseph. (1906). ''Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie du Japon''; Papinot, (2003)"Toki," ''Nobiliare du Japon'', p. 56 retrieved 2013-5-10. The clan go ...

, such that the anti-piracy policies of the late Sadashige would continue to be enforced. However, power was soon seized from Sadashige's infant son Sadamori (宗貞盛) by pirate leader Soda Saemontaro, who resumed the plundering of Korean and Ming Chinese coasts. Taejong, who had just abdicated, but was still a military adviser to his successor,

King Sejong 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 ...

, favored a retaliatory offensive response, and Yi Ye subsequently advised the royal Joseon Navy in logistics during the invasion of Tsushima in 1419. During the 25th year of King Sejong's reign in 1443, a resurgence of wokou piracy prompted then 70-year-old Yi Ye to volunteer as an envoy to Tsushima one last time to return seven captives. By the end of his career, Yi had been dispatched to Japan over 40 times in ambassadorial function, and the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty records that he repatriated up to 667 Korean prisoners. To solidify a working foundation for diplomacy and trade between the two nations, Yi contributed to the negotiations for the Treaty of Gyehae () in 1443. Yi's efforts at cultural diplomacy also allowed an exchange of the Japanese-improved

watermill A watermill or water mill is a mill that uses hydropower. It is a structure that uses a water wheel or water turbine to drive a mechanical process such as milling (grinding), rolling, or hammering. Such processes are needed in the production of ...

and

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

for Korean Buddhist culture and

printing technology Printmaking is the process of creating artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand processed techniq ...

. A monument was dedicated to him at Entsuji Temple in Tsushima city to honor his commitment to a peaceful bilateral coexistence.

Legacy

In 1910, Emperor Yunghui of Joseon bestowed the posthumous name of Chung-suk to Yi Ye for his achievements. In 2005, the

South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is a central government agency responsible for the areas of tourism, culture, art, religion, and sports. It has two vice ministers, three assistant ministers, one commission, and ...

designated Yi Ye to be the culture figure of the month of February, and in 2010, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade recognized him that year as a prominent diplomatic figure in Korean history. In 2011, lawyer Noriyuki Kanazumi wrote a novel titled ''Yi Ye, the First Joseon Tongsinsa'' and dedicated it to the Seokgye Confucian Memorial Hall in Ulju county, Ulsan. On June 1, 2013, a Korean-Japanese collaboration documentary titled "Yi Ye" directed by Hiroaki Inui was released in Tokyo cinema. It starred

Yoon Tae-young Yoon Tae-young (born October 3, 1974) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for starring in television dramas, notably fantasy epic '' The Legend'' (2007) and sports drama/romance ''Strike Love'' (2009). Personal life Yoon married actress Im ...

as Yi Ye and was narrated by Etsuko Komiya.

References

External links