Yun Sunji (1591–1666) 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 in the 17th century. He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in the 5th

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 Japan.Toby, Ronald P. (1991). ''State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu,'' p. 105; Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du japon,'' p. 412; n.b., the name ''Inzioun si'' 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 ...

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 ''et al.'' in 1834.

1643 mission to Japan

In 1643,

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, ...

dispatched a mission to Japan.Titsingh, p. 412. 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." The Joseon embassy arrived at the shogunal court of Tokugawa Iemitsu in Edo on the 20th 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 ...

'', according to the Japanese calendar in use at that time. The embassy of Joseon king was led by Yun Sunji. This delegation was received in the court of Shōgun Tokugawa Iemitsu in Edo; and the mission also completed a visit to Shōgun Ieaysu'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 ...

Recognition in the West

Yun Sunji'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 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:Yun, Sunji 1591 births 1666 deaths 17th-century Korean people Korean diplomats

1643 mission to Japan

Recognition in the West

See also

Notes

References

External links