Ōei Invasion
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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 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 ...
against
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.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 by ...
, which is located in the middle of the
Tsushima Strait or Eastern Channel (동수로 Dongsuro) is a channel of the Korea Strait, which lies between Korea and Japan, connecting the Sea of Japan, the Yellow Sea, and the East China Sea. The strait is the channel to the east and southeast of Tsushima ...
between the
Korean Peninsula 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 ...
and
Kyushu is the third-largest island of Japan's five main islands and the most southerly of the four largest islands ( i.e. excluding Okinawa). In the past, it has been known as , and . The historical regional name referred to Kyushu and its surroun ...
.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "''Ōei no Gaikō''" i
''Japan encyclopedia,'' p. 735
n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see'
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File
The Japanese identifying phrase derives from the
Ōei was a after ''Meitoku'' and before ''Shōchō''. This period spanned the years from July 1394 through April 1428. Reigning emperors were and . Change of era * 1394 : The new era name was created because of plague. The previous era ended and a ...
era (1394–1428), which is the
Japanese era name The , also known as , is the first of the two elements that identify years in the Japanese era calendar scheme. The second element is a number which indicates the year number within the era (with the first year being ""), followed by the literal ...
of the calendar system in use in Japan. The corollary Korean identifying title derives from ''Gihae'' in the Chinese
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 ...
of the calendar system then in use in Joseon. In both, the terms are explicit equivalents for the Gregorian calendar year of 1419.


Background

From about 1400, despite its incorporation into the Japanese political order (this incorporation was however limited, to the point that Japanese authorities, regional and national, were unable throughout most of Japanese history to control and limit wokou activity originating in this area) before the Goryeo, Tsushima were located on the front lines that defended Japanese territory for much of its history. Historically, a large part of Tsushima's economy was sustained by trade with Korea; it was used as a "frontier territory" and a diplomatic meeting place between Korea and Japan, but was considered historically by Koreans as a vassal or dependent state of Korea, and despite a variety of changes in terminology over the ages designed to indicate its status as being in the Japanese sphere of influence, it was considered by many Koreans to be Korean land under foreign occupation. From the end of the Goryeo through the early Joseon, the coastal regions of Korea, their populations, and their resources were often the objective of wokou raids. In 1389, General Pak Wi (박위, 朴威) of Goryeo cleared the island of wokou, he burnt 300 ships and rescued more than 100 Korean captives. The Joseon ordered a strengthening of Korean naval defenses, a strategic response to the constant threat posed by the pirates. In 1396, Korean official
Kim Sa-hyeong Kim or KIM may refer to: Names * Kim (given name) * Kim (surname) ** Kim (Korean surname) *** Kim family (disambiguation), several dynasties **** Kim family (North Korea), the rulers of North Korea since Kim Il-sung in 1948 ** Kim, Vietnamese f ...
(김사형, 金士衡) led a campaign into Tsushima. Joseon subsequently asked the
Ashikaga shogunate The , also known as the , was the feudal military government of Japan during the Muromachi period from 1336 to 1573.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Muromachi-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 669. The Ashikaga shogunate was establi ...
and its deputy in Kyūshū to suppress pirate activity, favoring legitimate traders. In exchange for certain privileges, it gave authority to Sō Sadashige, the ''de facto'' ruler of Tsushima Province, over ships sailing from Japan to Korea. When Sō Sadashige died in 1418, power was seized from Sadashige's infant son Sadamori (Tsutsukumaru) by Soda Saemontaro, a powerful wokou leader. Suffering from famine, wokou on Tsushima invaded Ming China in 1419. On the way to China, they invaded Korea's Bi-in and
Haeju Haeju () is a city located in South Hwanghae Province near Haeju Bay in North Korea. It is the administrative centre of South Hwanghae Province. As of 2008, the population of the city is estimated to be 273,300. At the beginning of the 20th century ...
counties after their demands for food were rejected. After receiving reports of these incidents, the Korean court approved an expedition of Tsushima.
King Taejong 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 ...
, who had abdicated his throne in 1418 but was still a military adviser of
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 ...
, favored a more offensive approach. On June 9, 1419, Taejong declared a war against Tsushima, citing that it belonged to Joseon, and
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 ...
was chosen to conduct the expedition.


Invasion

The Koreans waited until a large Japanese fleet had left the island for a raid. Yi Jong-mu's fleet of 227 ships and 17,285 soldiers set off from
Geoje Island Geojedo or Geoje Island (also McCune–Reischauer: Kŏje Island) is the principal island of Geoje City, on the southern coast of Gyeongsangnam-do province, South Korea. It is joined to land by two bridges from nearby Tongyeong. Gohyeon is th ...
toward Tsushima on June 19, 1419. The following day the fleet landed in
Asō Bay is a large, complex inlet that nearly cleaves in two the Japanese island of Tsushima. The bay is notable for its ria coastline, with many peninsulas and various small islands found in close proximity to the shore. It forms part of the Iki-Tsushi ...
(浅茅湾). General Yi Jong-mu first sent captured Japanese pirates as emissaries to ask for surrender. When he received no reply, he sent out expeditionary forces, and the soldiers proceeded to raid the islanders and pirates and plunder pirate settlements. According to "Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty" a Korean history book, in the battle of June 20, the Korean army captured 129 ''wokou'' ships, burned 1939 houses, killed 114 people, captured 21 people, and rescued 131 Chinese who were captured by the ''wokou''. On June 29, they burned 15 ''wokou'' ships and 68 houses, killed nine people, and rescued 15 people, including Chinese and Koreans, who had been held captive, but more than a hundred soldiers were killed by ''wokou''. In the record of July 10, the number of soldiers killed by ''wokou'' was rectified to 180. On the other hand, according to historical documents recorded by the Sō clan, the death toll of the Korean army was 2500. In the weeks that followed, a truce was negotiated with the Sō clan on the island. The Korean expeditionary force withdrew and sailed back to the Korean Peninsula on July 3, 1419. and Korea gave up occupation of Tsushima. In subsequent diplomatic exchanges, Tsushima would be granted trading privileges with Joseon, in exchange for maintaining control and order of pirate threats originating from the island.


Aftermath

The activities of wokou declined after this invasion. 24 years later in 1443 the
Treaty of Gyehae The Gyehae Treaty was signed in 1443 ("gyehae" is the Korean name of the year in the sexagenary cycle) between the Joseon dynasty and Sō Sadamori as a means of controlling Japanese piracy and legitimizing trade between Tsushima island and three ...
would be negotiated between Joseon and the
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 ...
in which the Joseon government agreed to grant the Sō clan limited trading privileges and access to three coastal Korean ports, under the condition that the Sō clan control and stop any coastal pirate raids. After the conclusion of this treaty the activities of wokou were further suppressed. The number of trade ships from Tsushima to Korea was decided by this treaty (50 ships a year), and the Sō clan monopolized the trade with Korea. In 1510, Japanese traders initiated an uprising against Joseon's stricter policies on Japanese traders from Tsushima and Iki coming to
Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...
,
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 ...
and
Jinhae Jinhae-gu (Hangul: 진해구, Hanja: 鎭海區) is a district in Changwon City, South Korea. This region is served by the Korean National Railroad, and is famous for its annual cherry blossom festival every spring. The city front is on a shelter ...
to trade. The Sō Clan supported the uprising, but it was eventually suppressed by local authorities. The uprising was later came to be known as the " Disturbance of the Three Ports". A more restrictive treaty was re-imposed under the direction of King Jungjong in 1512, but this Treaty of Imsin was enacted only under strictly limited terms, and only twenty-five ships were allowed to visit Joseon annually until "Japanese riots in Saryangjin" (사량진왜변, 蛇梁鎭倭變) in 1544. The Korean export included rice,
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...
,
ginseng Ginseng () is the root of plants in the genus ''Panax'', such as Korean ginseng ('' P. ginseng''), South China ginseng ('' P. notoginseng''), and American ginseng ('' P. quinquefolius''), typically characterized by the presence of ginsenosides an ...
, and Sutra texts. In exchange, the Sō clan provided copper,
tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
, sulfur, medicinal herbs, and spices from both Tsushima island and Japan. The Sō clan became a trading hub between Korea and Japan and benefited greatly from it. The relationship between Korea and residents of Tsushima Island greatly improved thereafter; there were numerous records of hospitality towards shipwrecked Korean sailors who ended up on the island, and merchants from Tsushima Island enjoyed special privileges in Korean ports.


Aftermath according to Japanese sources

In
Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
, rumors of the invasion spread around the end of the 6th month. The raid was associated with 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 the 7th and 8th month, Shōni Mitsusada, the overlord of the
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 ...
, reported to the Ashikaga shogunate that the Shōni's deputy Sō Uemon had defeated Korean invaders. However, Korean captives were reported to have stated that forces from Ming China were planning to invade Japan. Since ''
shōgun , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakur ...
''
Ashikaga Yoshimochi was the fourth ''shōgun'' of the Ashikaga shogunate who reigned from 1394 to 1423 during the Muromachi period of Japan. Yoshimochi was the son of the third ''shōgun'' Ashikaga Yoshimitsu.Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Succession and rule In 1394, ...
took a harder stance toward the Ming than his father
Yoshimitsu is a name used by three different characters who appear in the ''Tekken'' and ''Soulcalibur'' series of fighting games by Namco. The first version of Yoshimitsu made his debut in the original ''Tekken (video game), Tekken'' in 1994. The second ...
, the threat was taken seriously by the shogunate. Later, the ''shōgun'' received a report from the Kyūshū Deputy. Since it was considerably different from the Shōni's version, the ''shōgun'' felt the necessity of examining Korea's real intentions. In a letter to Sō Sadamori issued on the 15th of the 7th month, the Joseon claimed that Tsushima belonged to Gyeongsang Province and asked him to leave the island, either by coming to the Korean Peninsula or by retreating to mainland Japan. In the 9th month, a man who claimed to be an envoy of Sō Sadamori arrived in Korea. The conditions he presented seemed unsatisfactory to the Joseon. Taejong made similar demands of the envoy in the 10th month. According to the article on the 10th day of the first leap month of 1420 of ''Sejong Sillok'', the same self-claimed envoy agreed to Korea's proposal to put Tsushima under the rule of Gyeongsang Province. On the 23rd of that month, the Korean court approved of this agreement. However, in later negotiations it was revealed that the envoy was not actually a representative of Sō Sadamori. In the 11th month of 1419, envoys of Ashikaga Yoshimochi visited Korea. In return, King Sejong sent
Song Hui-gyeong Song Hui-gyeong (1376–1446) was a scholar-official of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in the 15th century. He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in the ''Hoeryesa'' (diplomatic mission) to the Ashikaga shogunate in Japa ...
to Japan. The diplomatic mission left the Joseon capital on the 15th day of the first leap month of 1420. The envoy continued on from Busan on the 15th day of the 2nd month. On the 21st, he met Soda Saemontaro on Tsushima as Sō Sadamori stayed with the Shōni clan in
Hizen Province was an old province of Japan in the area of the Saga and Nagasaki prefectures. It was sometimes called , with Higo Province. Hizen bordered on the provinces of Chikuzen and Chikugo. The province was included in Saikaidō. It did not incl ...
. He arrived in Kyoto in the 4th month. Having accomplished his mission, he left Kyoto in the 6th month, returning to Korea after completing negotiations with the Shōni and Sō clans in Kyūshū. He arrived in the capital in the 10th month, 1420. This trip corrected mutual misunderstandings between Japan and Korea. In Tsushima, Song received a protest from Soda Saemontaro over a Korean document that stated Tsushima's dependence on Korea. He warned of the Shōni clan's possible military action. Song realized that Sō Sadamori had not been involved in the previous negotiations, and also learned of the Sō clan's vassalage to the Shōni clan. These realizations overturned Korea's plans towards Tsushima. In Kyoto, Song clarified that the Joseon had no intention of invading Japan. On their way back, Korean envoys faced the Sō and Shōni's hard-line attitude toward the Joseon. In the 4th month of 1421, a letter under the name of Sō Sadamori demanded the return of Japanese captives and pointed out Korea's claim over Tsushima. It is noted that the Japanese envoy took advantage of the shogunate's authority, which can frequently be found in the Sō clan's later diplomatic talks with Korea. By the order of Taejong, Korea took a tough stance against the Sō clan. Although Soda's messengers visited Korea several times, they did not reach a settlement until 1423. The death of the hard-line Taejong in the 5th month of 1422 softened Korea's policy toward Japan. Under Sejong, Joseon relinquished its claims to Tsushima and decided to grant trade privileges to the Sō clan in exchange for its duty to maintain trade order.


Aftermath according to Korean sources

In 1419,
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 ...
, under the advice of his father and former king
Taejong 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 wa ...
, decided to attack the enemy at Tsushima while the pirates were engaged in conflict with China. In the May 1419, notice of this plan was sent as an ultimatum to the Tsushima province authorities. In the war declaration against Tsushima government, the King claimed Tsushima, known as Daemado in Korean, had degraded due to the lack of interference on pirate activities by the local authority. Korea repeated necessary involvement in the island's operations, by aiding in the recent famine and general trade route policing led the ruler to declare the land would be reclaimed by force in order to protect the integrity of the region. During the conflicts, 180 Korean soldiers were killed. Another source recorded that about 100 Korean soldiers were killed and about 20 Japanese soldiers were killed. The Korean soldiers burned 2,007 houses and 124 ships, and beheaded 123 pirates."朝鮮世宗實錄4卷1年6月29日" Annals of King Sejong Vol.4 June 2

/ref> The Korean forces also discovered Chinese and Korean captives there. The Korean armies were able to send 146 Chinese and 8 Korean hostages back to their homelands after releasing them from pirate captivity. Korean official Ryu Chong-hyon reported 180 Korean soldiers were dead during the expedition."朝鮮世宗實錄4卷1年7月10日" Annals of King Sejong Vol.4 July 1

/ref> In the July 1419, King Taejo sent a letter to Tsushima's Sō Sadamori laying claim to the historical repossession of Daemado (Tsushima) due to the Korean victory in war. Once again the land was Korean territory as it had been under the Kingdom of
Silla Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of K ...
.South Korea's current claims of sovereignty over Tsushima Islands is based on notes in the "Silla Bongi" illa section(新羅本紀), in the ''Samguk Sagi'' hronicle of the Three Kingdoms(三國史記, completed in Korea in 1145), and the ''Sejong Sillok'' nnals of King Sejong(世宗實錄, 1431. An arrangement was proposed for Tsushima to enter into a tributary relationship. In the 9th month of 1419 Sadamori sent an emissary to surrender the territory and to present a variety of tribute to the Korean court. In January 1420, a Japanese envoy visiting Seoul requested to have a copy of
Tripitaka Koreana The (lit. ) or ("Eighty-Thousand ''Tripiṭaka''") is a Korean collection of the (Buddhist scriptures, and the Sanskrit word for "three baskets"), carved onto 81,258 wooden printing blocks in the 13th century. It is the oldest intact vers ...
, a comprehensive
Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
script held in great regard as a Korean national treasure. King Sejong granted the request as sign of friendship between two countries. In the 1st leap month of 1420 Sadamori requested that the island officially become a state of Korea under the name of Daemado, also promising to personally become a subject and to manage 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.Gyeongsang province rather than
Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
.


Notes

* Dates given here are of the traditional lunisolar calendar.


See also

*
History of Japan The first human inhabitants of the Japanese archipelago have been traced to prehistoric times around 30,000 BC. The Jōmon period, named after its cord-marked pottery, was followed by the Yayoi period in the first millennium BC when new inven ...
*
Naval history of Japan The naval history of Japan began with early interactions with states on the Asian continent in the 3rd century BCE during the Yayoi period. It reached a pre-modern peak of activity during the 16th century, a time of cultural exchange with Europe ...
*
History of Korea The Lower Paleolithic era in the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria began roughly half a million years ago. Christopher J. Norton, "The Current State of Korean Paleoanthropology", (2000), ''Journal of Human Evolution'', 38: 803–825. The earlies ...
*
Naval history of Korea The naval history of Korea dates back thousands of years since the prehistoric timesThe Traditional ships of Korea By Wan-gi Chʻoe when simple fishing ships were used. Military naval history dates back to the Three Kingdoms period and Unified Sil ...
*
Treaty of Gyehae The Gyehae Treaty was signed in 1443 ("gyehae" is the Korean name of the year in the sexagenary cycle) between the Joseon dynasty and Sō Sadamori as a means of controlling Japanese piracy and legitimizing trade between Tsushima island and three ...
* Japanese riots in Southeast Korea (1510)


References

* Kang, Etsuko Hae-jin. (1997). ''Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century.'' Basingstoke, Hampshire; Macmillan. ; * Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia.'' Cambridge:
Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retirem ...
.
OCLC 48943301


External links


The annals of the Choson Dynasty

KoreanDB
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100.nate

Monthly Chosun




{{DEFAULTSORT:Oei Invasion 1410s in Japan 1419 in Asia 15th century in Korea Wars involving Japan Wars involving Joseon Joseon dynasty Invasions of Japan Anti-Japanese sentiment in Korea Anti-Korean sentiment in Japan Conflicts in 1419 Japan–Korea relations