Images of Japan in Four Korean World Maps Compiled in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries
Kenneth R. Robinson
yo˘ktae kukto chi to, held at the Honko ¯ji temple, in Shimabara, Japan; Tae Myo˘ng-guk to, held at the Tenri Library, Tenri University, in Tenri, Japan; and Tae Myo˘ng-guk chido, held at the Honmyo ¯ji temple, in Kumamoto, Japan. The scholarship divides these texts into two branches that without doubt trace back to the 1402 world map. The first two world maps above are placed in the first branch, the third and fourth maps above in the second branch. Extending from right to left across the
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... m of the Ryu ¯koku Kangnido is a com-Kangnido is a com-Kangnido memoration that Kwo ˘n Ku ˇn, Assistant Councillor in the State Council (K. U ˇijo˘ngbu Uijo˘ngbu U Ch'amch'ansa, senior second grade), wrote for the 1402 Kangnido. Kwo ˘n explained the provenance of much of the 1402 Kangnido in two Chinese maps and the addition of a Kangnido in two Chinese maps and the addition of a Kangnido more detailed depiction of Choso ˘n and a map of Japan, the result "making [the 1402 Kangnido] a new map entirely, nicely organized and well worth admiration." 1) Important features of the 1402 world map compared to the Chinese texts from which the mapmaker worked thus are the depictions of Choso ˘n and Japan. The image of Japan is generally believed to have derived from a map of Japan that the Korean official Pak Tonji compiled in Japan. And the image of Japan in the Ryu ¯koku Kangnido is general-Kangnido is general-Kangnido ly considered to reflect that in the 1402 Kangnido. The Choso ˘n government's earliest confirmed image of Japan was born in part of its difficulties in halting the Japanese pirate raids of coastal and inland areas that had continued since 1350. Naval successes from the 1380s helped the Koryo ˘ government to slow landfall, but trade opportunities offered by the Choso ˘n court after 1392 and local pressure in Japan gradually shifted exchange from violent appropriation to regularized, sanctioned trade in the first two decades of the fifteenth century. The O ¯uchi, a powerful family based in westernmost Honshu, cultivated friendly relations with the Korean government, and this included assisting the Choso ˘n court in its relations with the Muromachi bakufu. In 1397.12, King T'aejo (r. 1392.7-1398.9) appointed Pak Tonji as Reciprocation Envoy (K. Hoeyesa) and ordered him to accompany the representatives of O ¯uchi Yoshihiro to Japan. Yoshihiro's envoys had arrived in Choso ˘n in 1397.7 bearing a letter addressed to the State Council (K. Todang), an office which was directly below the monarch. The State Council replied in a 1397.12 letter entrusted to Pak. In Japan, Pak met Yoshihiro and delivered that communication, which expressed the court's displeasure with the piracy. 2) The Korean envoy was in Kyoto in the eighth month of 1398, and met Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who, having been shogun from 1367 until his retirement in 1394.12, now controlled foreign relations as the retired shogun. Yoshimitsu responded to the complaints about the predations by "the pirates of the three islands" (K. samdo waegu ) and ordered the O ¯uchi to gather troops and attack the raiders. 3) Some scholars believe that Pak produced a map of Japan during this visit. 4) His presence in Choso ˘n is next noted on 1399.5.16, when the second monarch, King Cho ˘ngjong (r. 1398.9-1400.11), received the envoy of the "Nihon-koku Tai-Shogun," who had accompanied the Korean envoy to Choso ˘n. 5) Pak is reported to have traveled to Japan a second time. Other scholars date his map of Japan to this visit. 6) An entry in the Korean veritable records dated 1438.2.19, and many years after Pak's death, states that Pak traveled to Japan in the "spring of Jianwen 3," or 1401. While in O ¯uchi lands, he produced a map of Japan from maps
doi:10.34577/00002795
fatcat:y6n3nqioajeltmyzyjjbwdktxe