Yang Su (diplomat) should not be confused with Yang Yü (diplomat).
Yang Su (梁需, c.1410) was a Korean diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in a diplomatic mission to the Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi bafuku) in Japan.[1]
King Taejong dispatched a diplomatic mission to Japan in 1409-1410.
This delegation to court of Ashikaga Yoshimochi was led by Yan Yu. The purpose of this diplomatic embassy was to respond to a message sent to the Joseon court by the Japanese shogun.[3] The Joseon envoy conveyed a letter of condolences on the death of the shogun's father; and he also brought gifts, including cotton cloth, tiger skins, leopard skins and ginseng.[4] Yan Yu was empowered to offer to send a copy of a rare Buddhist text to Japan.[2]
The Japanese hosts may have construed this mission as tending to confirm a Japanocentric world order.[5] Yan Yu's actions were more narrowly focused in negotiating protocols for Joseon-Japan diplomatic relations.[3]
Yan Yu's historical significance was confirmed when his mission was specifically mentioned in a widely distributed history published by the Oriental Translation Fund in 1834.[2]
In the West, early published accounts of the Joseon kingdom are not extensive, but they are found in Sangoku Tsūran Zusetsu (published in Paris in 1832),[6] and in Nihon ōdai ichiran (published in Paris in 1834). Joseon foreign relations and diplomacy are explicitly referenced in the 1834 work.