Yun Sunji Explained

Hangul:윤순지
Hanja:尹順之
Rr:Yun Sun-ji
Mr:Yun Sun-ji

Yun Sunji (; 1591–1666) was a scholar-official of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in the 17th century.

He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in the 5th Edo period diplomatic mission to Japan.[1]

1643 mission to Japan

In 1643, King Injo dispatched a mission to Japan.[2] This diplomatic mission functioned to the advantage of both the Japanese and the Koreans as a channel for developing a political foundation for trade.[3]

This delegation was explicitly identified by the Joseon court as a "Communication Envoy" (tongsinsa). The mission was understood to signify that relations were "normalized."[4]

The Joseon embassy arrived at the shogunal court of Tokugawa Iemitsu in Edo on the 20th year of Kan'ei, according to the Japanese calendar in use at that time.[2] The embassy of Joseon king was led by Yun Sunji.[1] 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.[5]

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.[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.

See also

+ Joseon diplomacy

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. 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 or romanization devised by Julius Klaproth et al. in 1834.
  2. Titsingh, p. 412.
  3. Walker, Brett L. "Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay," Early Modern Japan. Fall, 2002, pp. 48.
  4. Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). Frontier contact between Chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan, pp. 21-24.
  5. Toby, p. 105 n16.
  6. Vos, Ken. "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1," p. 6.