After its foundation in 1392, the biggest concern for Joseon in its relationship with Japan was the raids of Japanese marauders or waegu. Joseon in the early years launched both diplomatic and military campaigns to bring an end to the waegu attacks, as had been the case in late Goryeo. As both Joseon and Japan became more stable, the Joseon government soon tried to conciliate the Japanese and build a friendly relationship with them. For its part, Japan also made efforts to improve its relationship with Joseon after Ashikaga Yoshimitsu united the Japanese islands, which had previously been divided into Northern and Southern Courts.

Immediately after he took the throne, Joseon’s founder King Taejo sent Monk Gakchu to the general of Japan’s shogunate government, and the Japanese shogun promised to stop the attacks from marauders and to return those that had been kidnapped from Joseon. This paved the way for further negotiations over the waegu problem, and Joseon began trading with Tsushima and Kyushu and opened its ports to the Japanese. However, the Japanese general could not keep his word about prohibiting the waegu attacks since he wielded insufficient power locally. In consequence, Joseon proceeded to negotiate directly with the marauders, or with any parties that had influence over them. A turning point for the relationship came in 1404 when the heads of Joseon and Japan were formally invested by Ming China.

After Joseon and Japan were invested with kingships by the Ming, the investment system provided a framework for building diplomatic relations among the three East Asian countries under which a king of Joseon and a Japanese general would be accorded equal diplomatic status. However, this does not explain all aspects of the relationship between Joseon and Japan since the bilateral relationship was influenced by many other factors—the Japanese general was just one of many facilitators of the relations between the two countries, rather than a chief in charge of the relations. Moreover, he did not exercise much influence on the waegu.

Incidents of pillaging by the Japanese continued and the king of Joseon sent Yi Jong-mu to attack Tsushima in 1419. The Japanese marauders were hard hit by the attack and many of them chose to quit plundering and instead to serve as facilitators of Joseon-Japan relations. These people can be largely categorized into three groups. Some came to Joseon on an embassy while others came for trade. Still others migrated permanently to Joseon while some of the former waegu and those who were cooperative with Joseon were given government positions. The government granted the Japanese limited trading privileges and opened three ports to them. Joseon issued accreditations to limit the number of Japanese visitors, imposed taxation and fishing regulations to control fishing in its waters, and designated roads for traveling and made rules that spelled out how the Japanese embassies should be treated.

Over the course of time, the waegu functioned as a catalyst for building a closer relationship between Joseon and Japan, and Joseon soon introduced regulations to systematically control trade and exchange. In 1443, Joseon and Tsushima agreed on a treaty that would limit the volume of their trade, and this written document was further developed to provide a basis for compiling the sections on trade with Japan in the Haedongjegukgi (Records of Countries to the East), one of the most comprehensive and authoritative books on Japan. According to the terms of the treaty, only authorized trading ships were permitted into the ports and the Japanese paid courtesy visits to the king of Joseon, as did the Jurchens and the people of Okinawa. Moreover, Joseon was regarded as a superior nation in the treaty since trade was carried out in the form of the Japanese presenting goods to the Joseon king and the king granting gifts, while Japanese missions were instructed to follow the protocol set by the Joseon dynasty.

Following the opening of the three ports in 1426, the number of Japanese visitors increased sharply. In 1439, 10,000 Japanese traveled to Joseon and the amount of rice “granted” to them reached 14,400 tons. Items exported to Japan during this period included rice, beans, cotton, silk, ginseng, leopard and tiger skins and Buddhist scriptures. In exchange, the Japanese offered copper, silver, sappanwood, sulphur, buffalo horn and pepper. As trade thrived, the number of Japanese residing at the three ports increased rapidly, reaching 3,105 in 1494. The sudden increase in Japanese people reached a point where it became uncontrollable and in 1510, the Japanese at the ports rose in arms, creating a major disturbance. After this was put down, trade relations were severed, only to be resumed with the Treaty of Tsushima in 1512 under newly established terms and with a much reduced volume, a situation which continued until the Japanese Invasion of 1592.

Having succeeded in unifying Japan and appointing himself as the supreme general (kanpaku) in 1585, Toyotomi Hideyoshi began preparations for the invasion of Korea, thereby satisfying his personal ambitions, and settling problems related to the discontinued trade with China and accruing rewards for feudal rulers (daimyo) who supported him to end the internal conflict of the so-called age of the Warring States. In 1589, Toyotomi ordered the feudal ruler of Tsushima to make several demands of Joseon. Toyotomi wanted Joseon to submit to him, serve as the launch point for his planned invasion of Ming China and send an envoy to serve as a subject of Japan. However, the feudal ruler of Tsushima thought such demands would not be agreed to by the Joseon government, and instead he asked Joseon to dispatch an envoy to congratulate the new government of Japan. In response to the request, Joseon dispatched an envoy to Japan in 1590. However, Toyotomi continued to demand that Joseon either dispatch troops to invade China or to allow Japanese troops to pass unhindered into China. Joseon refused his requests and Toyotomi launched an invasion of Joseon.

The Japanese army, consisting of 158,000 soldiers, attacked Dongnae Fortress and Busanjin Fortress on the 13th day of the 4th lunar month in 1592. After taking both forts on the 15th, it took only 20 days for the Japanese forces to advance to Seoul, following the route that had been used by Japanese envoys for 200 years during the early Joseon dynasty, conquering Seoul on the 2nd day of the 5th lunar month. King Seonjo had fled to Pyeongyang while two princes were sent to Hamgyeong and Gangwon provinces to recruit soldiers. Pyeongyang was taken on the 16th day of the 6th lunar month. King Seonjo fled again, this time to Uiju, a city on the northern tip of the Korean peninsula, and he requested reinforcements from China. Soon after the Japanese forces occupied Pyeongyang, Toyotomi wrote to his son that he was going to conquer Ming China, and appoint his son to the post of supreme General of Beijing; and that he would also conquer India and distribute the land to feudal rulers while he would live in Ningbo, China. However, the success of the Japanese forces did not last long and they had to struggle till the end of the war in 1598.

Two different reports from the chief envoy and the vice-envoy after the 1590 mission to Japan confused the Joseon government, thus preventing it from predicting the Japanese invasion in time and thereby Joseon struggled during the first two months of the invasion. At the beginning of the war, the Joseon’s troops were defeated and had to retreat to Pyeongyang. However, guerrilla forces assembled on all sides and blocked the supply route of the Japanese forces. Joseon’s Chief Naval Commander Yi Sun-sin succeeded in gaining complete control of Japan’s overseas supply lines, thereby cutting the Japanese army off from reinforcements and supplies. In the first lunar month of 1593, relief troops from Ming China arrived and defeated the Japanese ground forces. Joseon was then able to reclaim Seoul after the victory at the Battle of Haengju in the 4th lunar month.

Peace negotiations began in the 5th lunar month as the Japanese forces experienced severe losses and setbacks. Joseon initially opposed the peace talks. Meanwhile, the Japanese forces withdrew to the southeastern littoral of Gyeongsang Province, and began to build fortresses on the southern coast to prepare for a long-term occupation. Twenty-nine of those fortresses still remain today. The truce talks between Ming China and Japan took four years, but the negotiations were eventually halted. In second 2nd lunar month of 1597, the Japanese recruited 140,000 soldiers and launched a second campaign to conquer Korea. However, Korean forces were equipped and ready for the attack. Consequently, the Japanese land forces were only able to achieve localized success in the areas around their fortresses in Gyeongsang province. As the Japanese army now found itself hemmed in, Toyotomi ordered his soldiers to cut off the ears and noses, instead of the heads, of dead Korean soldiers, and to send them to Japan by preserving them with salt. According to some documents, the Japanese packed about 214,700 ears and noses into 15 boxes and delivered them to Japan. Today, Mimizuka, or the Ear Burial Mound, stands in front of the Toyokuni Shrine in Kyoto.

Toyotomi died from illness, which led the Japanese to withdraw from the peninsula in the 8th lunar month of 1598. Attacking the last of the retreating Japanese forces that had been stationed at Suncheon Fortress on the 26th day of the 11th lunar month, Admiral Yi Sun-sin was mortally wounded. This final battle brought the seven-year Japanese invasion to an end.

In the course of the seven-year struggle, nearly all of Korea’s eight provinces experienced pillage and slaughter at the hands of the invading Japanese. Out of 328 villages, 182 were destroyed, and the destruction of land and census registers paralyzed the national administration. It would be impossible to count the number of Korean casualties: About 60,000 to 70,000 innocent Koreans were killed at the second Battle of Jinju alone in 1593. Japanese forces also suffered an immense number of casualties. According to data, the Japanese lost 65% of their forces. Economic losses were also substantial as crops were harvested from only 300,000 gyeol (one unit is approximately 30 m²) out of 1.5 million gyeol nationwide. It took more than 50 years to recover from the destruction of farmland. The loss of cultural treasures in fires set by the Japanese troops was also substantial. Palaces and administrative offices including Gyeongbok Palace and Changdeok Palace were burned down, as was the Buddhist temple Bulguksa, while a great number of volumes stored in the History Archives were reduced to ashes as well. In addition, a countless number of books, pieces of pottery and artwork were plundered.

Women and children suffered the most. The book Dongguk-samgang-haengsildo (Illustrations of the Three Bonds in Korea) described the unspeakable torment women endured. Many people were kidnapped and sold as slaves. After the invasion, Koreans began to regard the Japanese as their “mortal enemy.” Japan benefited from the abduction of Kang Hang, a Joseon scholar, who taught Confucianism in Japan after his abduction. Metal type printing technology was introduced to Japan and the abduction of skilled Korean potters as prisoners of war served to greatly advance the ceramic art of Japan.

.

After the end of the Japanese invasion, Joseon dispatched the Great Buddhist Priest Samyeong (pen name Yujeong) to Japan in order to learn the true intention of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s request for reconciliation. Great Priest Samyeong and his party confirmed General Tokugawa’s intention at Kyoto, and brought back about 3,000 Koreans who had been captured during the war. Upon Great Priest Samyeong’s return, Joseon proposed three conditions for reconciliation; Japan’s reconciliation request issued in the name of the king; punishment of those who had looted the royal tombs during the invasion; and the return of Korean prisoners of war. In response, Japan forged the request document and replaced the looters of royal tombs with petty offenders, then sent 7,000 prisoners of war along with an envoy to Joseon. Joseon was aware of the forgery and replacement. But since Joseon’s demands had been met at least on the surface, Joseon resumed diplomatic relations with Japan by sending envoys in 1607. However, the title of the mission was “responding envoys with task of bringing back Koreans.” Following this mission, 12 more missions were sent to Japan in late Joseon. It was not until the third mission in 1636 that the original title of “tongsinsa” (corresponding envoys) reappeared.

The purpose of the dispatch of Joseon envoys to Japan was to see the succession of Shogun and the continuation of his task and to settle urgent diplomatic issues between the two nations. The number of people and the organization of the envoys varied. It was a long journey that took from five to eight months for missions consisting of approximately 300~500 people. They had to travel by land from Seoul to Busan, then by sea from Busan to Osaka via Tsushima, and then once again by land from Osaka to Edo.

Envoys played a significant role in Korea-Japan relations in late Joseon. It had not only political and diplomatic significance, but also promoted cultural exchange as missions held meetings for academic and literary figures during their stay. Moreover, Joseon envoys exerted huge influence on popular culture in Japan. The Japanese common people were impressed by the parade of the envoys, their horseback riding techniques, competence with musical instruments, and dance performance. It had become in vogue to imitate them or to feature related themes at banquets or in literature across Japan. In this regard, envoys during the Joseon dynasty may be described as the “Korean wave” of the Joseon era.

Korea-Japan relations at the time were not made up of the envoys’ missions alone. Joseon established an official residence for the Japanese (waegwan) where trade and exchange of necessary commodities took place between Korea and Japan. Joseon also dispatched 51 separate missions, called munwihaeng, to the general of Tsushima for cultural exchange consisting of 100~150 people, thereby resolving unsettled issues and reinforcing the role of Tsushima in Korea-Japan relations.

In this respect, Joseon developed relations with Japan actively and independently. Some argue that unlike the early period of Joseon, Japan did not send generals as envoys and only Joseon dispatched missions to Japan. Some argue that this fact proves Joseon’s inferiority in its diplomacy with Japan. However, this is not true. Since Japanese forces had used the same route as Japanese envoys during the invasion, Joseon had forbidden the Japanese missions from traveling to Seoul, and instead the Japanese missions had to use the Japanese residence in Busan. Furthermore, Japan had to shoulder the cost of dispatch, including the cost of round trip from Busan, which equaled the yearly budget of the shogunate.

Trade between Joseon and Japan included gifts for Joseon’s king from the general of Tsushima; fees for the ward office; official commerce between Joseon Dynasty and Tsushima; and private commerce among officers and merchants. The major imported goods from Japan were minerals including silver and copper, seedling from the southern region, water buffalo’s horns, alum and pepper, while Joseon mainly exported rice, beans and cotton plant. Ginseng, Chinese raw silk and silk fabric were also popular items that were sold to Japan. This distribution channel was sometimes referred to as the ‘Silver Road’ and the ‘Silk Road’.

However, the dispatch of envoys ended in 1811 in the form of a brief exchange of messages between sovereigns at Tsushima. Even though the dispatch of envoys was again later requested with the succession of generals, it was delayed four times and finally cancelled due to domestic turmoil in Japan. The Meiji Restoration occurred in 1868, and Korea-Japan relations began a new chapter. In the end, the envoys, a symbol of the Joseon Dynasty, and interaction based on a good-neighbor policy were terminated.

The amicable relations between Joseon and Japan, symbolized by the envoys, came to an end in a letter from Japan announcing the Meiji Restoration. Japan stated that it was now under imperial control and that the Meiji Foreign Office would be in charge of the Korea-Japan relations onward. The documents also rejected cultural exchange and commerce between Korea and Japan via Tsushima, and demanded that diplomatic interactions be conducted in such a way as to place the Joseon king in a subjacent position to the emperor of Japan. Based on conventional diplomatic practices, Joseon refused the demands. The Joseon government argued that whatever internal conflict Japan was going through, it would maintain equal relations with Japan’s chief authority, be it the shogun or the emperor. In response, Japan occupied by force the waegwan in Busan in 1872. In the aftermath, the continued aggressive and confrontational diplomatic policy of Japan destroyed the friendly relations between Korea and Japan.

Waegwan refers to the official residences for the Japanese in Joseon. It served as an office and guest house to welcome envoys from Japan. It was also a trading center to conduct commerce between Joseon and Japan. The Japanese residence was a facility established to control the increasing number of Japanese visitors who traveled to Korea for economic reasons since the early 15th century. In 1407, Joseon appointed Busan-po (present-day Busan), Je-po (Ungcheon) as the authorized ports for the Japanese. Yeom-po (Ulsan) was added in 1426, and they were referred to as ‘Waegwan of the Three Ports.’ Dongpyeong-gwan was established exclusively for those who visited Seoul.

Joseon had initially made an agreement with Japan to limit the number of Japanese visitors to 60, but the number of Japanese visitors increased despite the agreement. The Joseon government began to regulate the Japanese visitors. In response, the Japanese began to riot at the three ports (at Busan-po, Je-po and Yeom-po) in 1510, and Joseon closed down the Japanese residences. This threatened the livelihood of Tsushima and when Tsushima requested that trade be resumed, Joseon allowed two ports (Busan-po and Je-po) to reopen with the treaty of 1512. After the pillage at Saryangjin in 1544, only Busan-po remained open and functioning until the Japanese invasion in 1592.

During the Japanese invasion, the Japanese residence was closed down, and Joseon established a temporary residence for the Japanese on the island of Jeolyeon in 1601. After the trade and exchange resumed between the two nations, a new Japanese residence, 10,000 pyeong (about 33,000 m²) in size, was built at Dumo Port.

However, Dumo Port was too shallow and too narrow, and its location resulted in the portholes facing the southern wind, which all made the port unsuitable for anchoring boats. For these reasons, Tsushima requested that Joseon relocate the Japanese residence to Busan Fortress. Joseon rejected the request for relocation. In the end, the Japanese residence was relocated to Choryang (in Busan) in 1678, opening the new era of Choryang Waegwan.

Choryang Waegwan in Busan was built in the 4th lunar month in 1678. According to documents, about 450 people including officials moved to the new residence from the Japanese residence at Dumo Port. Choryang Waegwan served as an arena for diplomacy and commerce between Joseon and Japan for 200 years from 1678 to 1872, until it was invaded by the Foreign Office of the Meiji government.

Choryang Waegwan was set up to facilitate diplomacy and commerce with Japan by the Joseon government in Busan. However, it was invaded by the Japanese Foreign Office without any notice. Consequently, the friendly relationship between two nations, symbolized by the envoys’ missions, took a turn and ended with the Ganghwa Treaty of 1876.

The 200 years of friendly relations between Korea and Japan during the early Joseon dynasty was ended by the Japanese invasion in 1592. Their relationship during the late Joseon dynasty was compromised and strained by issues that arose due to the Japanese official residence (waegwan). Friendly relations between the two collapsed for several reasons, but a pattern of aggressive military acts on the part of the Japanese persisted. The Japanese acts of aggression tarnished Korea-Japan relations irreversibly.