Yun Sunji

Yun Sunji
Hangul	윤순지
Hanja	尹順之
Revised Romanization	Yun Sunji
McCune–Reischauer	Yun Sunji

Yun Sunji (Korean: 윤순지; 1591–1666) was a Korean scholar-official of the Joseon period 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

• Joseon missions to Japan
• Joseon tongsinsa

Notes

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," Archived June 22, 2012, at the Wayback Machine p. 6.

References

• Daehwan, Noh. "The Eclectic Development of Neo-Confucianism and Statecraft from the 18th to the 19th Century," Korea Journal (Winter 2003).
• Lewis, James Bryant. (2003). Frontier contact between chosŏn Korea and Tokugawa Japan. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7007-1301-1
• Titsingh, Isaac, ed. (1834). [Siyun-sai Rin-siyo/Hayashi Gahō, 1652], Nipon o daï itsi ran; ou, Annales des empereurs du Japon. Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland. OCLC 84067437
• Toby, Ronald P. (1991). State and Diplomacy in Early Modern Japan: Asia in the Development of the Tokugawa Bakufu. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-1951-3
• Walker, Brett L. "Foreign Affairs and Frontiers in Early Modern Japan: A Historiographical Essay," Early Modern Japan. Fall, 2002, pp. 44–62, 124-128.

External links

• Joseon Tongsinsa Cultural Exchange Association (in Korean); (in Japanese)
• 조선통신사연구 (Journal of Studies in Joseon Tongsinsa) (in Korean)^{[permanent dead link‍]}

Preceded by Im Gwang

Joseon–Japanese Edo period diplomacy 5th mission 1643

Succeeded by Jo Hyeong