Revisiting the Imjin War, which occurred approximately 400 years ago, clearly required something new, and I decided to try to give this war a fresh perspective as a means of doing so.
As revealed in the section titled 'The Birth of the Invader, Toyotomi Hideyoshi' in [Imjin War 1592], it is about looking at the Imjin War from a new perspective, not only from the perspective of the invaded, but also from the perspective of the invaders.
And the reason why these attempts were possible is because the Imjin War was not a bilateral war limited to Joseon and Japan.
The Imjin War was the first international war in East Asia, with regular armies from three countries, Joseon, Japan, and the Ming Dynasty, facing off.
[Imjin War 1592] follows the perspectives of three different countries and seeks to discover something new about the Imjin War that we did not know about.
And this is directly connected to the reason why we must read the Imjin War now.
---「Entering.
From “Why We Need to Reread the Imjin War Now”

The huge difference in perception between Joseon and Japan surrounding the news agency stemmed from a kind of fraud perpetrated by a fugitive from Tsushima Island who traveled between the two countries.
(……) The moment Toyotomi Hideyoshi's demand to abandon the Ming Dynasty and submit to Japan was delivered to Joseon, it was clear that the advantage of the intermediate trade that Tsushima Island had enjoyed between the two countries would disappear immediately.
In the end, So Yoshitoshi, who was caught in a trap, deceived both Joseon and Japan and led Joseon to dispatch a diplomatic envoy.
It was said that Joseon's King Seonjo sent an official delegation for peace and cultural exchange, and that Toyotomi Hideyoshi sent a tribute envoy after the Joseon king surrendered.

---From "The First Communications Mission in 111 Years: The Diverging Dreams of Joseon and Japan"

The Japanese pirates are a symbol of the fact that the East Asian international order, while centering on the Ming Dynasty, still harbored subtle tensions and room for change.
(……) While the Japanese pirates were a nuisance to the Ming and Joseon governments, inflicting violence and plunder, for Japan, which was a geopolitically peripheral country, the Japanese pirates were also a means of trade that allowed them to accept new civilization.
This is why some compare the Japanese pirates to the mafia and view them as a deformed group of merchants who led smuggling.
The fact that the Japanese pirates and their economic activities persisted despite their violence suggests that the Ming Dynasty's ideological and justified Chinese order was not perfect, and that there was no formal order in the real world that could replace the Japanese pirates' economic activities.
---「03.
From “The Balance of Power Shakes: The International Order in 16th-Century East Asia”

In its trade with Japan, Joseon mainly exported cotton and rice and received gold and silver from Japan. With the gold and silver purchased in this way, it imported silk, porcelain, books, and medicinal herbs from the Ming Dynasty.
Cotton was a particularly important item to Japan, but at the time, Japan was unable to produce its own cotton, so it depended on plunder or imports through Japanese pirates.
In fact, the amount of cotton exported from Joseon to Japan in 1486 alone reached 500,000 rolls.
This East Asian international trade system gave rise to a desire for a new trade system within Japan.
---「03.
From “The Balance of Power Shakes: The International Order in 16th-Century East Asia”

There are three people who are the most important figures in Japanese history and most closely related to the Imjin War.
Oda Nobunaga, the main character who laid the foundation for the unification of the country and Hideyoshi's lord; Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who unified Japan and started the Imjin War; and Tokugawa Ieyasu, who usurped Hideyoshi's position after the Imjin War.
Although the trio was closely intertwined with each other, focusing on the unification of Japan and the Imjin War, their personalities were different.
There is a famous idiom that illustrates this well: the story of the cuckoo that never cries.


Oda Nobunaga: Lord Tokugawa, what would you do if there were a cuckoo that didn't sing? Of course, a bird that doesn't sing should be killed.

Tokugawa Ieyasu: We have to wait.
You have to wait until the bird sings.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi: My lord, I must make you cry somehow.
They lure you with delicious food and threaten you with threats.
---From "What to Do with the Cuckoo That Doesn't Cry: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu"

Toyotomi Hideyoshi's plan seemed to be successful, as the Japanese army captured Hanyang in just 20 days.
However, three major variables stood in the way of the Japanese army.
The first variable is that King Seonjo of Joseon did not defend the capital city or commit suicide, but fled too quickly.
The second variable was that Admiral Yi Sun-sin and the Joseon navy were guarding the sea, and the last variable was that numerous volunteer armies were rising up in various places behind the Japanese army.
---「02.
From "The Defeat of the Battle of Tangeumdae and the Dream of King Seonjo"

Yi Sun-sin's second expedition holds special significance in the history of Yi Sun-sin and the naval battles of the Imjin War.
One is that Yi Sun-sin was wounded in battle for the first time, and the other is that the turtle ship, or Gwiseon (龜船), was put into actual combat for the first time and displayed its might.
The Guiseon, which overwhelmed the Japanese army with its mere presence thanks to its powerful mobility and firepower, was a symbol of the great victory of the Joseon navy during the Imjin War and a guardian deity that protected the seas of Joseon.
What is even more surprising is that the ship was completed just one day before the outbreak of the Imjin War.
The dramatic birth of the Guiseon, which stood at the forefront of the naval battle that changed the course of the great war known as the Imjin War, was in itself a foreshadowing of how the war would unfold in the future.
---「03.
From "He Was in the Sea of ​​Joseon"

The Joseon navy, which had already established itself near Hansando Island, deployed a crane-wing formation, surrounded the Wakizaka fleet, and then poured out a barrage of guns.
Of the 73 Japanese ships, 59 were destroyed and the Japanese navy suffered a crushing defeat without even being able to put up a proper fight.
Yasuharu Wakizaka was shot by an arrow and fell from the ship. He survived on a deserted island for about ten days, eating seaweed before barely managing to escape.
Since the commander who led the fleet was like this, the damage suffered by the Japanese troops under his command was needless to say.
On the other hand, the losses suffered by the Joseon navy in the Battle of Hansando were limited to 3 killed and 10 wounded.
July 8, 1592, was the moment when the Joseon navy achieved a great victory in the Battle of Hansando.
---「04.
Surround the enemy with the wings of a crane: From the Battle of Hansando

In October 1592, after a fierce battle, the Joseon army achieved a great victory despite being outnumbered by only one-tenth of the Japanese army.
Japanese casualties reached a whopping 10,000.
With the victory in the Battle of Jinju, Joseon was able to protect not only Jinju but also the granary region of Honam located behind it.
On the other hand, the Japanese army, which had suffered a crushing defeat in battle, sharpened its sword of revenge.
In particular, regarding Jinju pastor Kim Si-min, who led the battle, the saying “Beware of Mokuso (木?)” was circulated, making Kim Si-min an object of fear to the Japanese military as much as Yi Sun-sin.
'Mokuso' is the Japanese pronunciation of Kim Si-min's title, pastor. The Japanese military's fear and humiliation of him were so great that a character with the same name was created in the traditional Japanese play Kabuki.
---「01.
Among the fierce battles surrounding the granary area

The Ming Dynasty watched as Joseon suffered under a large-scale attack from Japan, but it simply watched the situation unfold.
They did not easily put aside their suspicious gaze toward Joseon, and they could not easily accept the situation in which the capital was handed over to the Japanese army just 20 days after the outbreak of war and the king fled.
(……) The Ming Dynasty’s suspicion was solely intended to identify elements that threatened its own security.
Ultimately, the reason why the Ming Dynasty sent reinforcements to Joseon was not only the justification for the tributary system, but also a pragmatic choice to promote stability and order in the country.
---「02.
From "Why did the Ming Dynasty hesitate to participate in the war?"

The Battle of Pyongyang Castle, especially the Fourth Battle of Pyongyang Castle in January 1593, was a typical international war in which the regular armies of the three East Asian countries clashed head-on.
This clash between the three kingdoms was not limited to battles.
The Ming Dynasty and Japan attempted to end the war through a diplomatic agreement called peace, but Joseon, which had suffered the greatest damage from the war, was excluded from the process, creating an ironic situation.
The war dragged on endlessly, and Joseon's suffering grew day by day amid a tragedy reminiscent of the proxy war between the Ming Dynasty and Japan.
---「03.
From "Who Will Be the Master of Pyongyang Castle"

The most famous Japanese castle related to the Imjin War is Ulsan Japanese Castle.
Ulsan Castle was where Kato Kiyomasa, the vanguard of the Japanese army during the Imjin War, held a siege until the end of the war.
(……) He responded to the large-scale attacks by the Joseon-Ming allied forces twice in January and October of 1598 with a tenacious siege. When the water in the well inside the castle ran low, he defended Ulsan Japanese Castle by drinking horse blood and urine.
After the Imjin War, Kato Kiyomasa returned to Japan and built Kumamoto Castle. It is said that he built over 120 wells in Kumamoto Castle, perhaps because of his experience with the fierce siege at Ulsan Castle.
In Kumamoto, there is a village called 'Ulsan Village' that has been passed down to this day.
This place contains not only Kato Kiyomasa's memories of Ulsan, but also the sad history of the Korean prisoners he forcibly took away as he retreated.
---From "Japanese Army Builds Castles in Joseon and Holds Out: Japanese Castles along the Southern Coast"

Konishi Yukinaga, who had a quick mind and good judgment, planned a withdrawal to Japan when the Japanese army's defeat seemed certain, and approached Chen Lin, the Ming navy admiral, for this purpose.
Jinrin accepts several bribes from Konishi Yukinaga and promises to open a path for the Japanese army to retreat.
Yi Sun-sin never condoned Jin Rin's actions.
Unlike Jin Lin, who was fighting in a foreign land, Yi Sun-sin, who had lost his son during the war, and the Joseon navy, which had shed countless tears of blood, could not allow the Japanese army to return safely.
Despite Jin Lin's persuasion, Yi Sun-sin strongly requested dispatch of troops.
In this way, the combined Joseon-Ming fleet led by Yi Sun-sin and Jin Lin attacked the Japanese fleet in the sea of ​​Noryang.

---From "Yi Sun-sin and Jin Lin, the Launch of the Joseon-Ming Combined Fleet"

With the signing of the Treaty of Giyu in 1609, formal diplomatic and trade relations were restored between Joseon and Japan.
It was 11 years after the end of the Imjin War.
The biggest issue in the process of resuming diplomatic relations was the repatriation of Korean prisoners of war.
The repatriation of prisoners of war provided economic incentives to the Joseon government in that it secured a population that would serve as the foundation of national administration, but it was also a politically urgent matter.
Because a government that did not care for its people taken to foreign countries could have its existence threatened.
---From "Resumption of diplomatic relations after 11 years of war: The Treaty of Giyu and the repatriation of Korean prisoners of war"

Nevertheless, the Imjin War was not a war in which Japan devoted all its efforts, and although it retreated without much success, it did not suffer damage that was close to annihilation.
There were many powerful daimyo who did not participate in the war, such as Tokugawa Ieyasu, who became the most powerful person in Japan after Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death.
Even if they did participate in the war, the damage would only fall on each daimyo.
In short, Joseon and Ming, the victors of the Imjin War, achieved a victory that was nothing but a wound, while Japan, the defeated nation, suffered a mild defeat without any major damage to its national foundation.

---「03.
From "The Era of the Tokugawa Family Begins: Changes in Japan"

The fall of the Ming Dynasty and the rise of the Qing Dynasty can be seen as a repetition of the history of conquest by northern nomadic peoples that continued long ago through the Liao Dynasty (Khitan), the Jin Dynasty (Jurchen), and the Yuan Dynasty (Mongol).
(……) It is an undeniable fact that one of the main driving forces that made the wheel of history turn again was the wind caused by the Imjin War.
The new era that arrived after the Imjin War and the transition between the Ming and Qing Dynasties laid the foundation for the East Asian order for 300 years and wrote a new history.

---「04.
From "The Emergence of a New Hegemon in East Asia: The Transformation of the Ming Dynasty"