Korean History Time: The Imjin War (part 1)
Korean history is probably one of my favorite things to learn and talk about. Today, we’re going to be looking at one of Korea’s darkest times in history: the Imjin War. It lasted seven years, from 1592 to 1598, so we have a lot to uncover. Grab your favorite Korean snack, kick back, and enjoy!
There’s a book called Jingbirok (懲毖錄), which literally translates to “The Book of Correction.” It’s a first hand account of the events leading up to and during the Imjin War. Ryu Seong-ryong (柳成龍), the Chief State Councillor of Joseon (the modern equivalent of Korea’s prime minister) wrote this book as a memoir of the events and his experiences. Most of what I’m telling you is taken from Jingbirok.
Now let’s really get started. For those of you who don’t know, the Imjin War was mostly a giant beat-down of the Korean peninsula by Japanese forces. But why was this the case?
This leads us to the words of a famous tactician from China, which I’m sure most of you have at least heard of. Sun Tzu, the author of The Art of War, says “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles…” In other words, intelligence is the leading factor of winning a war.
So why was Joseon so unbelievably helpless before the Japanese during the war? The answer: the Japanese “knew” Joseon, but Joseon didn’t “know” anything about Japan. Nada. Zilch.
Now you might say: Then why didn’t Joseon “know” the Japanese?
Wow, I thought you would never ask!
If you do a simple graph of Korea’s political history, it looks like the capital letter M. The starting point of the M is the creation of the Joseon dynasty, which was the reign of King Taejo (태조 왕건), and the first peak of the letter M is the reign of King Sejong the Great (세종대왕), during the 15th century.
During this peak, which symbolizes Joseon’s Golden Age, Korean intelligence on the Japanese was also at an all-time high. King Sejong said to his ministers: “Go and see what our neighbors are doing over there!” and sent 60 envoy trips during his reign. The information gathered on the Japanese people and its government was so great that the Joseon ambassadors even wrote a report book on Japan.
A Japanese painting of a Joseon diplomatic procession through the streets of Edo by Hanegawa Tōei
Then we reach the bottom of the M, also known as the reign of King Seonjo (선조). At this time, Joseon’s politics had become bipartisan, which means politics were divided between two dominating parties. Kind of like the Republicans and Democrats of the U.S., Joseon had the East and West Parties that constantly tried to gain power over each other with every single political decision…
In other words, the Joseon government was too busy fighting itself to really pay attention to its neighbors. In fact, from the end of Sejong’s reign to the beginning of the Imjin War, only a total of five emissaries were sent to Japan! Of course the Koreans had no idea what was going on across the sea!
This might lead some of you to ask: How did Joseon get to the point where it ignored its neighbors almost entirely? Even if there was political infighting, shouldn’t they have been worried about invasion from other countries?
Here’s the answer: Joseon had experienced a period of peace for around 200 straight years on the Korean Peninsula. The “Land of Morning Calm” had a sense of security from their great track record of not getting into conflicts.
So honestly speaking, I think having such a good and peaceful life isn’t such a great thing after all. Small obstacles in life make a person strong and tough as they overcome each one. However, a person who hasn’t experienced a single hardship in their life would probably fall apart when they inevitably encounter an obstacle—and I believe this is the message of the Imjin War.
Putting it another way, it’s like a child—who has been sheltered and never gotten sick their whole life—getting in contact with the flu. Their immune system has never become strong in the face of different germs and illnesses, so even a common flu can kill them, when such a flu would only leave another kid in bed for maybe a day or two.
Going back to Sun Tzu’s words, the Japanese “knew” Joseon very well, so it was a given that they should beat up the Koreans fairly easily. So the next question is: How did Japan know so much about Joseon?
For over 100 years, while Joseon was busy painting, writing, and dabbling in the arts, Japan was embroiled in a civil war known as the Sengoku Jidai (戦国時代:“Warring States Period”). The Japanese had learned and polished their military tactics from constant warfare, and after finally uniting under Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the Japanese were looking for a new place to test their skills…
Oh, look! There’s China!
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the feudal lord of Japan, dreamed of conquering China, and perhaps even India. The only thing in the way was Joseon.
A Japanese painting of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, known as the Second Great Unifier of Japan.
So Hideyoshi declared to his court that he would use the Korean peninsula as a stepping stone in his conquest of Ming China. That was when the preparations for the invasion of Joseon began. Japan sent a ton of spies to Joseon, in the disguise of merchants, monks, and more.
When Toyotomi Hideyoshi received reports from these spies, there were two things that they always highlighted about Joseon.
Joseon didn’t have a military. When Hideyoshi read this, he was baffled. A country without a military? How was that possible? At first, Hideyoshi couldn’t believe it, but further confirmations from his spies eventually convinced him that yes, Joseon didn’t have a military. And as funny as it sounds, the Japanese spies were right. Joseon’s military was basically non-existent!
Half of Joseon was made up of slaves. Hideyoshi’s spies told him that half of Joseon were of the slave and serf class, called nobi (노비). The Joseon nobility fed off the blood, sweat, and tears of the nobi, and unfortunately, the government did nothing to stop this from happening.
In other words, the spies told Hideyoshi, a slight nudge from Japanese forces would cause the Jenga tower of Joseon to come tumbling down. An invasion of this country would be effortless, perhaps even laughably easy. Thus, Hideyoshi began gathering troops for the invasion.
Wanna know something surprising? Before the invasion of Joseon began, the Korean government already kinda knew it was going to happen, and they didn’t really do anything to prepare for it. So another thing we can learn from the Imjin War is this: All danger comes with a signal.
In a very aggressive letter, Toyotomi Hideyoshi wrote to the Joseon government something along the lines of: “The Joseon Dynasty should surrender to Japan and become a tributary state under me. I will conquer Ming China, and the Joseon Dynasty should serve me in accomplishing this goal.”
Now, at this time, letters between the two governments did not directly reach each other. Joseon and Japan used the island of Tsushima Island as a sort of post office where letters would then be sent to the other.
When the feudal lord of Tsushima received Hideyoshi’s letter, he opened it and read it. He was very shocked and disturbed. Since Tsushima was a prosperous island, where merchant ships between the two countries came and went, the threat of war might cut off trade between the two completely. In other words, the threat letter would cause the feudal lord of Tsushima to lose money, and he couldn’t let that happen.
So, the lord of Tsushima decided to change the letter. Instead of saying, “Surrender to Japan and become our tributary state,” the lord changed it to: “Could you send us ambassadors to pay us respect every now and then?” And instead of “Help us invade China by giving us your resources and people,” the new letter said: “Could you move aside, so that we could attack China?”
Of course, the contents of the forged letter were still concerning, so when the Korean government received the letter and showed it to Ryu Seong-ryong, the Chief State Councillor, he talked to the king about it.
“I think we have a problem,” Ryu Seong-Ryong said to King Seonjo. “We need to send ambassadors to find out what’s really going on.”
To appease the East and West Parties (which were still bickering, by the way), King Seonjo sent an ambassador from each party to Japan. However, Toyotomi Hideyoshi refused to have an audience with the Joseon ambassadors, making them wait for several months in Japan. Personally, I would not have taken that level of disrespect.
And when Toyotomi Hideyoshi finally met the ambassadors from Joseon, he brought his infant son with him, which was also considered disrespectful at the time. Children weren’t supposed to be present during political meetings. What’s more, Hideyoshi’s son peed over his clothes. And not only that, Hideyoshi started to undress in front of the Joseon ambassadors!
With this display of disrespect and disregard to proper custom, the Joseon ambassadors were simply astounded and left. When they returned to Joseon, King Seonjo asked them: “So how’d it go? Do you really think Japan is trying to invade us?”
The ambassador from the West Party, Hwang Yun Gil (황윤길) reported that in his brief meeting with the Japanese lord, he could tell that Hideyoshi was very serious trouble. “I can sense that he will invade us,” Hwang Yun Gil told King Seonjo and the court. “We must prepare for the inevitable invasion.”
King Seonjo was very troubled by this, so he asked the ambassador from the East Party to confirm this. Kim Sung-il (김성일), the East Party’s ambassador, contradicted Hwang Yun Gil’s report by commenting that Hideyoshi looked like a mouse. “There’s no way this guy will attack Joseon,” Kim Sung-il remarked. “He’s just bluffing.”
King Seonjo, desperately hoping for a peaceful reign, chose to believe Kim Sung-il’s words. However, the Joseon court was still uneasy about the threat of invasion, especially Chief State Councillor Ryu Seong-ryong.
Ryu Seong-ryong went to Kim Sung-il privately at a later time and asked him what he really believed. “Do you really think Japan is bluffing? On what basis do you believe that Hideyoshi will not invade Joseon?”
Kim Sung-il confessed that he also believed Japan would invade Joseon. “However,” Kim Sung-il explained to Ryu Seong-ryong, “if both ambassadors had agreed that Japan would invade, the whole country would go into chaos.”
Some of you might be confused. Why would Kim Sung-il deliberately deceive the Joseon court? Kim Sung-il’s reasoning was this:
Joseon’s 200 years of peace had caused the defense budget to completely disappear. Joseon didn’t have enough money to raise a military either. In order to get that money, the government would have to raise taxes. Kim Sung-il reasoned that since the common people were already struggling because of the nobility taking advantage of them, raising taxes would only cause the people to revolt. And what if, at the end of it all, Japan chose not to invade? The government would have forced suffering onto the people for no reason at all.
Joseon’s not in a good situation at all, Kim Sung-il told Ryu Seong-ryong. It’s a lose-lose situation. Creating a military would cause strain on the people and rebellion, and not doing anything at all would only leave Joseon vulnerable to invasion.
Though some people may call Kim Sung-il a bad man for not telling the truth, when war did break out, Kim Sung-il was the first one on the front lines. He died fighting the Japanese.
What will happen? Stuck in between a rock and hard place, how will Korea react in the face of pending invasion?
Tune in for Part 2 of the blog to find out more!
