Thesis
Tracing Tsushima’s authority in early modern Japan–Korea relations, 1586–1811
- Abstract:
- This thesis explores the changing role of the Tsushima domain in interactions between Japan and Korea from the domain’s submission to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1586 to the last Korean embassy to Tokugawa Japan in 1811. This thesis challenges the persistent centrality of the Tokugawa shogunate in the historiography of Japanese diplomacy and argues that it was Tsushima that created and maintained early modern Japan’s relations with Korea, with the shogunate influencing relations only sporadically or incidentally. Because the Korean trade was a core component of the Tsushima daimyo’s governance, Korea relations were closely influenced by Tsushima’s internal politics. The protocols and bureaucracy that supported the presence of Tokugawa authorities in Korea relations were predominantly established by Tsushima, and the domain’s international operations, including the handling of Tokugawa agendas, were consistently guided by the domain’s own interests. To understand Tsushima’s involvement in early modern Japan–Korea relations on the domain’s own terms, this thesis explores Tsushima’s vast archive to illuminate the domain’s perspective and present a cohesive Tsushima narrative. Part one demonstrates that the epistolary protocols and the bureaucratic framework of Tokugawa–Chosŏn relations were formulated in the seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries by Tsushima’s initiatives to re-characterise itself as the Tokugawa hegemon’s representative and to retain its monopoly over the Korean trade. The framework of Tokugawa Japan’s Korea relations inherently incorporated Tsushima’s ‘private’ relations with Korea and the domain’s discretionary authority as fundamental methods of diplomacy. Part two moves to the mid- and late-eighteenth century, when the Tsushima administration moved closer to the Tokugawa authority both politically and ideologically to rationalise its financial dependency on Tokugawa aid. This shift in political atmosphere ruptured Tsushima’s identity as a domain and resulted in heated factional conflicts during the negotiations for the 1811 Korean embassy, inviting extensive shogunal intervention that penetrated Tsushima’s diplomatic authority.
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Authors
Contributors
+ Lewis, JB
- Institution:
- University of Oxford
- Division:
- HUMS
- Department:
- Asian and Middle Eastern Studies
- Oxford college:
- Wolfson College
- Role:
- Supervisor
+ Japan Foundation
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/020bngz38
- Funding agency for:
- Xia, K
- Grant:
- 10127170
- Programme:
- Japan Foundation Fellowship Program
- DOI:
- Type of award:
- DPhil
- Level of award:
- Doctoral
- Awarding institution:
- University of Oxford
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Subjects:
- Deposit date:
-
2025-04-08
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Kangziyi Xia (Xia-Kang Ziyi)
- Copyright date:
- 2024
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