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.
^ abToby, 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.
