Yi Ye

Yi Ye
Hangul 이예
Hanja 李藝
Revised Romanization Yi Ye
McCune–Reischauer Yi Ye

Yi Ye (1373–1445) was a military-official of the Joseon Dynasty Korea in 15th century.

He was also diplomat and ambassador, representing Joseon interests in two diplomatic missions to the Ashikaga shogunate (Muromachi bafuku) in Japan.[1]

Yi Ye was the chief envoy or ambassador in the 1432 delegation;[2] and he was the vice envoy in 1423.[3] A diplomatic mission conventionally consisted of three envoys—the main envoy, the vice-envoy, and a document official. Also included were one or more official writers or recorders who created a detailed account of the mission.[4]

Contents

1423 mission to Japan

King Sejong dispatched a diplomatic mission to Japan in 1423. This embassy to court of Ashikaga Yoshinori was led by Pak Hǔi-chung[2] and the vice-envoy was Yi Ye.[3] The envoys of the Joseon court traveled to Kyoto in response to a message sent by the Japanese shogun;[2] and also, the delegation was charged with conveying an offer to send a copy of a rare Buddhist text.[5]

1432 mission to Japan

King Sejong sent a diplomatic mission in 1432; and its chief envoy was led this time by Yi Ye. As in his earlier visit to Kyoto, the delegation was charged with carrying the Joseon response to a message sent by the Japanese shogun.[2]

The Japanese hosts may have construed these mission as tending to confirm a Japanocentric world order.[6] In each instance, the Joseon delegations were more narrowly focused in negotiating protocols for Joseon-Japan diplomatic relations.[2]

Recognition in the West

Pak Tong-chi's historical significance was confirmed when his 1423 mission was specifically mentioned in a widely-distributed history published by the Oriental Translation Fund in 1834.[5]

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),[7] and in Nihon ōdai ichiran (published in Paris in 1834). Joseon foreign relations and diplomacy are explicitly referenced in the 1834 work.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Lee, Sang Oak et al. (1998). Perspectives on Korea, p. 268.
  2. ^ a b c d e Kang, Etsuko H. (1997). Diplomacy and Ideology in Japanese-Korean Relations: from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century, p. 275.
  3. ^ a b Kang, p. 72.
  4. ^ Walraven, Boudewign et al. (2007). Korea in the middle: Korean studies and area studies, p. 362.
  5. ^ a b Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). Annales des empereurs du japon, p. 330.
  6. ^ Arano Yasunori (2005). "The Formation of A Japanocentric World Order," The International Journal of Asian Studies, 2 , pp 185-216.
  7. ^ Vos, Ken. "Accidental acquisitions: The nineteenth-century Korean collections in the National Museum of Ethnology, Part 1," p. 6.

References

External links