Kim Ju-song's Japan Field Study A Journey Following the Path of the Joseon Diplomatic Missions (2)

On the afternoon of the second day of our journey following the path of the Joseon Diplomatic Missions, we visited the Murotsu Harbor Museum in Tatsuno City, located near Himeji. This was a place where the diplomatic envoys anchored and stayed before proceeding to the Kobe area.

As a result, this location was where the traces of the diplomatic missions were felt more strongly than anywhere else we visited.

The Murotsu Harbor Museum displays replicas of food that was supplied to the Joseon Diplomatic Missions during the Edo Period, allowing us to understand what meals were provided to the envoys upon their arrival in this region.

Additionally, there were folding screens that are replicas housed in other museums, which allowed us to glimpse the grand and dignified processions of the Joseon Diplomatic Missions at that time.

Beyond this, lodging records remain documenting that the Joseon Diplomatic Missions dispatched to Japan in 1748 stayed here, allowing us to view vivid scenes of that period.

Besides the Joseon Diplomatic Missions, the Murotsu region was also a route taken by Japanese feudal lords who participated in the Sankin-kōtai (参勤交代: a system implemented by the Edo shogunate during the Edo Period to control regional powers) as they passed through the Seto Inland Sea to reach Edo. Many documents remain documenting the stays of feudal lords from Shikoku and other regions at the Murotsu Harbor Museum for the Sankin-kōtai.

The Murotsu harbor was a port of call that provided comfortable rest for all who traveled the Seto Inland Sea, including the Joseon Diplomatic Missions.

Although the harbor museum is a 19th-century building, the fact that it was constructed as a two-story structure suggests that it prospered significantly as an intermediate port of call.

This field study was a journey retracing the route the diplomatic missions took toward Osaka in reverse. On the first day, we could survey the diplomatic missions' route from a high mountain overlooking the coastline, which was the final anchoring point and arrival location. On the second day, we examined Murotsu on the way to Osaka, and on the third day, we finally surveyed Shimonoseki, the gateway to the Seto Inland Sea, where the envoy procession that departed from Busan passed through Tsushima Island, Iki Island, and Ainoshima.

There were two locations related to the Joseon Diplomatic Missions in Shimonoseki. One is a monument erected in 2001 at the site where they landed, and the other is the Akama Shrine (赤間神宮), built on the grounds of the Amitaji Temple (阿彌陀寺) where they stayed. The envoy delegation that departed from Busan anchored at Shimonoseki before entering the Seto Inland Sea, passing through Tsushima Island, Iki Island, and Ainoshima. At this time, they landed using a specially constructed pier in front of the Amitaji Temple.

Even today, examining these two locations, we can see steps leading down to the sea directly across from the shrine, and beside them stands the Monument to the Landing and Stay of the Joseon Diplomatic Missions (朝鮮通信使 上陸淹留之碑) erected to commemorate their landing here.

Shimonoseki was originally called Akama-Gasseki (赤間關). The name changed to its current form in 1902. However, we can see that the old name has been preserved in Akama Shrine (赤間神宮), built on the grounds of the Amitaji Temple (阿彌陀寺) where the Joseon Diplomatic Missions reportedly stayed.

Furthermore, a shipping route connecting Busan and Shimonoseki (下關) was established from 1905 through the Busan-Shimonoseki passenger ship service. This service was interrupted after Korea's liberation in 1945 but resumed again from 1970. We could see that the Shimonoseki region has served as a link between Japan and Korea not only during the Joseon Period but continues to do so today.

Additionally, this region is an area where many Heike crabs (平家蟹) are caught. Between Shimonoseki and the Moji region of Kitakyushu City, across the Kanmon Strait, a legend related to the Battle of Dan-no-Ura, which took place during the Heian Period, has been transmitted in connection with these crabs.

Specifically, it is said that people who died in this naval battle became crabs with faces resembling human faces. Furthermore, at the shrine where the diplomatic missions stayed, there are also accounts related to this war. According to one account, Taira no Tokiko and Emperor Antoku jumped into the sea together as they were defeated in the battle.

On the afternoon of the third day, we headed to the Nagoya Castle Museum and Nagoya Castle in Saga Prefecture.

Shortly after crossing the bridge over the Kanmon Strait, traffic became severely congested, and upon arrival, we found the museum was about to close.

Therefore, we hurriedly entered for a quick tour, where the Nagoya Castle Museum displayed artifacts excavated from the surrounding region, with explanations indicating which parts of the Korean Peninsula they came from and in what era they were transmitted.

Ultimately, the artifacts here explained that the Korean Peninsula and Japan maintained very close exchanges from the Three Kingdoms Period and even earlier. It primarily took the form of explaining culture transmitted from the Korean Peninsula, including official Joseon documents and artifacts related to the dispatch of the Joseon Diplomatic Missions.

Two Nagoya cities exist in Japan: one is the Nagoya (名古屋) region, a major city in Aichi Prefecture, and the other is the Nagoya (名護屋) region in Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture.

The site we visited was the latter, Nagoya, which was established as a military base by Toyotomi Hideyoshi during the Imjin War for the invasion of Joseon. With Nagoya Castle, commanded by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, at the center, daimyo from various regions throughout the country were stationed within a three-kilometer radius.

Compared to other Japanese castles, Nagoya Castle can be described as small in scale, but the location where the castle stood was an open area where one could broadly survey all the garrisons in the surrounding area as well as the sea leading to the Korean Peninsula.

Through this, we could understand how thoroughly Japan prepared for the invasion of Joseon at that time.

The final destination of our field study was Kushida Shrine in Fukuoka. At the alley leading to Kushida Shrine stands a stone torii gate erected in Showa 9 (1934).

Inscribed on this torii are the names of those who constructed this structure and donated it to the Hakata Shrine—people known as Hakata (博多産子中). At this shrine, the sun goddess Amaterasu and the sea god Susanoo are enshrined.

These deities are enshrined at the center as the main deities, and surrounded by them are many small shrines built within the temple grounds, enshrining various other deities believed in by the local community.

In the Hakata region where Kushida Shrine is located, the Hakata Gion Matsuri is held in July, during which there is an event where elaborately crafted mikoshi (portable shrines) are carried in procession. Each town in the Hakata region creates one mikoshi to submit to the local festival.

Within the precincts of Kushida Shrine, the mikoshi that won the championship this year is on display. Given its great height and various decorative elements including waves, we imagined that carrying this mikoshi must have been extremely difficult for those involved.

According to our guide, those who carry this mikoshi prepare their minds and bodies as if undergoing purification (齋戒), dedicating themselves to practice until the festival takes place. We could see that the festival was conducted with genuine sincerity.

Another notable feature at Kushida Shrine is two stones believed to be anchor stones abandoned by the Mongol-Yuan allied forces. These stones are displayed, supported as pedestals beneath an ancient ginkgo tree estimated to be over a thousand years old.

The artifacts believed to be anchor stones are said to have been relocated to Kushida Shrine to commemorate Japan's dire situation during its invasion by the Mongol-Yuan allied forces in the Kamakura Period and to honor the divine protection that repelled the Mongol-Yuan forces through a sudden windstorm.

Although this field study was conducted over a short period, by confirming the traces of the Mongol-Yuan allied forces, sites related to the Imjin War, and subsequently the routes of the Joseon Diplomatic Missions, we were able to verify the history that took place between Korea and Japan at that time.