The Gyemi/Horeki Tongshinsa of 1763 was the diplomatic mission that left the greatest volume of records in the history of Tongshinsa sent to Japan during the late Joseon/Edo period. On the Joseon side, 12 volumes of mission journal sand over 30 volume...
The Gyemi/Horeki Tongshinsa of 1763 was the diplomatic mission that left the greatest volume of records in the history of Tongshinsa sent to Japan during the late Joseon/Edo period. On the Joseon side, 12 volumes of mission journal sand over 30 volumes of the pildamchanghwajip(book of responsory writings) have been passed down to this day and printed and hand-transcribed copies remain invarious forms. When we examine, based on these documents, the perception of the literary men of Joseon and Japan regarding shimunchanghwa(responsory poetry and prose), the opportunity for which had been opened by the Tongshinsa, it can be seen that there is a big difference between the two groups. The nature of the Joseon delegation with its core made up of Jesulgwan(officials in charge of writing) and Seogi(official scribes) was strongly defined by its diplomatic mission. The responsibility of showing their national culture through shimunchanghwa and the cautiousness about behavior that may ruin the reception and possibly damage national prestige are consistently displayed. Hence a great amount of detail verifying the friendly relations between the two nations are contained in the shimun(poetry) and pildam(conversation through writing). The sentence about civilizing the barbarians seen occasionally in the mission journals ends as being just words, and the delegates, facing a sit uation where their hands were full meeting and composing changhwashi(responsory poetry) with numerous Japanese men of letters, displayed the attitude of diligently completing their task. But this bureaucratic diligence of the Joseon literary men provided an entry of criticism for Japan`s men of letters who were seeking new trends. The literary men of Japan have strong characteristics of hired hands who controlled and used Chinese literary knowledge to serve their lords. Hence pildamchanghwa with the Joseon literary men was used as a good opportunity to display their talents. The pildamchanghwa ability was a type of skill, and the meeting with the Joseon men became an arena of competition. The changsu(exchange of responsory writing) by the literary men of both countries were described mostly in terms of battle, and nstances where the compositions are expressed as weapons have been found. Even if pildamchanghwa discusses friendship, the perception of literary battle is strongly revealed in the preface. Further more, a belligerent perception is shown where shimunchanghwa with the Joseon literary men are compared to Queen JIngu`s conquest of Samhan and Toyotomi`s invasion of Joseon. In the preface of the pildamchanghwajip which the Joseon literary men could not see, the literary men of Japan discriminately praised with exaggeration the results attained from shimunchanghwa through comparisons like those mentioned above. Since in this process they were free from concern about breaking a diplomatic taboo, it contained the likelihood of distortion and exaggeration of historical facts. The literary men of the two countries differed in terms of social position and the utilization attained through shimunchanghwa. Although they engaged in pildamchanghwa in the same room, each group paid attention to different parts. T he task of the Joseon literary men was to achieve the diplomatic goal of good-neighborliness. In contrast, for the literary men of Japan, the encounter was an opportunity to prove their ability in Chinese literature and at times to acquire or verify their knowledge of Chinese literature, and as such, unlike the Joseon men of letters, their will to realize personal desires was strong.