1636년 통신사 관련 기록의 서사 전략 비교 — 디지털 병렬 분석 시스템의 고안과 활용 — = Narrative Strategies in Records of the 1636 Tongsinsa: A digital parallel analysis of Korean and Japanese accounts

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study examines the political and strategic nature of early modern diplomatic records through a digital, date-aligned parallel analysis of Korean and Japanese accounts of the 1636 Tongsinsa mission (Joseon diplomatic mission to Japan; Chosen Tsushinshi) The corpus comprises the Korean records—Byeongja Ilbon Ilgi (Im Gwang), Haesarok (Kim Se-ryeom), and Dongsarok (Hwang Ho)—and the Tsushima-domain record Kan’ei Heishi Shinshi Kiroku.
This study addresses two chronic limitations in prior scholarship: (1) a disciplinary divide in which Korean and Japanese historians have relied primarily on domestic sources; and (2) technical barriers to day-by-day comparison across the five-month co-travel segment of the mission (Oct. 1636–Feb. 1637). To mitigate these issues, a digital system was implemented that aligns entries by date, normalizes personal and place names, and toggles originals/translations, enabling systematic, qualitative comparison.
Analysis identifies four recurrent narrative strategies across the sources: (1) inversion of power relations; (2) redefinition of actional meanings; (3) shifts in agency; and (4) selective recording and omission. These strategies did not remain confined to their moment but later shaped memory and policy. The Geumjeolha (金絶河) incident was progressively reframed as a symbol of Joseon’s moral superiority, while the Nikko (日光) visit shifted from a “voluntary request” to “coercion,” becoming one rationale for ending such visits in 1682. Taken together, the cases indicate a cyclical dynamic in which narrative, memory, and policy interact.
Through close comparisons, this study argues that diplomatic records are better understood as arenas of contested meaning rather than neutral transcripts. The digital, date-aligned workflow complements philological methods and can be extended to cognate source sets, including mission diaries of other Tongsinsa and of Yeonhaengsa (Joseon envoys to Beijing).