Question about James Clavell\'s Shogun

[jomni]

It mentions there that Japan was at war with Korea. Did this really happen? When? Please fill me in on this one.

[FwSeal]

Japan, under the rule of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, invaded Korea in 1592. The Chinese intervened, and a truce was called in 1593, with the Japanese maintaining a foothold in the south. For a number of reasons war resumed in 1597 but without any real gains for the Japanese. Hideyoshi's death in 1598 marked the end of the war, with all Japanese forces withdrawing by the end of the year.
Hideyoshi had intended for the invasion of Korea to be the first step in a conquest of China (he had hoped that the Koreans would allow Japanese troops passage their country).
The Japanese defeat was due to the Chinese intervention, Korean guerilla activity (which tied down a great number of Japanese troops behind the lines), and the powerful Korean navy (under Yi Sun Shin), which played havoc with Japanese supply lines.

[Ii Naomasa]

Shortly after he had consolidated his power in Japan, Oda Nobunaga's successor, Toyotomi Hideyoshi decided that Japan itself wasn't enough and sought to conquer the mainland. Around 1590-91 (don't have the date in front of me) he began to request transportation and other asistance from the kingdom of Korea. After about a year of resisting his offers, Korea itself became the target of Hideyoshi's anger. In early 1592, the samurai had landed in Korea and captured Pusan. Within a month or two, they had captured Seoul. They would have some more successes on land, but ultimately Korean superiority at sea would weaken supply lines and make and stands against the Chinese forces that came to backup the Korean army difficult. By 1593, the Japanese were forced to give up the invasion.

Hideyoshi would make another attempt in 1597, again succeeding at first on the ground before finding his navy vastly outmatched by the numerically inferior Korean forces. Hideyoshi's death a year later signaled the end of the second invasion, as troops were all pulled back home. As Japan fell into three years of a near 'cold war' between the regent guardians of Hideyoshi's son until Sekigahara in 1600, no further attempts were made to obtain mainland land (Okinawa and some other islands would be subjugated, but it would be centuries before Japan decided that it wanted to bother with the outside world, much less conquer it).

There's a quite a bit of writing on the subject of the invasion of Korea (now that you know the who, when, and why, it'll be easier to find), and I believe FWSeal-dono (Who just beat me to the punch, I might add! )has a lot more knowledge of the details than I do.

Hope this brief version helps, though. Even if it's a bit redundant now.

[This message has been edited by Ii Naomasa (edited 09-13-2001).]

[Chiyonofuji]

Japans first invation of Korea (or more accuratly, Silla, which was just one province of the Korean peninsula) was in 602AD. Led by Prince Kume, 25,000 men (mainly peasent foot soldiers)were totally annihillated.

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I wouldn't join any club that would have ME as a member!.

[Chiyonofuji]

Japans next venture to Korea was an expedition of 170 ships to support their allies in the Kingdom of Paekche. This was between 661AD-662AD when the Chinese Tang and their allies, the Silla Kingdom, invaded Paekche. This was again a massive military disaster and the Japanese mainland was in fear of being invaded by the Tang and Silla.
You can see that the animosity between the two nations goes back a long way and is still felt to this day.

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I wouldn't join any club that would have ME as a member!.