Intrigues for Power: The Tokugawa Shogunate, the Japanese Court, and the Korean Embassy in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Abstract: This article discusses the perspectives of three parties: the Korean embassy officials dispatched from the Chosŏn court (1392–1910), the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868), and the imperial court in Kyoto. Immediately after establishing the military government in 1603, the Tokugawa shogunate attempted to consolidate its own military foundation and complete the unification of the country. During this process, inviting the Korean embassy to the Tokugawa shogunate was one of the most important events undertaken by the shogunate, demonstrating to other samurai families that the Tokugawa house was the strongest political authority in the country. Under the Tokugawa regime, the imperial court played a nominal role without political influence. Nonetheless, the shogunate may have considered the imperial court as a latent threat. The members of the imperial family were willing to engage with the Korean embassy for further cultural exchange. In the travelogues to Japan, the officials of the Korean embassy recorded their concerns on the relationship between the imperial court and the shogunate. Their analysis of the matter mentioned the ambiguity of the neighborly relations in the future if the emperor were to recapture political power and thus alarmed whether the new ruler would have maintained amicable relations with Chosŏn. This research focuses on how Korean embassy officials viewed the imperial court, and also the shogunate's reaction to communication between the embassy officials and members of the imperial family who were interested in both the embassy officials and Korean culture.