China, Korea & Japan at war, 1592-1598 : eyewitness accounts / J. Marshall Craig.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Craig, J. Marshall, author.

Series:

Asian states and empires.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Korea--History--Japanese Invasions, 1592-1598--Sources.

Korea.

East Asia--History, Military--Sources.

East Asia.

China--History--Ming dynasty, 1368-1644--Sources.

China.

China--History, Military--960-1644--Sources.

Japan--History, Military--To 1868--Sources.

Japan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (203 pages).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, New York : Routledge, [2020]

Summary:

"The East Asian War of 1592 to 1598 was the only extended war before modern times to involve Japan, Korea, and China. It devastated huge swathes of Korea and led to large population movements across borders. This book draws on surviving letters and diaries to recount the personal experiences of five individuals from different backgrounds who lived through the war and experienced its devastating effects: a Chinese doctor who became a spy; a Japanese samurai on his first foreign expedition; a Korean gentleman turned refugee; a Korean scholar-diplomat; and a Japanese Buddhist monk involved in the atrocities of the invasion. The book outlines the context of the war so that readers can understand the background against which the writers' lives were lived, allows the individual voices of the five men and their reflections on events to come through, and casts much light on prevailing attitudes and conditions, including cultural interaction, identity, cross-border information networks, class conflict, the role of religion in society, and many others aspects of each writer's world"--

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

Table of Contents

List of figures

List of maps

Preface

Acknowledgements

Stylistic conventions

Prologue: witnesses to the largest conflict of the sixteenth century

Never-ending stories

Alternative perspectives on a major historical moment

A question of us and them

Dramatis personae

Xu Yihou, patriot in exile

Yoshino Jingozaemon, warrior of Japan

Oh Hŭimun, refugee in his own land

Hwang Shin, intrepid ambassador

Keinen, reluctant invader

Setting the scene

Japan, Korea, and China ante bellum

War and peace

Notes

References

1 Warning of the tsunami to come: Xu Yihou, patriot in exile

Calm before the storm

Loyalty behind enemy lines

Xu's actions in his own words

Xu's intelligence report

Xu on Hideyoshi and Japan

Xu's view of the world from Japan

China among equals?

Concluding remarks

2 Glory in defeat: Yoshino Jingozaemon, warrior of Japan

Yoshino's diary

Survival of the text

Yoshino's story

Japan against the world

Three lands

Land of the Gods and Korea

Past glory and present defeat

The Japanese in Chosŏn

Gods of war

Us and them

Enter the dragon

Honourable discharge

One tale among many

Conclusions

3 Between a tiger and wolves: Oh Hŭimun, refugee in his own land

The author

The diary

1592-1593, 'over by new year'

1593, Chinese insult to Japanese injury

1593-1594, surviving disease and famine

1594, living with the Japanese

1594-1595, everyday life continues

1596, the prospect of peace

Reflections

4 When peace broke: Hwang Shin, intrepid ambassador

Peace process 1593-1596

Two ambassadors, two diaries

The diary of Hwang Shin.

The diary of Pak Hongjang

Osaka and Hideyoshi's wrath

Return from Japan

Attitudes towards Koreans in Japan

Japan and the Japanese

5 Descent into hell: Keinen, reluctant invader

Keinen's journey: through hell to paradise

Crossing into the unknown

Witness to suffering

Victims and perpetrators

Axis mundi

Enemy at the gates

Land of the Gods

Return

Afterword

6 A world connected: Oh Hŭimun, one among many

1597, the second invasion

Joined in communication

Separated by class

1597-1598, end game

1598, peace at last

The Ming in Chosŏn: a dangerous spectacle

A Ming monument in Chosŏn

Chosŏn for the Chinese

Further thoughts

China experienced and imagined

A connected world

Class and country

Postscript - beyond the war

7 Post war: stories retold, countries reimagined

Post war

Selective memories

Reversion to type: un-learning about the Japanese

China the unassailable: from might to right

When China bowed to Japan: a story long in the making

China, Korea, and Japan lived and imagined

Epilogue: the war of 1592-1598 and national identity

Defining the 'nation'

Culture as identity

Imagined communities

Mass participation

To be or not to be a nation

The limits of definition

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

0-429-88976-3

0-429-46910-1

9780429469107

OCLC:

1151661653