The Failure of Reforms in the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

As a rule, compared with its Japanese counterpart, Korea handed down copious records such as Chosŏn wangjo sillok, Sŭngjŏngwŏn ilgi, Pibyŏnsa tŭngnok, Haedong chegukki, T’ongmun’gwanji, Chŭngjŏng kyorinji and others describing Korean—Japanese relations. However, from the end of the seventeenth century the sources at Tsushima increased rapidly, records became more organised and systematised, and their concrete descriptions surpassed Korean sources. Osa Masanori observes that during the end of the seventeenth century and the beginning of the eighteenth century Japanese—Korean relations witnessed a transition period from Japan’s scarce record-keeping to the “period of record” (kiroku no jidai).¹ Osa points out that this surge in record-keeping was due to the centralised bureaucratic system of the Tsushima domain that was established during the Sō Yoshizane period (1657–1692).