임진왜란사의 庚寅通信使 관련 역사서술의 문제

Abstract

This paper aims to show the problems of the historiography about the Legate of the year 1590. In this investigation it is found that there is a misconception of the context, which influenced much both on historical judgement and on history teaching. Most historians recognize that the reports informing the Japanese invasion were contradictory and the difference was owing to the party politics, which kept the Chosun government from preventing the invasion as a result. Reflecting this opinion, most books treating the Legate of the year 1590 have the same trend of focusing only on the antagonistic attitudes of the two representatives, Yun-gil Hwang and Seong-il Kim, instead diminishing the full explanation of the legate. The authors altogether attribute the cause of the ravages of Japanese invasion to the problem of party politics. But there are many problems on the situation and context of such contents. For example most history handbooks treat the contradictory reports after the dissension of Eastern and Western parties. This could make the authors look the report problem in the factional plot. This way of story telling has two defects. First, it is evident that there was no record of the response of the government and of the decision-making relating to the reports. As a rule the informations consist of some contradictory contents, which should wait the analysis. Second, the information about the possibility of invasion was based on the first impression of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, which could not be a reliable information. Most authors have a kind of regretful view of the Japanese Invasion. Was it possible for the government to prevent the invasion if the reports had the same information of its possibility? It is better to re-search the historical context of the Legate of the year 1590 for the historiography and the history teaching.