근세 쓰시마 조선어통사의 정보수집 경로와 내용

Abstract

During the early 17th century Japan’s foreign relations contracted dramatically due to the so-called seclusion policy of the Tokugawa bakufu. The country, however, was far from closed. The bakufu maintained four windows to the outside world which included Nagasaki, Tsushima, Satsuma and Matsumae, through which foreign trade and diplomacy were conducted. These places also played an important role in collecting and distributing information related to Japan’s national security. Tsushima played a key role in collecting Korea-related and China-related information. The Japanese Outpost in Korea called Waegwan(倭館) established and managed by Tsushima played a key role in Japan’s foreign relations with Korea. Korean officials and merchants visited the Waegwan, and they were to be mediated by Tsushima’s Korean interpreters in their dealings with the Japanese counterparts. Korean interpreters had their origin in Sixty Merchants(六十人商), who were the privileged merchants of the Tsushima domain and engaged in the Korea trade and had some communication ability in Korean. They were mobilized when needed and began to reside at Waegwan since 1693. The basic duty of Korean interpreters was interpretation, and they also translated the documents written in Chinese or Korean to be sent to Tsushima and Edo. Since they had to be present in all the dealings and negotiations between Korea and Japan, they were able to play a mediating role in those dealings and negotiations. The most important duty assigned to them by the Tsushima domain, however, was to collect information on Koran or China. The domain needed the information for its own purposes, and sometimes the bakufu ordered Tsushima to gather specific information on Korea or China. It was Korean interpreters who actually engaged in the information gathering work in the field. In Korean interpreters’s information gathering work the main source of information was Korea’s Japanese interpreters, who were counterparts of Korean interpreters in their daily business. They even showed their good will by providing the requested information by taking advantage of their personal networks in the capital Hanseong(漢城). Some information delivered by them were more valuable than those delivered through the official line because the former tended to be unfiltered and undoctored. Korean officials were very careful in delivering information related to China, and they were also reluctant to deliver information unfavorable for Korea. These information were likely to be altered or curtailed by Korean officials when they were delivered to the Japanese at Waegwan. The bakufu wanted to have information related to Japan’s national security delivered, but the Tsushima domain needed a wide range of information on Korea in addition to the ones requested by the bakufu.