8세기 발해·일본간의 사신 왕래와 외교 현안

Abstract

Balhae’s history could be reconstructed only through the historical materials written by Tang or Japan because writing by Balhae had not been handed down now. However, these materials written in the stance of Tang and Japan used to depict Balhae as passive and dependant country. Today, according to formal Japanese studies based on Japanese materials, Japan regarded Balhae as a tributary state. Balhae met Japan’s political demand to get economic purpose around the foreign conflict on Japanese view. Aiming at comprehending foreign conflict between Balhae and Japan from the position of Balhe, this study concretely examined about the things which involved with interchange of envoys between Balhae and Japan in the 8th Century, namely about the sovereign’s message of Balhae, destination of Balhae’s envoys, their sea route for trip to Japan, and Japan’s discontent on the number of Balhae envoys. I took notice that the arrival of Balhae’s envoy in the capital city of Japan to join the rite of new year’s greetings with the help of a northwesterly wind in the winter gave the realistic evidence for Japan to think of Balhae as a tributary state. Therefore Balhae postponed the time to dispatch its envoys not to join the rite of new year’s greetings in Japan in the 9th century on the purpose of adhering to equal relationship and avoiding of foreign conflict with Japan.