Araihakuseki's North Korean View

Araihakuseki (1657-1725) is one of famous, notable characters in Edo period. There are two main conflicts in foreign relations in the early Tokugawa shogunate era. The first conflict is that how to deal with the problem of Western Catholicism force. The second one is the relationship with the Korean Yi Dynasty. Japan-DPRK relations have been in the distant state after Japanese invasion chaos. However, after the death of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa began to recover the relationship of Japan-North Korea in the early Tokugawa shogunate. The "communication" relationship is established between Japan and North Korea. In 1607, the Korean communications messenger appeared. And in 1710 araihakuseki was appointed as a Korean communications messenger by General Tokugawa. When he made contact with Korean communications messengers, a series of reforms were advanced by him in ceremony aspect.In this study, the araihakuseki's Korean view is discussed by the following three aspects. The first is to show the historical background of the formation of araihakuseki's North Korea view. The domestic situation and some policies are investigated to study the political philosophy of araihakuseki. For international aspect, the diplomatism current and araihakuseki's view on some Asian and European countries are discussed. The second is to analyze the material content of araihakuseki's North Korea view. According to the order of Tokugawa, araihakuseki began to rectify Korean foreign policy and ceremony problem which generally focus on the restoration problems and the treatment of diplomats. This study attempts to illustrate the specific content of araihakuseki's North Korea view on the appellation of national representative, the national taboo issues and the "grid" problem of communication messenger. The third aspect is to discuss the influence of araihakuseki's North Korea view to the future of Japanese society. From the reform of appointment etiquette, "the appointment etiquette of other place" to the concept of occupation of the Korean, the process can be deemed an important turning point. For ordinary Japanese, the point of view on North Korea mainly is exhibited in drama aspect. They labeled North Korean as the Rebels to reflect "not faith" and the cunning of Korean. In this process, araihakuseki's own unique view of North Korea was formed. Furthermore, his North Korean view plays a great important role to learn North Korea later. Therefore, it is a great significance to study araihakuseki's North Korea view.