Appartment T3 deux chambres

In 1588, the Taiko of Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, dispatched the Daimyo So Yoshitoshi on a diplomatic mission to the Joseon court. So carried a letter informing the Korean king, Seonjo, of Hideyoshi’s intention to invade Ming China, and to march his armies through Korea on the way.

Hideyoshi believed the embassy to have been a tribute mission to show Seoul would swear allegiance to Japan. He gave the ambassadors a letter thanking King Seonjo for « surrendering » to Japan, and telling him to use the Korean army to invade China when Hideyoshi ordered him to. The ambassadors, whose only intention was for Japan to become, like Korea, a tribute state of China, protested at the letter. Hideyoshi had the phrase « surrendering to the Japanese court » removed, but the rest of the letter stood unchanged.