The Imjin War (83 page)

[186]
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 202, 17/4/Sonjo 25; May 27, 1592).

[187]
Stephen Turnbull,
The Samurai. A Military History
(London: Osprey Publishing, 1977), 204-206; Turnbull,
Samurai Sourcebook
, 48-49; Griffis,
Corea
, 97.

[188]
Turnbull,
Military History
, 205.

[189]
Yu Song-nyong, 62-64;
Sonjo sujong sillok
, vol. 3, 234-235 (4/Sonjo 25; May/June 1592). According to Yu Song-nyong, Yi Il had “800 to 900” men at Sangju, while the
sillok
says he had “no more than 6,000.” Yu’s lower figure is the one usually quoted in Korean accounts of the battle and is the one I have given in the text.

[190]
Sonjo sujong sillok
, vol. 3, 238-239 (4/Sonjo 25; May 1592).

[191]
Burton Watson, trans.,
Records of the Grand Historian of China. Translated from the Shih chi of Ssu-ma chien,
vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 217. (“Grand Historian” Ssu-ma ch’ien [c.145– c.90 B.C.] was the first major Chinese historian whose work has survived until today.)

[192]
Taikoki
, quoted in Turnbull,
Samurai Invasion
, 59.

[193]
Murdoch, 323. There are discrepancies in the literature regarding when Kato’s and Konishi’s forces joined up. Murdoch’s account, based upon information Konishi himself provided the Jesuits, seems the most authoritative.

[194]
Sonjo sujong sillok
, vol. 3, 238-239 (4/Sonjo 25; May/June 1592).

[195]
This was not the first time that the validity of “fighting with a river to one’s back” had been undermined by technological change. In 1575 Hideyoshi himself, then a general in Oda Nobunaga’s army, was a witness to this fact in a battle against Takeda Katsuyori. Takeda, considering his situation desperate, resorted to the borrowed Chinese strategy known in Japanese as
haisui-no-jin
(arranging troops with water to the rear), and positioned his traditionally armed force of fifteen thousand with their backs to the Takinosawa River. In the ensuing battle, the hand-to-hand fighting that Takeda expected his desperate men would excel at never occurred. Hideyoshi’s army simply stood back and mowed them down with musket fire (Dening, 157-158).

[196]
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 202 (27/4/Sonjo 25; June 6, 1592).

[197]
Katano, 123-126; Murdoch, 324; Jones, 149.

[198]
Hulbert, vol. 1, 359-360;
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 203 (28/4/Sonjo 25; June 7, 1592).

[199]
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 203-204 (28/4/Sonjo 25; June 7, 1592).

[200]
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 206 (29/4/Sonjo 25; June 8, 1592);
Sonjo sujong sillok
, vol. 3, 240-241 (4/Sonjo 25; May/June 1592).

[201]
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 206-207 (30/4/Sonjo 25; June 9, 1592);
Sonjo sujong sillok
, vol. 3, 244-245 (5/Sonjo 25; June 1592).

[202]
Hulbert, vol. 1, 366.

[203]
Jones, 149.

[204]
Yang Jae-suk,
Imjin waeran-un uri-ga igin chonjaeng iottda
(Seoul: Garam, 2001), 103-109.

[205]
Taikoki
, quoted in Turnbull,
Samurai Invasion
, 63-64.

[206]
For example, Park Yune-hee, 107.

[207]
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 216-217 (3/5/Sonjo 25; June 12, 1592); Jones, 151-152.

[208]
Sonjo sujong sillok
, vol. 3, 248 (5/Sonjo 25; June 1592); Alan Clark and Donald Clark,
Seoul: Past and Present
(Seoul: Hollym, 1969), 99-102. The Japanese also established a military camp at what is today Seoul’s Itaewon district (ibid., 152-53).

[209]
Order issued by Hideyoshi on 1/Bunroku 1 (Feb. 1592), in Cho Chung-hwa,
Paro chap-un imjin waeran-sa
(Seoul: Salmgwa-ggum, 1998), 40.

Chapter 9: Hideyoshi Jubilant

[210]
Hideyoshi to Saisho (a lady-in-waiting to his mother Lady O-Mandokoro), 6/5/Bunroku 1 (June 15, 1592), in Boscaro,
Letters,
45-46. The festival Hideyoshi refers to is the Chrysanthemum Festival, which falls on the ninth day of the ninth month.

[211]
Hideyoshi to O-Ne, 6/5/Bunroku 1 (June 15, 1592), ibid., 46.

[212]
Hideyoshi to Kato Kiyomasa and Nabeshima Naoshige, 3/6/Bunroku 1 (July 11, 1592), in Kuno, vol. 1, 324-325.

[213]
Yamakichi (Hideyoshi’s private secretary) to Ladies Higashi and Kyakushin (ladies-in-waiting to Hideyoshi’s wife), 18/5/Bunroku 1 (June 27, 1592), ibid, 318.

[214]
Some of these articles are quoted Turnbull,
Military History
, 210.

[215]
Articles 1-4 and 17-22 are from Ryusaku Tsunoda and others,
Sources
, vol. 2, 318-319 (articles 17-22 are numbered in this source as 18-23). Articles 16, 23, and 24 are from Kuno, vol. 1, 316-317.

[216]
Yamakichi to Ladies Higashi and Kyakushin, 18/5/Bunroku 1 (June 27, 1592), in Kuno, vol. 1, 320.

[217]
Ibid., 320.

[218]
According to Berry, 276-277, n. 2, “After 1587 Hideyoshi’s constant inquiries into the health of his intimates are combined with comments upon his own health, particularly his failing appetite…. Hie eye problems, which caused him to postpone departure for Nagoya and supervision of the Korean campaign in 1592, caused him the greatest difficulty, although we know little about them in detail.” One of the earliest references Hideyoshi made to his deteriorating health was in a letter to his mother in 1585: “I am becoming dark in complexion and thin in body, and the trouble with my eyes is worse. I would like to write a reply to Gomoji, but my eyes are getting bad, so please understand my condition.” (Hideyoshi to Iwa (a lady-in-waiting to his mother), 11/8/Tensho 13 (Oct. 4, 1585), in Boscaro,
Letters,
22.

[219]
Hideyoshi to Saisho (a lady-in-waiting to his mother), 6/5/Bunroku 1 (June 15, 1592), in Boscaro,
Letters
, 45-46.

[220]
Emperor Go-Yozei to Hideyoshi, summer 1592, in Kuno, vol. 1, 323.

[221]
Ibid., 324.

[222]
Dening, 254-255.

[223]
Asakawa, 393.

[224]
Berry, 278, n. 21.

[225]
Dening, 254.

[226]
Hideyoshi to Koya (a lady-in-waiting to his wife), 20/6/Bunroku 1 (July 28, 1592), in Boscaro,
Letters,
47.

Chapter 10: The Korean Navy Strikes Back

[227]
Dispatch of 30/4/Wanli 20 (June 9, 1592), Yi Sun-sin,
Imjin changch’o
,
27.

[228]
Diary entry for 3/5/Imjin (June 12, 1592), Yi Sun-sin,
Nanjung Ilgi
, 4.

[229]
Park Yune-hee, 122-123.

[230]
Dispatch of 10/5/Wanli 20 (June 19, 1592), Yi Sun-sin,
Imjin changch’o
, 31-32;
Sonjo sillok
, vol. 5, 303 (21/6/Sonjo 25; July 29, 1592).

[231]
Dispatch of 10/5/Wanli 20 (June 19, 1592), Yi Sun-sin,
Imjin changch’o
, 34-35.

[232]
Ibid., 36-37.

[233]
Dispatch of 30/4/Wanli 20 (June 9, 1592), ibid., 28.

[234]
Dispatch of 10/5/Wanli 20 (June 19, 1592), ibid., 38.

[235]
For example Katano, 190.

[236]
Park Yune-hee, 150, makes this suggestion, based upon the claim that Todo Takatora had not yet arrived in Korea.

[237]
Ibid., 141-142.

[238]
Taejong kongjong daewang sillok
(Seoul: Sejong daewang kinyom saophwe, no date), vol. 5, 304 (5/2/Taejong 13; Mar. 7, 1413). The passage reads: “While passing by Imjin Island, the King viewed a kobukson and a Japanese ship fighting against each other.” Two years later an official named Tak Sin sent a memorial to King Taejong recommending the further development of kobukson. (
Taejong sillok
, vol. 7, 11-12 (16/7/Taejong 15; Aug. 20, 1415).

[239]
Dispatch of 14/6/Wanli 20 (July 22, 1592), Yi Sun-sin,
Imjin changch’o
, 40-41.

[240]
Yi Pun, 210.

[241]
Sonjo sujong sillok
, vol. 3, 253 (5/Sonjo 25; June 1592).

[242]
Nam Chon-u,
Yi Sun-sin
(Seoul: Yoksa bipyongsa, 1994), 68-81; Yang Jae-suk,
Dashi ssunun
, vol. 1, 212-213; Horace H. Underwood,
Korean Boats and Ships
(Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1979), 76-77; Jho Sung-do, 57-63; Park Yune-hee, 71-74.

[243]
Choi Byong-hyon, 122.

[244]
There is, however, an enigmatic reference in Japanese sources. At the Battle of Angolpo in August 1592, the
Korai Funa Senki
records that “Among the large [Korean] ships were three mekura-bune [blind ships, i.e. turtle ships], covered in iron, firing cannons, fire arrows, large (wooden) arrows and so on” (Turnbull,
Samurai Invasion
, 106). This reference to the ships being “covered in iron” does not necessarily mean they were covered with iron plates. It could refer to the iron spikes on their roofs.

[245]
Bak Hae-ill, “A Short Note on the Iron-clad Turtle-boats of Admiral Yi Sun-sin,”
Korea Journal
17, no. 1 (Jan. 1977): 34-39.

[246]
Diary entry for 13/2/Imjin (March 26, 1592), Yi Sun-sin,
Imjin changch’o
, 8.

[247]
Underwood (80) made this point back in 1933: “It was not necessary for him [Yi Sun-sin] to make his ship iron-clad for he needed protection only against musket-balls and arrows. This he had in 4 inch timbers.”

[248]
Murdoch, 336, n. 17.

[249]
Hulbert, vol. 1, 377.

[250]
Jones, 187.

[251]
Griffis,
Corea,
134.

[252]
Hulbert, vol. 1, 376-377.

[253]
Choi Du-hwan, ed.,
Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin chonjip
(Seoul: Wooseok Publishing Co., 1999), 81 and 83; Cho Song-do,
Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin
(Seoul: Yongyong munhwasa, 2001), 80; Underwood, 78. With regard to the iron-plating controversy, the illustration of the
tongjeyong
turtle ship depicts what appear to be wooden planks covering the roof of the vessel. They look exactly like the planks of the hull. The roof of the
Cholla chwasuyong
turtle ship is covered with some sort of hexagonal pattern that is today typically assumed to indicate iron plates.

[254]
Yi Pun, 212.

[255]
Mekura-bune, or “blind ships,” were vessels with covered decks and no openings through which enemy boarders could enter.

[256]
Taiko-ki
, quoted in A. L. Sadler, “The Naval Campaign in the Korean War of Hideyoshi (1592-1598),
The Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan
, second series, 14 (1937): 188.

[257]
This embellishment first appeared in Yi Pun’s biography of his uncle, written at the beginning of the seventeenth century. (Yi Pun was not present at the battle.) It has been repeated many times in more recent works, for example in Park Yune-hee’s biography of Yi (153), which states that after the engagement the Admiral “dug the bullet out of the wound, several inches deep, with his sword.”

[258]
Dispatch of 14/6/Wanli 20 (July 22, 1592), Yi Sun-sin,
Imjin changch’o
, 42; diary entry for 29/5/Imjin (July 8, 1592), Yi Sun-in,
Nanjung ilgi
, 5.