ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the circumstances of cultural exchanges, both in wartime and post-war, between Korea and Japan and consider their historical significance. The systematically expedited plunder by the Toyotomi regime earned the Imjin Waeran yet another sobriquet, that of 'a war of cultural pillage'. Moreover, from the fact that not only products but even people and livestock became objects of plunder, the invasion took on the character of a pirate raid. Ending the period of warring states that lasted a century or more and opening a new era by establishing the Edo bakufu in 1603, Tokugawa Ieyasu attempted to establish a peaceful order both domestically and internationally. In order to stabilize matters, Ieyasu implemented reform policies such as separating warriors from the peasantry, establishing a social class system, and reinforcing ethics. Within the tranquil stream of history, war is like a powerful vortex. Although it destroys the existing order, it also plants a flower on the wretched battlefield.