Yanagawa Ikken (柳川一件)
The Yanagawa Ikken was an incident in which Yoshinari SO, the lord of the Tsushima Domain, and his chief retainer Shigeoki YANAGAWA confronted each other over forgery of the sovereign's message exchanged between Japan and Joseon Dynasty in the early Edo period.
Circumstances behind the Incident
In the end of 16th century, the Toyotomi government of Japan dispatched troops to Korea (the Bunroku-Keicho War), breaking off the relationship between Ming Dynasty and Japan, as well as the one between Korea and Japan. After the war, when the Edo bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) was established by Ieyasu TOKUGAWA, the Tokugawa clan started to speak to Joseon Dynasty and Ming Dynasty to normalize the diplomatic relations between Japan and these countries. The Tsushima Domain, which was located between Japan and Korea, had economically depended on trade with Korea because of its geographical conditions; therefore, for the sake of the restoration of diplomatic relations with Korea, the Domain acted as a mediator between Japan and Korea and they had some activities such as sending back Korean captives who had been brought to Japan during Japan's Invasions of Korea.
When Korea demanded that Japan should hand over war criminals of Japan's Invasions of Korea, the Tsushima Domain handed over criminals in the domain (who had nothing to do with the invasions) as war criminals, after harming their throats with mercury so that they were unable to talk.
As a result of such desperate maneuver activities by the Tsushima Domain, Korea became appeased and positive with the negotiations (partly because the need for northern defense increased due to the expanded power of the Joshin tribe [Kokin] in Manchuria.)
In 1605, when Korea demanded that the Tokugawa government should send the sovereign's message first, the Tsushima Domain forged the sovereign's massage and presented it to Korea.
Although the message was suspected of a faked letter due to its format, Korea dispatched a responder (the Tsushima Domain gave the Edo bakufu false information that the messenger was an emissary.)
The envoy had an audience with the second shogun Hidetada TOKUGAWA at Edo-jo Castle, and with Ogosho (the retired shogun) Ieyasu TOKUGAWA in Sunpu. The Tsushima Domain also modified the reply brought by the responder, as well as diplomatic messages of the second and the third negotiations respectively held in 1617 and in 1624, and the domain forged and modified the sovereign's message, so that the Kiyu Agreement (trade agreement between Korea and Tsushima Domain) was concluded in 1609.
Shigeoki YANAGAWA, the chief retainer of the Tsushima Domain, who aimed to become independent from his master's house (Yoshinari SO) to be promoted to a hatamoto (direct retainers of the bakufu), opposed to Yoshinari SO, the lord of the Tsushima Domain. Therefore, Yanagawa complained to the bakufu for the modification of diplomatic messages done by Tsushima Domain.
Movement of Daimyo and the Cabinet Officials of Shogunate
At that time there remained an atmosphere for gekokujo (an inverted social order when the lowly reigned over the elite) in the the Sengoku Period (Period of Warring States). Yanagawa stood high in Ieyasu's favor, and received support from influential cabinet officials of the Shogunate, and conjecturing that the bakufu hoped to seize real power over Japan-Korea Trade, he believed that he stood a fair chance of success. On the other hand, Masamune DATE, who was the lord of the Sendai Domain, and some other daimyo (Japanese feudal lords) supported Yoshinari SO, and they attempted to take advantage of this incident to convey the impression that the Sengoku Period came to the end completely.
Judgment of Iemitsu
In 1635, oral proceedings by Yoshinari SO and Shigeoki YANAGAWA were conducted in the presence of the third Shogun Iemitsu TOKUGAWA. All the daimyo living in Edo (present-day Tokyo) went to Edo-jo Castle, and everything about their confrontation was open to the public in a hall of the castle. As a result, the Edo bakufu judged that it would be wise to leave Japan-Korea Trade to the Tsushima Domain as before, and Yoshinari SO was found innocent while Shigeoki YANAGAWA was sentenced to banishment to the Tsugaru region.
After this incident, the Edo bakufu changed the shogun's title which should be stated in any diplomatic letters from "King of Japan" to "Tycoon of Japan," and told Buddhist priests in Five Great Zen Temples of Kyoto to prepare diplomatic papers and receptions for envoys, and to observe trades. The Japan-Korea Trade was under the bakufu's severe control although it was put into the hands of the Tsushima Domain as before.