Changes

Regardless, the island - and the Sô lords - occupied a somewhat mixed status relative to the Joseon kingdom for the rest of the medieval period and into the early modern period. Tsushima continued to be represented as Korean territory on Korean maps. The court dispatched officials to Tsushima on sixteen occasions between [[1392]] to [[1443]]; these were mostly domestic affairs officials, dispatched from the capital to meet with a regional administrator as if Tsushima were a region within Korean territory, though sometimes they were foreign affairs officials.<ref name=robin4950>Robinson, 49-50.</ref> The court also granted the governor of Tsushima the power to grant travel permits and perhaps certain other documents, bearing official authority within Joseon jurisdiction.<ref name=robin4950/> Such travel permits were required for anyone traveling between the Korean peninsula and islands such as [[Jeju]] or Tsushima.<ref>Robinson, 53.</ref> However, conversely, no Korean officials were ever permanently stationed on Tsushima, and little if any orders were ever issued applying Joseon nationwide law or policies to Tsushima as a part of that political territory; to the contrary, the Sô clan and their (Japanese) retainers and others were left to govern and administer the island as they wished.

Regardless, the island - and the Sô lords - occupied a somewhat mixed status relative to the Joseon kingdom for the rest of the medieval period and into the early modern period. Tsushima continued to be represented as Korean territory on Korean maps. The court dispatched officials to Tsushima on sixteen occasions between [[1392]] to [[1443]]; these were mostly domestic affairs officials, dispatched from the capital to meet with a regional administrator as if Tsushima were a region within Korean territory, though sometimes they were foreign affairs officials.<ref name=robin4950>Robinson, 49-50.</ref> The court also granted the governor of Tsushima the power to grant travel permits and perhaps certain other documents, bearing official authority within Joseon jurisdiction.<ref name=robin4950/> Such travel permits were required for anyone traveling between the Korean peninsula and islands such as [[Jeju]] or Tsushima.<ref>Robinson, 53.</ref> However, conversely, no Korean officials were ever permanently stationed on Tsushima, and little if any orders were ever issued applying Joseon nationwide law or policies to Tsushima as a part of that political territory; to the contrary, the Sô clan and their (Japanese) retainers and others were left to govern and administer the island as they wished.

In 1443, the Sô and the Joseon court reached an agreement by which the Sô would act to curb pirate activity, and to ensure that all merchants traveling to Korea were properly licensed (i.e. were not pirates, brigands, or smugglers), in exchange for stipends and trading rights from the Joseon court.<ref>Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 31.</ref>

In 1443, the Sô and the Joseon court reached an agreement by which all Japanese travelers to Korea (or Korean waters) were obliged to obtain a travel permit from the Sô. This boosted the prestige and power of the governors of Tsushima, blocking out others who would seek to compete with, or skirt around, Sô authority in the area or the Sô family's exclusive relationship with the Joseon court. It was also attractive to the Joseon court, creating a stronger legal or political basis for discriminating between licensed, authorized, traders and travelers and, on the other hand, those they could prosecute as brigands, pirates, or smugglers.<ref>Robinson, 53.; Robert Hellyer, ''Defining Engagement'', Harvard University Press (2009), 31.</ref>

==Tokugawa Period==

==Tokugawa Period==