Changes

Sadanobu also pressured the domain to reduce its [[copper]] exports, but domain officials protected the relationship with Korea, and the trade it provided, by deploying a variety of arguments. They argued that trade with Korea was a right of their domain, affirmed and reaffirmed by the Tokugawa since the early years of the shogunate, and furthermore that the importing of luxury goods benefited the realm, and that the import of rice was essential to the well-being of the domain, and for avoiding samurai or peasant uprisings. In the end, they successfully parried Sadanobu's attempts to hamper the domain's economy, and continued to be allowed to acquire up to 100,000 ''kin'' of copper for export each year.<ref>Hellyer, 109.</ref> Petitions from Tsushima in the ensuing years, often citing the importance of the Korea trade for the realm, and the refrain "we are a small island domain with little agricultural production," used in countless domain missives to the shogunate in this period, eventually led in [[1825]] to the shogunate allowing Tsushima to purchase this 100,000 ''kin'' of copper at a reduced rate, rather than market price.<ref>Hellyer, 142.</ref>

Sadanobu also pressured the domain to reduce its [[copper]] exports, but domain officials protected the relationship with Korea, and the trade it provided, by deploying a variety of arguments. They argued that trade with Korea was a right of their domain, affirmed and reaffirmed by the Tokugawa since the early years of the shogunate, and furthermore that the importing of luxury goods benefited the realm, and that the import of rice was essential to the well-being of the domain, and for avoiding samurai or peasant uprisings. In the end, they successfully parried Sadanobu's attempts to hamper the domain's economy, and continued to be allowed to acquire up to 100,000 ''kin'' of copper for export each year.<ref>Hellyer, 109.</ref> Petitions from Tsushima in the ensuing years, often citing the importance of the Korea trade for the realm, and the refrain "we are a small island domain with little agricultural production," used in countless domain missives to the shogunate in this period, eventually led in [[1825]] to the shogunate allowing Tsushima to purchase this 100,000 ''kin'' of copper at a reduced rate, rather than market price.<ref>Hellyer, 142.</ref>

==Nineteenth Century==

==Early Nineteenth Century==

In the early 19th century, Tsushima faced severe competition from domestic production of ginseng and a number of other Korean import goods, and so began to seek new markets. Still exporting alum, pepper, sappanwood, copper, and water buffalo horn obtained at Nagasaki, as well as sea cucumber, Tsushima now began to more extensively import bovine products, including cowhides (leather), cattle horns, and hooves, the latter two of which were used to make alternative or cheaper versions of hairpins and other items normally made from tortoiseshell imported via Nagasaki.<ref>Hellyer, 141.</ref>

In the early 19th century, Tsushima faced severe competition from domestic production of ginseng and a number of other Korean import goods, and so began to seek new markets. Still exporting alum, pepper, sappanwood, copper, and water buffalo horn obtained at Nagasaki, as well as sea cucumber, Tsushima now began to more extensively import bovine products, including cowhides (leather), cattle horns, and hooves, the latter two of which were used to make alternative or cheaper versions of hairpins and other items normally made from tortoiseshell imported via Nagasaki.<ref>Hellyer, 141.</ref>

The first face-to-face interaction between Tsushima officials and Westerners took place in [[1849]]/2, when fifteen Western ships were spotted offshore, and a few men came ashore in a launch. Speaking purely through gestures, the samurai somehow determined the men to be Americans; after exchanging a few items, the Americans peacefully and willingly obeyed the officials' request that they leave. Several more Americans appeared two months later, and stayed overnight in a village on the eastern coast of the island. Though Tsushima was fortunate to have not been visited with any true difficulties - such as the use of physical force - yet, the ''daimyô'' sent men to bolster coastal defenses, and sent to the shogunate to ask that interpreters be sent from the ''Waegwan'' in Pusan to Nagasaki, to learn "Dutch writing," to help facilitate communication with Westerners who might arrive in future. Indeed, later that year, Tsushima officials began to report sightings of as many as tens of ships, sometimes within just a period of several days, though it is likely that many of these sightings were double-countings of the same ship. Tsushima requests to extend the annual 5,000 ''ryô'' grants granted in 1848 were initially rebuffed, but eventually granted, along with authorization to defer repayments owed on earlier loans taken out by the domain. Subsequent requests from Tsushima also suggested that Western pressures on Korea, and the resulting financial focus of the Korean Court on coastal defense, might cause agricultural production in the kingdom to decline, harming the ability of the kingdom to send rice to Tsushima; a request for an additional 7,000 ''koku'' from the shogunate made around 1851 was rejected.<ref>Hellyer, 170-172.</ref>

The first face-to-face interaction between Tsushima officials and Westerners took place in [[1849]]/2, when fifteen Western ships were spotted offshore, and a few men came ashore in a launch. Speaking purely through gestures, the samurai somehow determined the men to be Americans; after exchanging a few items, the Americans peacefully and willingly obeyed the officials' request that they leave. Several more Americans appeared two months later, and stayed overnight in a village on the eastern coast of the island. Though Tsushima was fortunate to have not been visited with any true difficulties - such as the use of physical force - yet, the ''daimyô'' sent men to bolster coastal defenses, and sent to the shogunate to ask that interpreters be sent from the ''Waegwan'' in Pusan to Nagasaki, to learn "Dutch writing," to help facilitate communication with Westerners who might arrive in future. Indeed, later that year, Tsushima officials began to report sightings of as many as tens of ships, sometimes within just a period of several days, though it is likely that many of these sightings were double-countings of the same ship. Tsushima requests to extend the annual 5,000 ''ryô'' grants granted in 1848 were initially rebuffed, but eventually granted, along with authorization to defer repayments owed on earlier loans taken out by the domain. Subsequent requests from Tsushima also suggested that Western pressures on Korea, and the resulting financial focus of the Korean Court on coastal defense, might cause agricultural production in the kingdom to decline, harming the ability of the kingdom to send rice to Tsushima; a request for an additional 7,000 ''koku'' from the shogunate made around 1851 was rejected.<ref>Hellyer, 170-172.</ref>

==Bakumatsu and Meiji==

==Bakumatsu Period==

Following the opening of [[Hakodate]], [[Yokohama]], and Nagasaki as [[treaty ports]] in [[1860]], Tsushima reported, with shogunate permission, to the Joseon Court that the realm had begun to trade with the Westerners, but that the Sô were still dedicated to the traditional relationship with the Korean Court, and to the ban on [[Christianity]]. Though no Korean embassy had come to Japan since 1811, and none all the way to Edo in nearly a century, the envoys proposed one such mission, in celebration of [[Tokugawa Iemochi]] becoming [[shogun]] in [[1858]], as part of showing the domain's dedication to the relationship. The shogunate, however, encouraged the domain to delay any such mission until [[1866]]. In the end, no mission was ever dispatched.<ref name=hellyer207>Hellyer, 207-.</ref>

 

 

 

==Meiji Period==

Following the [[Meiji Restoration]], Tsushima retainer [[Oshima Tomonojo|Ôshima Tomonojô]] petitioned the [[Meiji government]] to place priority on reorganizing relations with Korea, even as they were occupied with putting down the last bits of pro-Tokugawa resistance. He advocated the central government taking over both diplomatic and trade relations with Korea, and re-negotiating the structure of that relationship, in order to abolish associations or connections to the Sô clan's subordinate status as a vassal to the Joseon Court. With the help of [[Kido Takayoshi]], he managed to get [[So Yoshiakira|Sô Yoshiakira]] elevated in court rank, and appointed official imperial representative in diplomatic relations with Korea. From this point forward, the Sô would use Imperial seals and titles in all correspondence, speaking as representatives of the Imperial government rather than for themselves, and would no longer use the seals granted them as vassals by the Korean Court.<ref name=hellyer240>Hellyer, 240-241.</ref>  

Following the [[Meiji Restoration]], Tsushima retainer [[Oshima Tomonojo|Ôshima Tomonojô]] petitioned the [[Meiji government]] to place priority on reorganizing relations with Korea, even as they were occupied with putting down the last bits of pro-Tokugawa resistance. He advocated the central government taking over both diplomatic and trade relations with Korea, and re-negotiating the structure of that relationship, in order to abolish associations or connections to the Sô clan's subordinate status as a vassal to the Joseon Court. With the help of [[Kido Takayoshi]], he managed to get [[So Yoshiakira|Sô Yoshiakira]] elevated in court rank, and appointed official imperial representative in diplomatic relations with Korea. From this point forward, the Sô would use Imperial seals and titles in all correspondence, speaking as representatives of the Imperial government rather than for themselves, and would no longer use the seals granted them as vassals by the Korean Court.<ref name=hellyer240>Hellyer, 240-241.</ref>