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The tiny island of [[Ainoshima]], located in the [[Genkai Sea]] just north of the dual ports of [[Fukuoka]] and [[Hakata]], serves as illustrative of the expenses and preparations involved in receiving a Korean mission at any one of these stopover points. More than a year in advance, [[Fukuoka han]] authorities funded and oversaw the construction of a new reception hall on the island. Villagers' homes, among other buildings, were used to house the other 350-500 Koreans, plus the lord of Tsushima and his men. The chief Buddhist temple on the island would be renovated, to serve as lodging for Fukuoka domain officials acting as hosts. Repairs were also made to harbors on the island, and at the port of Shingû; all of these efforts involved considerable corvée labor. In [[1748]], Fukuoka han deployed 443 small boats with 1,625 crew members plus another 1,174 corvée boatmen from across a number of coastal villages, to help provide transport for Fukuoka officials and supplies to Ainoshima, to mark shallows and help ensure a safe route for the Korean & Tsushima ships, and to provide enough fresh seafood to feed roughly 1,000 people (Koreans plus samurai).<ref>Arne Kalland, ''Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan'', University of Hawaii Press (1995), 219-220.</ref>

The tiny island of [[Ainoshima]], located in the [[Genkai Sea]] just north of the dual ports of [[Fukuoka]] and [[Hakata]], serves as illustrative of the expenses and preparations involved in receiving a Korean mission at any one of these stopover points. More than a year in advance, [[Fukuoka han]] authorities funded and oversaw the construction of a new reception hall on the island. Villagers' homes, among other buildings, were used to house the other 350-500 Koreans, plus the lord of Tsushima and his men. The chief Buddhist temple on the island would be renovated, to serve as lodging for Fukuoka domain officials acting as hosts. Repairs were also made to harbors on the island, and at the port of Shingû; all of these efforts involved considerable corvée labor. In [[1748]], Fukuoka han deployed 443 small boats with 1,625 crew members plus another 1,174 corvée boatmen from across a number of coastal villages, to help provide transport for Fukuoka officials and supplies to Ainoshima, to mark shallows and help ensure a safe route for the Korean & Tsushima ships, and to provide enough fresh seafood to feed roughly 1,000 people (Koreans plus samurai).<ref>Arne Kalland, ''Fishing Villages in Tokugawa Japan'', University of Hawaii Press (1995), 219-220.</ref>

After arriving in Fukuoka, the embassies made their way east around Kyushu, to Shimonoseki. There, they enjoyed receptions organized by the ''daimyô'' of both [[Choshu han|Chôshû]] and [[Chofu han|Chôfu domains]], and by the Buddhist temple of Amida-ji (today, [[Akama Shrine]]). They also engaged in scholarly and artistic exchanges with scholars based at the [[han school|domain school]] [[Meirinkan]].<ref>''Chôsen tsûshinshi to Okayama'', 55.</ref>

After arriving in Fukuoka, the embassies made their way east around Kyushu, to Shimonoseki. There, they enjoyed receptions organized by the ''daimyô'' of both [[Choshu han|Chôshû]] and [[Chofu han|Chôfu domains]], and by the Buddhist temple of Amida-ji (today, [[Akama Shrine]]). They also engaged in scholarly and artistic exchanges with scholars based at the [[han school|domain school]] [[Meirinkan]].<ref name=okayama55>''Chôsen tsûshinshi to Okayama'', 55.</ref>

The Korean mission then passed through the straits at Shimonoseki, into the Inland Sea. The maritime journey through the Inland Sea was accomplished aboard a fleet of vessels, numbering as many as one hundred according to one 1821 painting; for at least a portion of this journey, the fleet was preceded by a ship flying the banners of the [[Murakami clan (Chugoku)|Murakami clan]], who in the [[Sengoku period]] had been the dominant power in these waters. The three lead Korean ambassadors each rode in separate thirty-meter-long vessels with red and gold banners, while smaller ships carried other members of the mission and their luggage.<ref>Martin Dusinberre, ''Hard Times in the Hometown: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 23-24.</ref> These lead ships, usually numbering four, were ''[[yakata bune]]'' commissioned by the shogunate, from regional ''daimyô'', for this purpose.<ref name=sato/>

The Korean mission then passed through the straits at Shimonoseki, into the Inland Sea. The maritime journey through the Inland Sea was accomplished aboard a fleet of vessels, numbering as many as one hundred according to one 1821 painting; for at least a portion of this journey, the fleet was preceded by a ship flying the banners of the [[Murakami clan (Chugoku)|Murakami clan]], who in the [[Sengoku period]] had been the dominant power in these waters. The three lead Korean ambassadors each rode in separate thirty-meter-long vessels with red and gold banners, while smaller ships carried other members of the mission and their luggage.<ref>Martin Dusinberre, ''Hard Times in the Hometown: A History of Community Survival in Modern Japan'', University of Hawaii Press (2012), 23-24.</ref> These lead ships, usually numbering four, were ''[[yakata bune]]'' commissioned by the shogunate, from regional ''daimyô'', for this purpose.<ref name=sato/>

At the port of [[Kaminoseki]], near the easternmost reaches of [[Choshu han|Chôshû han]], which might serve as a representative case, most of the houses along the main street, as well as a number of houses along the main street of the neighboring port of Murotsu, were made to house Tsushima or Chôshû officials accompanying the Korean missions.<ref>In 1764, for example, 36 out of the 43 homes along the main street in Kaminoseki each housed at least one official, with some of them housing as many as four or five. Dusinberre, 24-25.</ref> As they made their way through the Inland Sea, the mission stopped at port-towns such as [[Kamagari]], [[Tomonoura]], [[Ushimado]], [[Murotsu]], and [[Hyogo no tsu|Hyôgo no tsu]], where they were provided formal receptions, food, and lodgings, as the Ryukyuan missions did as well.<ref name=ethnic447>Nam-lin Hur, “Choson Korean Officials in the Land of Tokugawa Japan: Ethnic Perceptions in the 1719 Korean Embassy,” ''Korea Observer'' 38:3 (2007): 447.</ref>

At the port of [[Kaminoseki]], near the easternmost reaches of [[Choshu han|Chôshû han]], which might serve as a representative case, most of the houses along the main street, as well as a number of houses along the main street of the neighboring port of Murotsu, were made to house Tsushima or Chôshû officials accompanying the Korean missions.<ref>In 1764, for example, 36 out of the 43 homes along the main street in Kaminoseki each housed at least one official, with some of them housing as many as four or five. Dusinberre, 24-25.</ref> Officials from [[Iwakuni han]] and Chôshû contributed to the reception of the Korean missions at Kaminoseki.<ref name=okayama55/> As they made their way through the Inland Sea, the mission stopped at port-towns such as [[Kamagari]], [[Tomonoura]], [[Ushimado]], [[Murotsu]], and [[Hyogo no tsu|Hyôgo no tsu]], where they were provided formal receptions, food, and lodgings, as the Ryukyuan missions did as well.<ref name=ethnic447>Nam-lin Hur, “Choson Korean Officials in the Land of Tokugawa Japan: Ethnic Perceptions in the 1719 Korean Embassy,” ''Korea Observer'' 38:3 (2007): 447.</ref>

 

 

At Tomonoura, the missions typically stayed at a guest house known as the Taichôrô; built by [[Mizuno Katsutane]] as the main hall (''hondô'') of the Buddhist temple Fukuzen-ji, the guest house was quite large, its rooms totaling 78 squares of [[tatami]] in area. Korean envoy [[Yi Bang-eon]]<!--李邦彦--> wrote in 1711 that the view of the Inland Sea from the Taichôrô was the best view in Japan.<ref>''Chôsen tsûshinshi to Okayama'', 56.</ref>

After traveling through the Inland Sea by ship to Osaka, the embassy was lodged in the city's branch temple of [[Nishi Honganji]], which boasted a massive compound more than capable of hosting all thousand-something members of the Korean & Tsushima retinues.<ref name=ethnic447/> From there, they then rode seven luxurious private riverboats (''[[kawa gozabune]]'' lent by the ''daimyô'' of the eastern Inland Sea area for this purpose in partial fulfillment of their [[corvee|corvée]] obligations)<ref>Toby identifies the boats in one depiction of such a Korean riverboat procession as belonging to the lords of [[Kuwana han|Kuwana]], [[Tosa han|Tosa]], [[Uwajima han|Uwajima]], and [[Usuki han|Usuki domains]]. ("Carnival of the Aliens," 440n51.) This is in contrast to the Ryukyuan missions' riverboats, which were provided by western ''daimyô'', including [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], [[Fukuoka han|Fukuoka]], [[Hiroshima han|Hiroshima]], [[Kokura han|Kokura]], and [[Kumamoto han]] (as seen in a 1710 handscroll, ''Chûzan-ô raichô zu'', National Archives of Japan).</ref> up the river to Fushimi, and thence from Kyoto, set out overland. Roughly one hundred members of the mission were left behind in Osaka to guard the ocean-going vessels.<ref name=sato/> Between Kyoto and Nagoya they took a combination of various highways which, in aggregate, came to be known as the ''[[Chosenjin kaido|Chôsenjin kaidô]]'' (“Koreans’ Highway”). This took them through [[Hikone]], Ôgaki, and several other towns bypassed by the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]]. From [[Nagoya|Nagoya’s]] [[Miya-juku]] the rest of the way to Edo, they took the Tôkaidô.<ref name=carnival420/> Pontoon bridges (''funabashi'', lit. "boat bridges") were thrown across the [[Tenryu River|Tenryûgawa]], [[Fuji River|Fujigawa]], and the [[Tone River|Tonegawa]] for the Koreans to cross over those places. Shoguns were the only other travelers for whom such bridges were constructed; ''daimyô'' on ''sankin kôtai'' journeys, as well as Ryukyuan embassies, generally had to make use of ferry boats. The journey from Kyoto to Edo took about one month, with the Korean mission being subsumed within a far larger group of some 2,500 people in total.<ref name=sato/>

After traveling through the Inland Sea by ship to Osaka, the embassy was lodged in the city's branch temple of [[Nishi Honganji]], which boasted a massive compound more than capable of hosting all thousand-something members of the Korean & Tsushima retinues.<ref name=ethnic447/> From there, they then rode seven luxurious private riverboats (''[[kawa gozabune]]'' lent by the ''daimyô'' of the eastern Inland Sea area for this purpose in partial fulfillment of their [[corvee|corvée]] obligations)<ref>Toby identifies the boats in one depiction of such a Korean riverboat procession as belonging to the lords of [[Kuwana han|Kuwana]], [[Tosa han|Tosa]], [[Uwajima han|Uwajima]], and [[Usuki han|Usuki domains]]. ("Carnival of the Aliens," 440n51.) This is in contrast to the Ryukyuan missions' riverboats, which were provided by western ''daimyô'', including [[Choshu han|Chôshû]], [[Fukuoka han|Fukuoka]], [[Hiroshima han|Hiroshima]], [[Kokura han|Kokura]], and [[Kumamoto han]] (as seen in a 1710 handscroll, ''Chûzan-ô raichô zu'', National Archives of Japan).</ref> up the river to Fushimi, and thence from Kyoto, set out overland. Roughly one hundred members of the mission were left behind in Osaka to guard the ocean-going vessels.<ref name=sato/> Between Kyoto and Nagoya they took a combination of various highways which, in aggregate, came to be known as the ''[[Chosenjin kaido|Chôsenjin kaidô]]'' (“Koreans’ Highway”). This took them through [[Hikone]], Ôgaki, and several other towns bypassed by the [[Tokaido|Tôkaidô]]. From [[Nagoya|Nagoya’s]] [[Miya-juku]] the rest of the way to Edo, they took the Tôkaidô.<ref name=carnival420/> Pontoon bridges (''funabashi'', lit. "boat bridges") were thrown across the [[Tenryu River|Tenryûgawa]], [[Fuji River|Fujigawa]], and the [[Tone River|Tonegawa]] for the Koreans to cross over those places. Shoguns were the only other travelers for whom such bridges were constructed; ''daimyô'' on ''sankin kôtai'' journeys, as well as Ryukyuan embassies, generally had to make use of ferry boats. The journey from Kyoto to Edo took about one month, with the Korean mission being subsumed within a far larger group of some 2,500 people in total.<ref name=sato/>