Reinterpreting the Korean Embassy Procession Picture: Historical Context of Historical Materials Including "Fiction"

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20717
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 3:History, archaeology, museology, and related fields
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: IKEUCHI Satoshi 名古屋大学, 人文学研究科, 教授 (90240861)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 朝鮮通信使 / 行列図 / 画像 / 近世

Outline of Final Research Achievements

During the Edo period, there are numerous extant drawings depicting the Korean Embassy Procession, both within Japan and abroad. While these drawings may appear to faithfully depict the actual procession of the Korean envoys, it has been pointed out that they also contain certain fictional elements. Among them, the "Korean Envoys' Procession Picture" housed in the Kobe City Museum has been interpreted by Hideo Kuroda and Ronald Toby in the 1990s as a depiction of the costume procession during the Edo Tenka Matsuri (Great Feudal Lord Festival). This interpretation has become the prevailing view to this day. This study reevaluates the aforementioned picture and similar works within the overall trends of Korean Embassy Procession pictures. It has been confirmed that the "Korean Envoys' Procession Picture" in the Kobe City Museum is a representation of the Korean Embassy Procession based on reference to festival procession pictures.

Free Research Field

近世日朝関係史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

神戸市立博物館所蔵「朝鮮人来朝行列図」は、そこに朝鮮通信使行列にはあり得ない要素が数々あることをもって、江戸の天下祭の仮装行列を描いたものだとする主張が1990年代に発表され、今日、これが通説となっている。本研究は、動画を静止画に書き留める技術が無かった江戸時代には、朝鮮通信使行列を徹底して写実的に描くことは困難であり、祭礼行列の要素を借りながら朝鮮通信使行列を描かざるをえなかったことを明らかにした。近世絵画に含まれる虚構は、当該図の写実性・真実性を担保するものとして導入されたと理解する方が良い。本研究は、そうした絵画資料を歴史分析の素材として用いる際の視点の転換を促す意義を持つ。