The fact that NHK and other television networks continue even now to broadcast thoroughly false and laughable South Korean television dramas—many of which, moreover, plagiarize Japanese television dramas and films,
March 13, 2019
It Was the Japanese Who Ruled the Ancient Korean Peninsula
Yōjirō Satō, author and professor at Nihon University College of Art
Although many Japanese people are exasperated by the Korean propensity for falsehoods, there are still quite a few who assume that a great deal of culture reached the Japanese archipelago by way of the ancient Korean Peninsula.
Do not be misled by such a newly coined term as “torai-jin.”
Wa Blood Flowing Through the Silla Royal House—this is a continuation of the article in Rekishitsū, the April special edition of the monthly magazine WiLL, which is essential reading for every Japanese citizen.
The Sorrow of Being Caught Between Two Great Powers
Since ancient times, Korea sent tribute and hostages to China and Japan.
When the Qing overthrew the Ming, Korea sided with the Qing, but afterward, the Qing demanded tribute even harsher than that demanded by the Tokugawa shogunate.
〈Each year, the following shall be presented as tribute: one hundred ryō of gold, one thousand ryō of silver, ten thousand sacks of white rice, three hundred rolls of silk cloth, ten thousand rolls of ordinary linen, one hundred rolls of fine Korean hemp cloth, one thousand bundles of twenty sheets of large paper, one thousand sheets of small paper, two thousand sharp swords, one thousand water-buffalo horns, fifty sheets of patterned flowers, two hundred kin of dye, one hundred masu of pepper, one hundred tiger skins, four hundred beaver skins, two hundred blue rat skins, and so forth.
These offerings shall begin in the autumn of the year 1639.〉
With an estimated population of approximately seven million, Korea could not possibly have increased its national power under such conditions.
When we encounter such passages, we can see Korea’s underlying suffering as it was compelled to accommodate both the Ming and Japan, and we can also discern how severely the lives of its subjects were oppressed.
Korean history is filled with the sorrow of a country that could not survive without continually accommodating two great powers.
Regarding the Ming, it is written: “Every time a new king of Korea succeeded to the throne, he was required to dispatch a special envoy to the emperor to seek recognition of his accession.
The envoy was also required to report every matter concerning the royal house and every major incident occurring in Korea.
Conversely, because most Chinese envoys held a higher court rank than the king of Korea, the Korean king was required to leave the walls of Seoul to greet them and bow respectfully.
Moreover, he was required to enter Seoul through a gate other than the one through which the envoy had entered.”
Viewed from the standpoint of present-day sensibilities, even more humiliating things are recorded.
It is impossible to believe that Korea was treated as an independent country.
Is that not entirely different from what is shown in television dramas?
＊The fact that NHK and other television networks continue even now to broadcast thoroughly false and laughable South Korean television dramas—many of which, moreover, plagiarize Japanese television dramas and films—is the clearest possible proof of how treacherously they have continued reporting since the war.
It is no exaggeration to say that television personnel are a collection of vulgar people.＊
Would people really have come as torai-jin, bringing culture and technology from such a country?
It is self-evident that economies and cultures flow toward the country possessing greater national power.
Moreover, the historical records of China, Korea, and Japan state that the Japanese mainland was never attacked from the Korean Peninsula, while Japan alone repeatedly invaded the peninsula from ancient times.
I trust the Chinese historical records stating that Japan ruled the peninsula, and I also believe, on the basis of surviving written and material evidence, that the southern Korean Peninsula and part of Kyushu constituted Wa.
I therefore consider it entirely natural that people of the time used the words kika and kichō.
At the very least, as far as the surviving written records can be followed, I cannot believe that advanced technologies and culture entered Japan from the Korean Peninsula.
＊The intellectual decadence of NHK Osaka, which continues broadcasting claims that the Korean embassies brought culture to Japan, is intolerable.＊
To be continued.