新たなアジア研究に向けて8号
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Articlesthe conclusion that “East and Southeast Asia from the mid-16th to the mid-17th century experienced both the dissolution of the international trade system centered on the Ming Dynasty and a feverish commercial boom, in the midst of which new forms of commerce combined with militarism rapidly expanded, creating an epoch of confrontation and collision in which the very survival of the actors was at stake.” It was a situation in which new military forces emerged to form states built on economic bases financed by the profits from foreign trade in East and Southeast Asia amidst a weakening Ming Dynasty-centered international order and the enormous commercial boom taking place on “the periphery,” driven by a military crisis on China’s northern borders and an explosive increase in silver bullion being mined in Japan. As for Japan, Kishimoto includes the Oda and Toyotomi unification regimes within these “newly emerging military forces,” arguing that their national unification movements were encouraged and motivated by “the flourishing of Japanese foreign trade whose major commodity was silver.” Based on such developments, she characterizes Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea as an attempt to bring both Korea and China under Japanese rule and as such called it “one of the most ambitious military operations created by the ‘freebooter-style conditions’ exemplifying the 16th century, during which national borders resembled the uncertainty of a boiling cauldron” [Kishimoto 1998].Among the “emerging military forces” following the decline and fall of the Ming Dynasty was the Jurchen (Manchu) people of the continental north and the Zheng 鄭 Clan of the maritime south, whose confrontation and clash ultimately resulted in the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, which, together with Japan’s heavy restrictions on foreign trade, marked the end of the previous “freebooter-style conditions” era. Japanese medieval historian Murai Shōsuke 村井章介 has characterized these events as “the Qing Dynasty reaping the harvest first sown by Hideyoshi.” From a standpoint similar to that of Kishimoto, Murai has argued that “in 16th century East Asia... a new kind of state formation came into existence revolving around very high concentrations of military strength, two examples of which are the formation of unification regimes out of the civil unrest of the Warring State Era and the formation of the Jurchens into a unified state.” In the case of Japan, the intensive militarization of society produced within the ruling classes a kind of confidence bolstered by military might, which brought about a change in Japan’s self-consciousness in international society, leading to its aggressive behavior towards Korea and Ming China. Murai concludes that “it is not at all surprising that a figure like Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who had emerged as the victor in Japan’s Warring States Era, would look upon international society with extreme confidence and a sense of personal grandeur” [Murai 2005].3. Where We Stand TodayIt is in this way that the relationship between Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea and the formation of the late premodern state has been located within the general history of East Asia during the 16th and 17th centuries. Generally speaking, given the fact that one of the state’s important functions is to provide its people with territorial security, world history tell us that the way in which such security is to be provided is closely related to the international environment. In particular, rising international tension is often very effective in promoting increased integration and centralization on the national level. In the course of Japan’s history, there is no doubt that the impact of the West encouraged the formation of the modern Meiji 明治 state, and in the development of its ancient state, which culminated in a polity organized under a Chinese-style rule of law, the ritsuryΩ 律令 (Ch. lüling) codes, international affairs, including Japan’s relation with Korea, were clearly at work. Therefore, merely indicating that international affairs were also at work within the historical process spanning an era beginning with the invasion of Korea and ending with the adoption of a trade policy closing every foreign trade port but four and 003

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