7세기 百濟ㆍ倭 외교관계 연구

A Study on the Diplomatic Relations between Baekje and Japan in the 7th Century

This thesis aims to examine the processes of changing diplomatic relations between Baekje and Japan in the first half of the 7th century within the framework of overall foreign relations, and their meanings or implications. The 7th century, in the relationship of the two countries, is significant since the relationship comes to an end on account of Baekje’s downfall. However, there are problems and limitations in that we cannot help relying on Japan’s historical documents to a considerable extent owing to a lack of our own records. In the period under consideration, it was required that the Three Kingdoms and Japan should establish different relationships from the ones before, due to the advent of the unified empire of Soo and Tang in China proper. In accordance with this trend, it is presumed that the relation between Baekje and Japan took on a renewed aspect as well. This is because the contemporary situations of East Asia were very complicated and variegated by age. At that time in East Asia, there was tension surfacing in the Three Kingdoms of the Korean Peninsula due to the coming of the unified empire of Soo and Tang in the mainland China. To cope with this pressure, the Three Kingdoms and Japan, respectively, started to develop a different foreign policy. The relation between Baekje and Japan also could not but undergo this tendency, so this thesis, at first, investigates the political situation of East Asia before discussing the relation of these two countries. In the next place, it looks into how the diplomacy toward Japan was developed during the reign of King Moo and what distinct respects it showed from the previous one. Furthermore, this thesis covers the state of affairs where Baekje used Japan as a political and strategic partner in the continuously tangled international situations toward the regime of King Uija. In the meantime, Japan came to pursue various diplomatic lines in order to import the advanced culture in addition to Buddhism at the beginning of the 7th century. Therefore, we examines how this country develops the relationship with the Korean Peninsula, and with the unified Soo and Tang. Besides this, by dealing with the process in which Japan confirmed Backje as a partner under the circumstances where Baekje and Tang-Silla were opposed, we attempt to analyze Japan’s intention in choosing Baekje in the end rather than Tang-Silla, and settle the character of Japan’s multifaceted diplomacies, undertaken by Japan in the 7th century, and their problems. In this light, this thesis focuses on the time point where Baekje recognized Japan as a military and diplomatic partner in the 7th century, the characteristics of Baekje’s foreign policies toward Japan, and comprehending the character of Japan’s diplomatic relations toward the Three Kingdoms and toward Soo-Tang in the 7th century. By dint of this fact, this thesis is expected to be somewhat helpful in accessing the essence of the relationship between Baekje and Japan, and in elucidating the history of the international relations among the East-Asian countries in the 7th century.