Why No Westphalia-like Peace Order after the Toyotomi Hideyoshi War in Korea (1592-98)?

This article examines why there was no Westphalian peace order inthe aftermath of the Toyotomi Hideyoshi War (1592-98) in thespace later named Northeast Asia, focusing on how ideas held byindividuals exercised their influence over a space generating orderor disorder. More emphasis is put on the role of “heterodoxies”condemned as such in the pre-existing order. The heterodox ideaintroduced by the Jesuits in Japan stimulated change in Japanesegeopolitical idea, facilitating the outbreak of the Toyotomi HideyoshiWar in 1592, much as Protestantism played a similar role in theThirty Years War in Europe. In spite of initial success in Japan, the influence of heterodox idea eventually failed to dismantle thehomogeneous ideational layer of the Neo-Confucian order (tianxia). Unlike the Holy Roman Empire in Europe, which was in need of acontainment measure against new spreading ideas and which finallysurrendered to the concept of equal sovereignty to erect a barrieragainst the spread of heterodox idea, there was no serious threatfrom a heterodox idea during and after the Toyotomi HideyoshiWar, and thus no necessity to establish a barrier that would producethe concept of sovereignty.