秀吉의 病死風聞과 朝日交涉

Rumors of Hideyoshi’s death and the negotiations between Korea and Japan

This paper deals with the problems related with the rumors of Hideyoshi’s death from sickness propagated in 1598 during the Japan’s invasion of Korea. This paper aims at understanding how this rumor had been delivered to Korea, how Korea responded to it, and how it affected Korea’s peace negotiations with Japan. The rumors propagated in the 2nd month of 1598 were the wrong information arose from rumors of his sickness and seemed to be propagated by Konishi Yukinaga and Kato Kiyomasa who has great difficulty dealing with Korean forces after the battle of Ulsan. Korea recognized that it had been deliberately delivered by the Japanese to prepare for its negotiation with Ming. Korea decided not to negotiate with the Japanese and strengthened its defense line. The rumors spread rapidly: The exact date of Hideyoshi’s death and the news of a political change which took place after his death were propagated. The accurate information of Hideyoshi’s death was delivered to Korea in the 28th day of the 11th month through Kiyomasa’s letter to a Ming general when he withdrew from Ulsan. Only in 1599, however, Korea came to know that Japanese troops withdrew from Korea because of Hideyoshi’s death. Korea did not pay much attention to both the rumors and news of Hideyoshi’s death. Instead of negotiating with the Japanese Korea wanted to restore its territory and retaliate the Japanese troops which marauded much of its people and territory.