19세기 초 일본의 대(對) 러시아 전략과 전사(前史)로서의 임진왜란

On Coastal Defense Theory in the Early 19th Century Japan and Japanese Invasion of Korea-Focusing on Hokkai Idan

Since the mid-17th century, the Ainu, Japan and Russia had been in low intensity conflict for Ezochi or Hokkaido, Sahkalin, Kuril Islands. If we take into consideration the fact that Japanese government claims sovereignty over four islands of Kuril Islands, as well as Dokdo (Takeshima in Japanese) and the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai Islands in Chinese), the conflict for Ezochi between Japan and Russia has not yet been over. In this essay, I focus on a novel called Hokkai Idan or Another story of the North Sea written in premodern Japan on this conflict. The Hokkai Idan is based on the historical fact that Russian Army and the allied force of fiefdom in Tohoku crashed on Etorofu Island between 1806 and 1807. The author of Hokkai Idan exaggerated this short-term crash of two countries as war over one year. He described the war from the aspect of coastal defense theory in premodern Japan and claimed for an unrealized attempt to attack Japan by the allied force of Russia and Joseon in Hokkai Idan. It has been said that Ezochi was banned by the Tokugawa government and the writer and libraries of Hokkai Idan suffered severe punishment because the book had addressed political and military affair. Describing virtual sea battles between Japanese and Russian Army, the writer introduced many historical facts and notable documents on the real conflict at Etorofu Island and on the Japanese invasion of Korea or Imjin War. In Hokkai Idan, Imjin war was the important case before the Tokugawa period that should be analyzed for developing a strategy against the Russian army. In the late 18th century, many books on coastal defense theory or kaiboron were written against the advancing southward by Russia. The most widely known article is Kaikoku Heidan or Military Discussions of a Maritime Nation by Hayashi Shihei and the author of Hokkai Idan embodied the discourse in Kaikoku Heidan as a novel describing the war which would be occurred in the very near future between Japanese army and the allied force of Russia and Joseon.