In 1590, TOYOTOMI Hideyoshi, who had almost achieved the unification of Japan, planned next to subjugate the Korean peninsula. Hideyoshi ordered SOU Yoshitoshi, who had been governing Tsushima with his step father, to lead the charge. A small island, Tsushima is located in the Sea of Japan, 130 kilometers away from mainland Japan and 50 kilometers away from Korea. The island served as a trading base between Japan and Korea, so, having deep ties with Korea, it was unthinkable for Yoshitoshi to invade. Faced with Hideyoshi’s enormous power, Yoshitoshi had no choice but to comply with his orders and took part in the invasion to Korea. Hideyoshi’s army of 160,000 soldiers conquered present-day Seoul and advanced up to Pyongyang. However, the Ming (Chinese) army joined forces with the Korean army and the tables were turned. Yohitoshi barricaded himself into a castle in Seoul and sued for peace negotiations with the Ming. The Ming requested a statement of surrender from Hideyoshi as one of the conditions for peace. Guessing Hideyoshi would never capitulate, he forged a document. This stood for about 400 years, in order to ensure the survival of Tsushima. Using Hideyoshi’s name, he wrote a letter that stated “Let me be the king of Japan,” and, stamping this letter with a fake seal, he sent a messenger off with it. The Ming accepted this statement and sent an envoy to Japan, giving him the title of king of Japan. Ignorant of this state of affairs Hideyoshi was cheerful, but before long he found out that the letter sent from the Ming was to make him a subordinate, and he furiously expelled the envoy. Then in 1597, he sent his army to invade Korea again with Yoshitoshi in the vanguard, ordering them to kill anybody indiscriminately. Hideyoshi’s army was victorious in the beginning, but the situation completely changed when reinforcements from China and the Korean volunteer army arrived. During this time Hideyoshi passed away, and chief ministers, including TOKUGAWA Ieyasu, ordered them to retreat from Korea. Yoshitoshi returned to his homeland of Tsushima, but the land was desolate and few people remained. After that Ieyasu, who had won a battle at Sekigahara, became the ruler of Japan. By returning prisoners that had been held in Japan to Korea, Yoshitoshi continued to make an effort to improve relations with Korea, and in time peace talks with Korea went ahead. Yoshitoshi anguished over how to deal with the situation, guessing that Ieyasu, who had not been involved in the war, but wanted peace, would never apologize. Yoshitoshi decided again to make a forgery, this time using Ieyasu’s name, he sent off a fake statement of apology. Because of this, a formal delegation from Korea turned up in Tsushima in 1607. However, it was written that a letter had been first sent from Japan in the king of Korea’s official response. If the counterfeit was discovered something terrible would happen, so Yoshitoshi made a forgery again. Then, by biding their time with the envoy, they at last got the chance to switch the official letter for the fake letter, on the day the envoy was to see Shogun TOKUGAWA Hidetada. Ieyasu, who had retired, was greatly satisfied with the friendly relations between both nations. Yoshitomo’s counterfeit diplomacy was discovered during the rule of the next shogun, but he was not blamed, as more importance was placed on the peaceful outcome. (From January issue, 2014 / 2014年1月号より）