Ashikaga Yoshimitsu inline graphic(1358-1408), third shogun of the Muromachi bakufu, initiated an era of official trade relations with the Chinese Ming court and the Korean Chosŏn court that would last for more than one hundred fifty years. Yoshimitsu held the position of shogun from 1368 to 1394, and after retiring from formal office, continued to exercise power until his death in 1408. Yet for the first three decades of his rule he confronted challenges in gaining control of the western provinces in southern Honshu and Kyushu that were situated at the doorway to the continent. In particular he had to free the sea routes across the East China Sea from the piracy that ravaged the southern parts of the Korean kingdom and the coasts of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions of China. Piracy featured as the main issue in the shogun's early correspondence with the sovereigns of China and Korea. The second book (makiinline graphic) of An Account of Good Neighborly Relations as a Treasure of Our Country (Zenrin kokuhōkiinline graphicinline graphic), completed in 1470 by the Zen monk Zuikei Shūhō inline graphic(1391-1473), begins with transcriptions of eight official letters concerning relations between Yoshimitsu and the rulers of China and Korea from 1398 to 1408.1 These eight letters are translated below, but first let us recall the situation in the three countries at the time.
目次
The Shogun as "King of Japan" 264 Ashikaga Yoshimitsu and Tamerlan 268 The Cambridge Manuscript of Zenrin kokuhoki 272 A. Ten-bon lineage 274 B. Ichi-bon lineage 274 C. Rui-bon 274 Part 2 279 Eighth year of Oei [1401] 280 Letter from Great Ming [1402] 281 Ninth year of the same era [Oei, 1402, a mistake for 140] 282 Tenth year of the same era [Oei, 1403] 285 Eleventh year of the same era [Oei, 1404] 286 Thirteenth year of the same era [Oei, 1406]. Letter from Great Ming 286 Fourteenth year of the same era [Oei, 1407]. Letter from Great Ming 291 References 293
