Toyotomi Hideyoshi and the Japanese Invasions of Korea: The Imjin War /// 58

Battlecast

The Imjin War, also known as the Japanese invasions of Korea, were a series of conflicts which took place in Korea after the unification of Japan by Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, were killed or enslaved by the samurai invaders. The Korean people may have ceased to exist as an unique people if it weren’t for one man: Admiral Yi Sun-sin, one of the greatest military leaders in human history. Between the death-dance fought between Hideyoshi and Sun-sin many millions would lose everything. Countless property, countless lives, countless cultural artifacts – they were all lost in this one near decade-long struggle. This is the story of the Imjin War.

It’s all here and it’s all free on Battlecast, the world’s foremost podcast on wart and its sociopolitical impact.

Download episode 58 here: download link.

Maps and Illustrations:

Japanese forces advance into Korea (Turnbull, 2002)

The Battle of Ch’ungju – red lines show Japanese advances. Blue show Korean positions (Turnbull, 2002)

A contemporary illustration of Toyotomi Hideyoshi – the village samurai who conquered Japan and Korea (Turnbull, 2002)

(Turnbull, 2002)

A contemporary illustration of a Samurai warrior (Turnbull, 2002)

References:

Samurai invasion: Japan’s Korean war by Stephen Turnbull (2002)

Book of Corrections: Reflections on the National Crisis During the Japanese Invasion of Korea, 1592-1598 by Song-Nyong Yu and Byonghyon Choi

Imjin changch’o: Admiral Yi Sun-sin’s memorials to court by Sun-sin Yi. Translated by Ha Tse-hung

Admiral Yi Sun-sin of Korea by Jong-dae Kim. Translated by Philip K Rhyu

Nanjung Ilgi: War Diary of Admiral Yi Sun-sin by Yi Sun-shin. Translated by Ha Tae-hung.

A History of Korea: from “Land of the Morning Calm” to states in conflict by Jinwung Kim

A concise history of Korea: from antiquity to the present by Michael Seth

A concise history of Japan by Brett Walker

The Cambridge history of Japan volumes 3 and 4 edited by Kozo Yamamura and John Whitney Hall

The Imjin War by Samuel Hawley

The samurai invasion of Korea by Stephen Turnbull

A dragon’s head and a serpent’s tail: Ming China and the First Great East Asian War, 1592-1598 by Swope, Kenneth M. (2009)

The Japanese experience by W.G. Beasley

The Hagakure by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by William Scott Wilson

Samurai wisdom by Thomas Cleary

A history of Japan by R.H.P. Mason and J.G. Caiger