APPENDIX 14 Japanese Conceptions of the National Status of Korea in the Late Seventh Century ALL JAPANESE HISTORIANS of note are agreed: (1) that in the reign of the Emperor Tenchi, the thirty-eighth sovereign of Japan, upon the destruction of the Japanese military forces in Korea and with the subsequent abandonment of authority in Korea, Japan's suze- rainty in Korea was terminated; and (2) that since the termination of the relationship of suzerain and tributary states between Japan and Korea in the seventh century, this relationship has never been reëstablished. Dr. Shidehara, president of the Imperial University in Formosa, and a recognized authority on Korean history, states in his work: "The Emperor Tenchi thereupon determined to reëstablish the kingdom of Kudara. This caused Japan to go to war with the T'ang [ China]. This military campaign unfortunately terminated in a disastrous battle at Hakuson-ko [Hakko]. Subsequently, Japan lost her authority in Korea completely. "After abandoning Korea [in the seventh century], Japan on many occasions planned to regain power in that country. She some- times invoked various gods, asking their assistance, and she had her young men learn the language of Shinra so that they would be prepared to serve as military interpreters. She strongly fortified her own coasts in order to defend herself from a possible attack by Korea; and having thus safeguarded her own country, she carried her military work farther with the purpose of again invading Ko- rea and regaining her suzerainty there. However, owing to the steady rise of the intellectual and military power of a Korea united under the rule of Shinra, Japan had no opportunity to start a military campaign, and her ambitious plans to reëstablish her power in Korea were gradually abandoned. [In the latter part of the sixteenth century, Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea, which lasted seven years, was finally abandoned in 1598 because of his death from old age. After the abandonment of this military campaign, Japan proposed to Korea that peace be concluded, but Korea promptly refused, citing as her reason for doing so the cruelties
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