Korean influence on Japanese culture

Korean influence on Japanese culture refers to the impact of Korea on Japanese institutions and society. Such influence has existed since prehistoric times in the form of the transfer of Korean immigrants, technology, ideas, art, and artistic techniques to Japan. Many such innovations had originated in China, but were adapted and modified in Korea before reaching Japan.

Notable examples of Korean influence on Japanese culture include the prehistoric migration of Korean peoples to Japan which helped spark Japan's transition from a stone age to an iron age society, the introduction of Buddhism to Japan from the Korean state of Baekje in 538 AD, and the rebirth of Japanese pottery in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Koreans craftsmen forced to go to Japan during the Japanese invasions of Korea. Throughout history Korea has influenced state formation in Japan in a significant manner and also exerted long-term influence on Japanese art, including painting and architecture.

Until recently, Korean influence on Japanese culture was a relatively neglected topic among scholars, who instead focused on China's influence on Japan. By contrast, many scholars today acknowledge the key role played by Korea in bringing advanced culture to Japan. According to the Kyoto Cultural Museum, "In seeking the source of Japan’s ancient culture many will look to China, but the quest will finally lead to Korea, where China’s advanced culture was accepted and assimilated. In actuality, the people who crossed the sea were the people of the Korea Peninsula and their culture was the Korean culture."^[1]

During the stone age Jomon Period of Japanese history, the people living in Japan imported some items from Korea but otherwise remained in isolation from continental Asia.^[2] However, starting from around 400 BC Korean technology and cultural objects suddenly began appearing in Japan.^[2][3] During this new period of Japanese history, the Yayoi Period, the forms of intensive agriculture and animal husbandry practiced in Korea were adopted in Japan, first in Kyushu which is closest to the Korean peninsula and soon all across Japan.^[2][3] The result was a major explosion in the Japanese population from 75,000 people in 400 BC to over five million by 250 AD.^[2][3] Japanese people also began to use metal tools, arrowheads, new forms of pottery, glass beads, weaving, moats, burial mounds, and styles of housing which were of Korean origin.^[2][3]

There has never been any doubt that technology and culture from Korea played a critical role in Japan's transition from the Jomon Period to the Yayoi Period, but historians continue to debate whether the transition occurred primarily due to adaptation of Korean technology and culture by indigenous Japanese people or primarily due to immigration of new people from Korea.^[4] According to the anthropologist Jared Diamond, genetic studies and anatomical evidence from early Japanese people prove that "immigrants from Korea really did make a big contribution to the modern Japanese" and that "By the time of the Kofun Period, all Japanese skeletons except those of the Ainu form a homogeneous group, resembling modern Japanese and Koreans."^[4] New advances in agriculture and rapid population growth within Korea are believed to have been the major causes of this sudden influx of Korean immigration to Japan.^[2][1] The total number who migrated to Japan at this time is unknown but may have been up to several million, most of whom were men who married women native to Japan.^[4][3] The Yoshinogari site, a famous archeological site in Kyushu dating from the late Yayoi Period, appears virtually identical to Korean villages of the same period.^[5] Diamond also suspects that the new migrants spoke a Japanese language which was derived from a language of the Korean peninsula,^[6] a theory which is also advocated by Christopher Beckwith.^[7]

Throughout the remainder of the Yayoi Period Japan relied heavily on Korea as a source of tools and weapons made of bronze and iron.^[5] During this period Japan imported great numbers of Korean mirrors and daggers, which were the symbols of power in Korea.^[5] Combined with the curved jewel known as the magatama, Korea's "three treasures" soon became as prized by Japan's elites as Korea's, and in Japan they would later become the Imperial Regalia.^[5]

During the Kofun Period of ancient Japanese history, which begins around 250 AD, the tribes of Japan gradually coalesced into a centralized state.^[8] Cultural contact with Korea, which at the time was divided into several independent states, played a decisive role in the development of Japanese government and society both during the Kofun Period and the subsequent Classical Period.^[9][8] Most new innovations flowed from Korea into Japan, and not vice-versa, primarily due to Korea's closer proximity to China.^[10] Though many of the ideas and technologies which filtered into Japan from Korea were originally Chinese, historian William Wayne Farris notes that native Koreans put "their distinctive stamp on" them before passing them on to Japan.^[9] Some such innovations were imported to Japan through trade, but in more cases they were brought to Japan by Korean immigrants.^[9] The Yamato state that eventually unified Japan was able to accomplish this feat partly due to its success at gaining a monopoly on the importation of Korean culture and technology into Japan.^[9] Extensive details on these cultural contacts between Japan and Korea are provided by the earliest written histories of Japan, including the Nihon Shoki written in 720.^[11] According to Farris, Japanese cultural borrowing from Korea "hit peaks in the mid-fifth, mid-sixth, and late seventh centuries" and "helped to define a material culture that lasted as long as a thousand years."^[12]

Korean immigration to Japan

During this period the major factor behind the transfer of Korean culture to Japan was immigration from Korea.^[13] Most Korean immigrants, generically known as toraijin in Japanese, came during a period of intense regional warfare which racked the Korean peninsula between the years 371 and 670.^[13] Most of these immigrants were from Japan's allies, the Korean states of Baekje and Gaya, and they were warmly welcomed by the Japanese government.^[13] Perhaps most significant of all was the flight of the Baekje elite, who came to Japan in two waves in 400 and 475 during invasions of Baekje by the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo and then again in 663 after Baekje fell to the kingdom of Silla.^[14] These immigrants brought their culture to Japan with them, and once there they often became leading officials, soldiers, artists, and craftsmen.^[13] Korean immigrants were the leading players behind Japan's cultural missions to Sui China^[15] and some Koreans even married into the Imperial Family.^[16][17]

By 700 perhaps one third of all Japanese aristocrats were of recent Korean origin,^[9] including the influential Aya clan and Hata clan.^[15] Although Koreans settled throughout Japan, they were especially concentrated in Nara, the region where the Japanese capital was located.^[15] Between eighty and ninety percent of people living in Nara had Korean Baekje ancestry by the year 773, and recent anatomical analyses indicate that modern-day Japanese people living in this area continue to be more closely related to ethnic Koreans than any other in Japan.^[15]

The Soga clan, a clan with close ties to the Baekje elite, may also have been of Korean Baekje ancestry.^[18] Scholars who have argued in favor of the theory that the Soga had Korean ancestry include Song-Nai Rhee, C. Melvin Aikens, Sung-Rak Choi, Hyuk-Jin Ro, Teiji Kadowaki, and William Wayne Farris.^[19][18][20]

Arms and armament

During most of the Kofun Period Japan relied on Korea as its sole source of iron swords, spears, armor, and helmets.^[21] Cuirasses and later Japan's first lamellar armor, as well as subsequent innovations in producing them, arrived in Japan from Korea, particularly the Korean states of Silla and Gaya.^[21][22] Japan's first crossbow was delivered by Goguryeo in 618.^[23]

At a time in history when horses were a key military weapon, Baekje immigrants also established Japan's first horse-raising farms in what would become Japan's Kawachi Province.^[24] One historian, Koichi Mori, theorizes that Emperor Keitai's close friendships with Baekje horsemen played an important role in helping him to assume the throne.^[24] On top of the horses themselves, Korea also gave Japan its first horse carriages and other related trappings.^[25][24] Bites, stirrups, saddles, and bridles entered Japan from Korea by the early fifth century.^[25]

In 660 following the fall of Baekje, a Korean ally of Japan, the Japanese Emperor Tenji utilized skilled technicians from Baekje to construct at least seven fortresses to protect Japan's coastline from invasion.^[26] Japan's mountain fortifications in particular were based off Korean models.^[23][27]

Pottery

Japan continued to import new forms of pottery from Korea just as it had during the earlier Yayoi Period,^[28] and around the early fifth century the tunnel kiln and potter's wheel also made their way from Korea to Japan.^[29]

The most notable form of pottery to reach Japan from Korea was the high-fired stoneware known as dojil togi in Korea and Sue ware in Japan which was brought by immigrants from the Korean state of Gaya.^[28] Gayan refugees fleeing an attack by Goguryeo in 400 brought the first Sue ware to Japan and soon they were producing it domestically.^[28] Every aristocratic tomb in Japan from that point and on would contain a profusion of Gayan sue ware, and by the 700s Japanese commoners were using it as well.^[28] Baekje immigrants were also involved in creating sue ware.^[28]

Ovens

The oven known as the kamado, popularly referred to as the "Korean oven" in Japan, was originally invented in China but was modified in Korea before being exported to Japan.^[29] According to the historian William Wayne Farris, the introduction of the kamado "had a profound effect on daily life in ancient Japan" and "represented a major advance for residents of Japan's pit dwellings".^[29] The ovens that Japanese people had previously used to cook their meals and heat their homes were less safe, more difficult to use, and less heat efficient.^[29] By the seventh century the kamado was in widespread use in Japan.^[29]

Iron tools and iron metallurgy

During the Kofun Period, Korea supplied Japan with most of its iron tools, including chisels, saws, sickles, axes, spades, hoes, and plows.^[30] Korean iron farming tools in particular contributed to a rise in Japan's population by possibly 250 to 300 percent.^[31]

However, it was the refugees who came after 400 from Gaya, a Korean state famous for its iron production, who established some of Japan's first native iron foundries.^[32][28] The techniques of iron production which they brought to Japan are uniquely Korean and distinct from those used in China.^[21] The work of these Gayan refugees eventually permitted Japan to escape from its dependency on importing iron tools, armor, and weapons from Korea.^[28]

Dams and irrigation

The use of irrigation ponds, a valuable agricultural innovation, were introduced to Japan via Korea around the early to mid-fifth century.^[30] Not long after this Baekje immigrants are credited with engineering Japan's first substantial dam-building project by using native Baekje techniques to construct a series of dams and canals around Kawachi Lake.^[24] Their objective was to drain the wetlands around the lake and use the land for agriculture.^[24] A similar project was successfully completed in Kyoto by the descendants of Korean immigrants from Silla.^[15]

Government and administration

The centralization of the Japanese state in the sixth and seventh centuries also owes a debt to Korea.^[33] In 535 the Japanese government established military garrisons called "miyake" throughout Japan to control regional powers and in many cases staffed them with Korean immigrants.^[33] Soon after a system of "be", government-regulated groups of artisans, was created, as well as a new level of local administration and a tribute tax. All of these were probably modeled off similar systems used in Baekje and other parts of Korea.^[33][34] Likewise Prince Shotoku's Twelve Level Cap and Rank System of 603, a form a meritocracy implemented for Japanese government positions, may have been copied directly from the Baekje model.^[33] One of the major symbols of the Japanese state's growing power during this period was the palace of Emperor Jomei, which he appropriately called, "Baekje Palace".^[33]

Korean immigrants to Japan also played a role in drafting many important Japanese legal reforms of the era,^[34] including the Taika Reform of 645.^[35] Half of the individuals actively involved in drafting Japan's Taiho Code of 703 were Korean.^[34]

Writing

Scribes from the Korean state of Baekje who wrote Chinese introduced writing to Japan in the early fifth century.^[36][37][38] The man traditionally credited as being the first to teach writing in Japan is the Baekje scholar Wani.^[39] Though a small number of Japanese people were able to read Chinese before then, it was thanks to the work of scribes from Baekje that the use of writing was popularized among the Japanese governing elite.^[36] For hundreds of years thereafter a steady stream of talented scribes would be sent from Korea to Japan,^[40] and some of these scholars from Baekje wrote and edited much of the Nihon Shoki, one of Japan's earliest works of history.^[41]

According to Bjarke Frellesvig, "There is ample evidence, in the form of orthographic 'Koreanisms' in the early inscriptions in Japan, that the writing practices employed in Japan were modelled on continental examples."^[42] Japan's man'yōgana writing system seems to owe a debt to Korea, particularly Baekje,^[43][44] though the transcription systems used in the Samdaemok, an anthology of Sillan poetry, and the Japanese Man'yōshu also show striking similarities.^[45] In addition, Japanese katakana share many symbols with Korean gugyeol suggesting katakana arose in part at least from scribal practices in Korea, though the historical connections between the two systems are obscure.^[46][47][48]

Science, medicine, and math

In 554 Baekje sent Japan a team of learned men including doctors, diviners, and calendar scientists.^[49] In 602 the monk Gwalleuk also reached Japan from Baekje, bringing with him his expert knowledge on astronomy, medicine, and mathematics.^[50][51][52] Gwalleuk has been credited with being the first person to teach mathematics in Japan.^[53]

Virtually every astronomer working in seventh century Japan was an immigrants from Korea, mostly Baekje.^[49] Native Japanese astronomers were gradually trained and by the eighth century only forty percent of Japanese astronomers were Korean.^[49] Furthermore, the Ishinpō, a Japanese medical text written in 984, still contains many medical formulas of Korean origin.^[54]

During this same period, Japanese farmers divided their arable land using a system of measurement devised in Korea.^[55]

Shipbuilding

Technicians sent from the Korean kingdom of Silla introduced advanced shipbuilding techniques to Japan for the first time.^[56][17] Baekje may also have contributed shipbuilding technology to Japan.^[49]

Buddhism

In the 500s the Korean state of Baekje launched a plan to culturally remake Japan in its own image.^[19] It started in the years 513 and 516 when King Muryeong of Baekje dispatched scribes and Confucian scholars to Japan's Yamato court.^[19][57] Later King Seong sent Buddhist sutras and a statue of Buddha to Japan, an event described by historian Robert Buswell as "one of the two most critical influences in the entire history of Japan, rivaled only by the nineteenth-century encounter with Western culture."^[50] The year this occurred, dated by historians to either 538 or 552, marks the official introduction of Buddhism into Japan, and within two years of this date Baekje provided Japan with nine Buddhists priests to aid in propagating the faith.^[19] Buddhism was not universally accepted at first by the Japanese political elite, but following a struggle for power, the Soga clan established it as Japan's official religion in 587.^[19]

Korea continued to supply Japan with Buddhist monks for the remainder of its existence.^[57] In 587 the monk P'ungguk arrived from Baekje to serve as a tutor to Emperor Yomei's younger brother and later settled down as the first abbot of Japan's Shitenno-ji Temple.^[57] In 595 the monk Hyeja arrived in Japan from Goguryeo.^[58] He became a mentor to Prince Shotoku and lived in Asuka-dera Temple.^[58] By the reign of the Japanese Empress Suiko (592-628), there were over one thousand monks and nuns living in Japan, a substantial percentage of whom were Korean.^[57]

A great many Buddhist writings published during Korea's Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) were also highly influential upon their arrival in Japan.^[59] Such Korean ideas would play an important role in the development of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism.^[50] The Japanese monk Shinran was among those known to be influenced by Korean Buddhism, particularly by the Sillan monk Gyeongheung.^[50]

Robert Buswell notes that the form of Buddhism Korea was propagating throughout its history was "a vibrant cultural tradition in its own right" and that Korea did not serve simply as a "bridge" between China and Japan.^[50]

According to the scholar Insoo Cho, Korean artwork has had a "huge impact" on Japan throughout history, though until recently the subject was often neglected within academia.^[60] Beatrix von Ragué has noted that in particular, "one can hardly underestimate the role which, from the fifth to the seventh centuries, Korean artists and craftsmen played in the early art... of Japan."^[61]

Lacquerwork

The first Japanese lacquerwork was produced by or influenced by Korean and Chinese craftsmen in Japan.^[61] Most notably is Tamamushi Shrine, a miniature shrine in Horyu-ji Temple, which was created in Korean style, possibly by a Korean immigrant to Japan.^[61] Tamamushi Shrine, described by Beatrix von Ragué as "the oldest example of the true art of lacquerwork to have survived in Japan", is decorated with a uniquely-Korean inlay composed of the wings of tamamushi beetles.^[61] Ernest Fenollosa has called Tamamushi Shrine, one of the "great monuments of sixth-century Corean art".^[62]

Japanese lacquerware teabowls, boxes, and tables of the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568–1600) also show signs of Korean artistic influence.^[63] The mother-of-pearl inlay frequently used in this lacquerware is of clearly Korean origin.^[63]

Painting

The immigration of Korean and Chinese painters to Japan during the Asuka Period transformed Japanese art.^[64] For instance, in the year 610 Damjing, a Buddhist monk from Goguryeo, brought paints, brushes, and paper to Japan.^[64] Damjing introduced the arts of papermaking and of preparing pigments to Japan for the first time,^[65][64] and he is also regarded as the artist behind the wall painting in the main hall of Japan's Horyu-ji Temple which was later burned down in a fire.^[66]

However, it was during the Muromachi Period (1337-1573) of Japanese history that Korean influence on Japanese painting reached its peak.^[67] Korean art and artists frequently arrived on Japan's shores, influencing both the style and theme of Japanese ink painting.^[67] The two most important Japanese ink painters of the period were Shubun, whose art displays many of the characteristic features of Korean painting, and Sumon, who was himself an immigrant from Korea.^[67] Consequently, one Japanese historian, Sokuro Wakimoto, has even described the period between 1394 and 1486 as the "Era of Korean Style" in Japanese ink painting.^[67]

Then during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, as a result of the Joseon missions to Japan, the Japanese artists who were developing nanga painting came into close contact with Korean artists.^[68] Though Japanese nanga received inspiration from many sources, the historian Burglind Jungmann concludes that Korean namjonghwa painting "may well have been the most important for creating the Nanga style."^[68] It was the Korean brush and ink techniques in particular which are known to have had a significant impact on such Japanese painters as Ike Taiga, Gion Nankai, and Sakaki Hyakusen.^[68]

Music and dance

In ancient times the imperial court of Japan imported all its music from abroad, though it was Korean music that reached Japan first.^[69] The first Korean music may have infiltrated Japan as early as the third century.^[69] Korean court music in ancient Japan was at first called "sankangaku" in Japanese, referring to music from all the states of the Korean peninsula, but it was later termed "komagaku" in reference specifically to the court music of the Korean kingdom of Guguryeo.^[69] According to Professor Song Bang-song, it was not the case that Korean music influenced Japanese music, but rather than Japan simply adopted Korean music in toto.^[70]

Musicians from various Korean states often went to work in Japan.^[69][19] Mimaji, a Korean entertainer from Baekje, introduced Chinese dance and Chinese gigaku music to Japan in 612.^[69][71] By the time of the Nara Period (710-794), every musician in Japan's imperial court was either Korean or Chinese.^[69] Korean musical instruments which became popular in Japan during this period include the flute known as the komabue, the zither known as the gayageum, and the harp known as the shiragikoto.^[56][69]

Though much has been written about Korean influence on early Japanese court music, Taeko Kusano has stated that Korean influence on Japanese folk music during the Edo Period (1603-1868) represents a very important but neglected field of study.^[72] According to Taeko Kusano, each of the Joseon missions to Japan included about fifty Korean musicians and left their mark on Japanese folk music. Most notably, the "tojin procession", which was practiced in Nagasaki, the "tojin dance", which arose in modern-day Mie Prefecture, and the "karako dance", which exists in modern-day Okayama Prefecture, all have Korean roots and utilize Korean-based music.^[72]

Silk weaving

Silk weaving took off in Japan from the fifth century onward as a result of new technology brought from Korea.^[73] Japan's Hata clan, who immigrated from Korea, are believed to have been specialists in the art of silk weaving and silk tapestry.^[73]

Jewelry

Japan at first imported jewelry made of glass, gold, and silver from Korea, but in the fifth century the techniques of gold and silver metallurgy also entered Japan from Korea, possibly from the Korean states of Baekje and Gaya.^[74] Korean immigrants established important sites of jewelry manufacturing in Katsuragi, Gunma, and other places in Japan, allowing Japan to domestically produce its first gold and silver earrings, crowns, and beads.^[75]

Sculpture

Along with Buddhism, the art of Buddhism sculpture also spread to Japan from Korea.^[76] At first almost all Japanese Buddhist sculptures were imported from Korea, and these imports demonstrate an artistic style which would dominate Japanese sculpture during the Asuka Period (538-710).^[76] In the years 577 and 588 the Korean state of Baekje dispatched to Japan expert statue sculptors.^[24]

One of the most notable examples of Korean influence on Japanese sculpture is the Buddha statue in the Koryu-ji Temple, sometimes referred to as the "Crown-Coiffed Maitreya".^[77] This statue, which has been described by Japan as its "National Treasure No.1", was directly copied from a Korean prototype around the seventh century.^[76][77] Likewise, the Great Buddha sculpture of Todai-ji Temple,^[49][78][56] as well as both the Baekje Kannon and the Guze Kannon sculptures of Japan's Horyu-ji Temple, are believed to have been sculpted by Koreans.^[62][79][56] The Guze Kannon was described as "the greatest perfect monument of Corean art" by Ernest Fenollosa.^[62]

Mythology and literature

Many Japanese myths about the age of the gods are believed by scholars including Mikiso Hane and Kim Yeol-kyu to have their origins in Korean stories.^[80][81]

Concerning literature, Roy Andrew Miller has stated that, "Japanese scholars have made important progress in identifying the seminal contributions of Korean immigrants, and of Korean literary culture as brought to Japan by the early Korean diaspora from the Old Korean kingdoms, to the formative stages of early Japanese poetic art".^[82] For instance, the Man'yō poet Yamanoue no Okura is widely thought to be of foreign descent.^[83][82] Susumu Nakanishi has argued that Okura was born in the Korean kingdom of Baekje and came with his family to Japan as a child.^[83] It has been noted that the Korean genre of hyangga differ greatly in both form and theme from the Man'yō poems, with the single exception of some of Yamanoue no Okura's poetry which shares their Buddhist-philosophical thematics.^[45] Roy Andrew Miller has argued that Okura's "Korean ethnicity" is an established fact, though one disliked by the Japanese literary establishment, and has spoken of Okura's "unique binational background and multilingual heritage".^[84]

Architecture

William Wayne Farris has noted that "Architecture was one art that changed forever with the importation of Buddhism" from Korea.^[85] In 587 the Buddhist Soga clan took control of the Japanese government, and the very next year in 588 the kingdom of Baekje sent Japan two architects, one metal smith, four roof tilers, and one painter who were assigned the task of constructing Japan's first full-fledged Buddhist temple.^[19][86] This temple was Asuka-dera Temple, completed in 596, and it was only the first of many such temples put together on the Baekje model.^[19] According to the historian Jonathan W. Best "virtually all of the numerous complete temples built in Japan between the last decade of the sixth and the middle of the seventh centuries" were designed off Korean models.^[58] Among such early Japanese temples designed and built with Korean aid are Shitenno-ji Temple and Horyu-ji Temple.^[85]

Many of the temple bells were also of Korean design and origin.^[59] As late as the early eleventh century Korean bells were being delivered to many Japanese temples including Enjo-ji Temple.^[59] In the year 1921, eighteen Korean temple bells were designated as national treasures of Japan.^[59]

In addition to temples, starting from the sixth century advanced stonecutting technology entered Japan from Korea and as a result Japanese tomb construction also began to change in favor of Korean models.^[75][87] During this time Japan's famous keyhole-shaped tombs gradually faded out of existence and were replaced by the corridor tombs prevalent in Baekje.^[75]

The invasions of Korea by Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi between 1592 and 1598 were an extremely vigorous period of two-way cross-cultural transfer between Korea and Japan.^[88] Although Japan ultimately lost the war, Hideyoshi and his generals used the opportunity to loot valuable commodities from Korea and to kidnap skilled Korean craftsmen and take them back to Japan.^[88] Korean ceramics, printing, construction techniques, and neo-Confucian ideology are all believed to have been transmitted to Japan at this time.^[88] Soho Tokutomi summed up the conflict by saying that, "The 1592-1598 war between Korea and Japan brought gains to neither country, but Japan learned the skills of type printing and making porcelain from Korea... For Japan, it was a period of overseas learning acquired at an expensive price."^[88]

Printing technology and books

At the start of the invasion in 1592 Korean books and book printing technology were Japan's top priority for looting, especially metal moveable type.^[89] One commander alone, Ukita Hideie, is said to have had 200,000 printing types and books removed from Korea's Gyeongbokgung Palace.^[89] The printing types remained in use in Japan for many decades and the books were numerous enough to fill many libraries.^[89]

According to the historian Ha Woobong, "the metal and wooden printing types taken from Korea laid the basis for the printing technology of the Edo Period in Japan and the development of scholastic learning."^[89]

Ceramics

Prior to the invasion, Korea's high-quality ceramic pottery was prized in Japan, particularly the Korean teabowls used in the Japanese tea ceremony.^[90] Because of this, Japanese soldiers made great efforts to find skilled Korean potters and transfer them to Japan.^[91] The order to kidnap Korean potters may have been laid down by Hideyoshi himself.^[91] For this reason, the Japanese invasion of Korea is sometimes referred to as the "Teabowl War"^[92] or the "Pottery War".^[93]

Hundreds of Korean potters were taken by the Japanese Army back to Japan with them, either being forcibly kidnapped or else being persuaded to leave.^[93] Once settled in Japan, the Korean potters were put to work making ceramics.^[93] Historian Andrew Maske has concluded that, "Without a doubt the single most important development in Japanese ceramics in the past five hundred years was the importation of Korean ceramic technology as a result of the invasions of Korea by the Japanese under Toyotomi Hideyoshi."^[92]

One such Korean potter sent to Japan was Yi Sampyeong who established himself in the Japanese town of Arita.^[93] In Arita Yi Sampyeong produced Japan's first porcelain, and by doing so earned himself the moniker of "god of pottery".^[93][91] Yi thus founded the Japanese pottery tradition known as Imari porcelain.^[91] Likewise, it was the Korean potter Sim Danggil who, after being removed from Korea during this period, settled in Japan and founded the pottery tradition known as Satsuma ware.^[91] Hagi ware, Karatsu ware, and Takatori ware were all pioneered in this same manner by Koreans who were taken to Japan at this time.^[91]

Construction

Among the skilled craftsmen removed from Korea by Japanese forces were roof tilers, who would go on to make important contributions to tiling Japanese houses and castles.^[65][93] For example, one Korean tiler participated in the expansion of Kumamoto Castle.^[65] Furthermore, the Japanese daimyo Katō Kiyomasa had Nagoya Castle constructed using stonework techniques that he had learned during his time in Korea.^[65]

Neo-Confucianism

Kang Hang, a Korean neo-Confucian scholar, was kidnapped in Korea by Japanese soldiers in 1597 and taken to Japan.^[94] He lived in Japan until the year 1600 during which time he formed an acquaintance with the scholar Fujiwara Seika and instructed him in neo-Confucian philosophy.^[94][65] Fujiwara Seika would soon become one of the leading figures in Japanese Neo-Confucianism, the state ideology of the Tokugawa shogunate.^[94]

Some historians believe that other Korean neo-Confucianists such as Yi Toe-gye had a major impact on Japanese neo-Confucianism at this time.^[95][96][65] One Korean official visiting Japan in 1719 reported that "Of all the books by Korean scholars, the Japanese most respect the works of Yi Toe-gye."^[97] By contrast, other historians including Willem Jan Boot have argued that the theory of Korean influence on Japanese neo-Confucianism has been "rebutted convincingly".^[98]

In the past many historians emphasized only China's influence on Japanese culture and ignored Korea.^[1] Recently, however, this situation has changed and a growing consensus has been reached among historians on the importance of direct cultural transfers from Korea to Japan.^[1] Even so, the issue of Korean influence on Japanese culture has continued to be a sensitive matter to discuss.^[99] This is partly because nationalist feelings have made Korea and Japan reluctant to acknowledge the subject, and also partly because no written records exist documenting early Korea-Japan contacts which are both contemporary to the events and unbiased.^[6][99] The excavation of many of Japan's earliest imperial tombs, which might shed important light on the subject, remains prohibited by the Japanese government.^[99] By contrast, the admission by Emperor Akihito that the Imperial Family of Japan included Korean ancestors helped to improve bilateral Korea-Japan relations.^[100]

Meanwhile Korea continues to exert cultural influence on Japan in some fields like food and music.^[101] Korean K-pop and K-dramas have become popular in Japan and some Koreans even see Japan's veneration of Korean K-pop idols as being an acknowledgement by Japan of the dominant role Korea has played in influencing Japanese culture since ancient times.^[102]

• Culture of Japan
• Culture of Korea
• Culture of Asia