UNESCO registers Korean envoys as a World Heritage Site, but postpones registration of the Sugihara list, along with the Ueno Three Monuments
October 31, 2017 06:00
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced in the early hours of the 31st (Japan time) that it has registered the "Records of the Korean Envoys," documents of diplomatic missions sent from the Korean Peninsula to Japan during the Edo period, in its "Memory of the World" registry, a list of historical documents. This is the first time that documents remaining in Japan and Korea have been jointly registered. The "Kozuke Sanpi," a group of ancient stone monuments in Gunma Prefecture, have also been registered.
The "Sugihara List," a document on diplomat Chiune Sugihara (1900-1986), who saved many Jews during World War II, was not included in the list.
The final decision was made by the Director-General of UNESCO after review by the International Advisory Committee held in Paris.
Five items from Japan have already been registered in the Memory of the World Register, including the "Yamasakubei Coal Mine Documents and Paintings," bringing the total to seven. However, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has stated that the records of the Korean Embassy missions will not be included in the number of domestic registrations because they were not submitted solely by Japan.
The Joseon Tongsinsa were diplomatic missions sent by the King of Korea to Japan to establish friendly relations. They were sent 12 times until 1811. They sailed from Busan, Korea, through Nagasaki and Tsushima, and the Seto Inland Sea to Osaka, then traveled overland to Edo. It is said that exchanges in areas such as medicine and art were born along the way.
The "Records of the Korean Envoys" are comprised of three pillars: (1) diplomatic records, (2) travel records, and (3) records of cultural exchanges. The diplomatic records include the "Korean Sokush" (Chinese national letter) from the King of Korea to the Tokugawa Shogun, as well as a 1607 sokush that was falsified by the Tsushima Domain. A portion of the Kuroda family documents, which record the Fukuoka Domain's hospitality for the envoys on Ainoshima Island (Shingu Town, Fukuoka Prefecture), have also been registered. A total of 333 documents from Japan and Korea are available, with 21 in Fukuoka Prefecture and six in Nagasaki Prefecture, both of which are held in museums and other locations in Kyushu.
The application was jointly submitted in March 2016 by the Korean Embassy Entrance Liaison Council (Enchiren), an NPO based in Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture, and the Busan Cultural Foundation of South Korea, and the building has also attracted attention as a symbol of private-sector-led friendship between Japan and South Korea.
The Sugihara List is a collection of 64 records of visas issued to Jewish refugees transiting through Japan when Sugihara was acting consul in Lithuania. The Ueno Sanpei in Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture, is the collective name for three stone monuments erected in the 7th and 8th centuries that have been designated as special national historic sites.
Nishinippon Shimbun morning edition, October 31, 2017
You can download a PDF of the article here.
