A Study of 16th Century Western Books on Korea: The Birth of an Image

IV. Jesuit Letter Books
Jesuit letters from Japan provided Europe with its first real glimpse of Korea. Excerpts from these letters were transcribed and widely distributed among Catholic monasteries in Europe during the 16th century; however, it is important to note that these were not initially by and large made available to the general public at the time. Somewhat belatedly realizing the enormous propaganda potential of these letters for promoting public interest in and support of missionary work in Asia, the Society of Jesus eventually published the letters in book format. However, these collections of Jesuit letters are problematic in several respects: first and foremost, the Society of Jesus exercised extreme caution in their determination of which letters to make public.

Secondly, determining the western equivalents for terminologies relating to Asian systems and customs proved to be no easy task, not only for the original composers of these letters but also for those assigned to translate them into European languages. Thirdly, the contents of the published versions did not always accord with the original transcripts. The Jesuit letters were originally composed in Portuguese or Spanish and translated into Latin, Italian, French, etc. for publication, which provided the Jesuit authorities with some editorial and interpretive leeway. It was not uncommon for the published versions to include details that were not in the original transcripts themselves. To further complicate matters, zealots of the faith who scrutinized the original transcripts regularly edited out portions they deemed detrimental to the missionary cause, leading many historians to question the credibility of the published versions of the letters. Despite these apparent limitations, however, these collections of letters published by the Society of Jesus proved to be an effective medium through which 16th century Europeans could obtain the latest information on the Far East.

The first of these collections of letters, composed in Italian, was published in 1552 in Rome. The bulk of the letters in this particular collection were those dispatched from India. Subsequently the collection of letters from India, originally written in Portuguese or Spanish, were translated into a number of languages in Rome, Venice, and scores of other cities in Northern Europe. By the 1560s public interest in the Indian letters began to wane and they were eventually superceded by the collection of letters from Japan. In particular, when Frois was assigned the task of writing annual letters, the Japanese letters began to be set as the model for all Jesuit letters. Most of the letters from Japan were compiled in Goa and sent to Coimbra, where they were transcribed and sent to Rome and to various Jesuit monasteries throughout Europe. The first collection of Jesuit letters that dealt comprehensively with Japan was published in Coimbra in Spanish in 1565. In 1570, the Jesuit priests in Coimbra published some 1000 copies of the collection of Jesuit letters in Portuguese and distributed them for free, and in 1575 a Spanish translation was published in Alcara, Spain. In addition, the Italian version of the Japanese letters was first published in Rome in 1578. Thereafter, annual supplements of the Japanese letters were published on a regular basis. Annual Letters of Japan, which had made a substantial contribution to the introduction of Korea to Europe, was first published in 1593.

The first of these to make a reference to Korea was written by Frois in 1590, and it was translated into Italian and French and published in Rome, Milano, and Paris. The 1591 and 1592 annual letters in which Korea is featured in earnest were originally written by Frois in Spanish, but it was translated into Italian, French, and Latin and published in Rome, Milano, Venice, Douai, among others in 1595 and 1596. Furthermore, a letter written by Father Orantino Bresciano in 1594 and sent to Aquaviva, then General of the Society of Jesus, includes materials on the 1592 War between Japan and Korea, and the Italian version and the French version were published in Milano and Antwerp respectively in 1597. Most of the materials related to Korea between 1590 and 1594 were written by Frois and translated into most of the major languages in Europe.

Furthermore, English translations of these letters were included in Hakluyt's 1599 edition of Principal Navigations and were cited almost in their entirety in Guzman's Historia de la Missiones, published in 1601. This is arguably the most authoritative study on Korea to date since Marco Polo first used the term Cauli in reference to Korea. A more extensive examination of Frois's letters will be provided in the upcoming section on Hakluyt. Subsequent letters that included information on Korea continued to be published in Europe. However, the 1594, 1595, and 1596 installments of the Annual Letters of Japan fail to mention Cespedes's visit to Korea. They provide only passing references to the 1592 War and to the Korean prisoners of war. Therefore, these letters failed to provide any new information on Korea. Around 1600, yearly installments of Annual Letters of Japan were finally compiled and published. In 1598, Dom Theotonio de Braganza, archbishop of Evora and friend of Valignano, published Jesuit Cartas in two volumes. A compilation of some 213 letters, this work is widely recognized as the representative publication of Jesuit letters. This collection is of particular interest because it included the early letters of Vilela and Prenestino, segments of which treat Korea.

In 1601, Guzman published Historia de las Missiones in two volumes. In the process of illuminating the history of the Far East mission, Guzman managed to provide some insight on Korea. Guzman spent most of his adult life serving as the rector of the Spanish Seminary, attached to the Society of Jesus, and as head of the Toledo parish. Although Guzman had never personally set foot in Asia, his close study of annual letters from Japan and the transcripts of Valignano's Historia enabled him to complete Historia de las Missiones. The writing of Historia de las Missiones, which includes numerous letters of the 1590s, is fortuitous in the sense that many of the original letters archived in Spain have since been lost. As stipulated in the title, Guzman's work deals with the missionary works in the West Indies, China and Japan up to 1600. Of the 13 books that comprise the Historia de las Missiones over half are devoted to the mission in Japan. A segment on Korea, some 80 pages in length, appears in Volume 2, Book 12, Chapters 14 to 37 (pages 497 to 576).

Guzman correctly categorizes Korea as a peninsula and explains that Korea borders China to the North and the Tatars and the "barbarians" to the northeast. He states that Korea submits annual tributes to China, is constantly in war with its neighbors, is generally mountainous with great plains stretching up the middle of the peninsula, and cultivates rice and harvests a large amount of fruits and honey. Furthermore, the Koreans roof their dwellings with rice staw, are light skinned, gentle but strong when they have to be, and are adverse to all foreign trade, as well as visitations by foreigners. Guzman also adds some reflections on the backgrounds of the 1592 War between Japan and Korea, the remarkable exploits of Korea's naval forces, China's involvement in the war, and the process through which the peace agreement was reached. To his credit, Guzman does record Cespedes's visit to Korea in Chapter 27. Curiously enough, Historia de las Missiones was the only European book published in the 16th and the 17th century that makes any reference to Cespedes's visit to Korea. According to Guzman's account, Cespedes stayed with the Japanese and their Korean captives during his 18-month long stay in Korea and took a Korean boy back to Japan with him, in preparation for the establishment of a Catholic mission in Korea. In Book 13, Chapter 15, Guzman explains the reasons behind the war between Japan and Korea and emphasizes Korea's potential as a bridgehead into China. As we will see in our examination of Hakluyt's English translation of Frois's letters, Guzman's material on Korea is, by and large, a verbatim recounting of Frois' s annual letters to Rome.