1 These references are conveniently collected in Kiyoshi, Wada and Michihiro, Ishihara, Gishi Wajin-den, Gokanjo Wa-den, Sūsho Wakoku-den, Suisho Wakoku-denl-ll [Bunko, Iwanami, rev. edn] (Tokyo 1985)Google Scholar.

2 We find this record in the Rikkokushi (The Six National Histories'). The first of the six, Nihon shoki, was compiled in 720, and the last, Sandai jitsuroku, in 901. Between them, they cover the period from the creation of Heaven and Earth till the end of the reign of Emperor Kökö (886). The historiographical format chosen for these chronicles is that of the Chinese shilu (‘veritable records’). This means that references to diplomatic exchanges are throughout entered under the appropriate dates.

3 Text to be found in Zoku gunsho ruijü (ZGR) 30-A; Shiseki shüran 21; Takeo, Tanaka ed., Zemin kokuhö ki, Shintei Zoku zenrin kokuhö ki (Tokyo 1995)Google Scholar. The title could be translated as ‘Record of a Good Neighbour being a National Treasure’.

4 Verschuer, Charlotte von, ‘Japan's Foreign Relations 600 to 1200 A.D.: A translation from Zenrin Kokuhoki’, MonumentaNipponica 54/1 (1999) 1–2Google Scholar, for a few more details and references regarding Shuho; Ibid., 7-9, for details regarding the work.

5 Tsūkōichiran: a modern edition was printed in eight volumes by Kokusho kankōkai (Tokyo 1912–1913)Google Scholar, and has been reprinted several times since, most recently by Hōbun Shokan (Tokyo 1991). The sequel, Tsūkō ichiran zokushū, was printed in five volumes by Seibundō (Osaka 1968)Google Scholar.

6 These are fascicles 61 and 62 (Vol. 6 of Tokugawa kinrei kō (TKK), zenpenshu in the current modern edition). Since all individual items are sequentially numbered throughout the series, it is easier to refer to the individual numbers of the items; these range from 4049 to 4123.

7 For this period, see Verschuer, Charlotte von, Les Relations Officielks dujapon avec la Chine aux VIHe el IXe Siecles (Paris 1985)Google Scholar. Another, rather more popularising book by the same author, that covers a longer period, is Le Commerce Extérieur de Japan. Des Origines au XVIe Siécle (Paris 1988)Google Scholar.

8 See Verschuer, Von, ‘Japan's Foreign Relations’, 5–7Google Scholar, for more details. For interesting glimpses of the reality of the relations, also see Borgen's, Robert study of the diary of Jöjin, a Japanese monk who travelled to China, ‘San Tendai Godai san ki as a Source for the Study of Sung History’, Bulletin of Sung Yuan Studies 19 (1987) 1–16Google Scholar.

9 For a detailed and comprehensive study of these developments, see Elisonas, Jurgis, ‘The Inseparable Trinity: Japan's Relations with China and Korea’ in: Hall, John Whitney and McClain, James L. eds, The Cambridge History of Japan IV: Early ModernJapan (Cambridge 1991) 235–300CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

10 Zenrin kokuhō ki 1 (ZGR 30-A, 323-324). Cf. translation in Verschuer, Von, ‘Japan's Foreign Relations’, 13–15Google Scholar. The text is excerpted from Nihon shoki. See Ibid., under Suiko 16.

11 Zenrin kokuhö ki 1 (ZGR 30-A, 323-324).

12 Zenrin kokuhö ki 1 (ZGR30-A, 324b). Cf. Zenrin kokuhö ki 2 (ZGR30-A, 368a) for a somewhat different summary.

13 Zenrin kokuhö ki 1 (ZGR 30-A, 324-325). Cf. translation in Verschuer, Von, Japan's Foreign Relations, 15–17Google Scholar.

14 A good impression of all the complexities is given by the discussion in Verschuer, Von, ‘Japan's Foreign Relations’, 9–11Google Scholar.

15 For similar importance attached to letters in a completely different context, see LBlusse's, eonard inaugural lecture, Tussen geveinsde vrunden en verklaarde vijanden (Amsterdam 1999) 11–12Google Scholar.

16 Zenrin kokuhö ki 2 (ZGR 30-A, 368a).

17 See the letter of Hongwu 6 (1373) in Zenrin kokuhö ki 1 (ZGR 30-A, 342-343).

18 Zenrin kokuhö ki 2 (ZGR 30-A, 344b).

19 Zenrin kokuho ki 3 (ZGR 30-A, 344-345).

20 Zenrin kokuho ki 3 (ZGR 30-A, 345).

21 The Datongli, i.e. the new Ming calendar, promulgated in Hongwu 17 (1384).

22 Zerin kokuhö ki 2 (ZGR 30-A, 345a).

23 Elisonas, , ‘The Inseparable Trinity’, 300Google Scholar.

24 Zerin kokuhö ki 1 (ZGR 30-A, 318b).

25 Hideyoshi: see, e.g., his letter to the viceroy of the Philippines in Tadachika, Kuwada, Toyotomi Hideyoshi kenkyü (Tokyo 1975) 253–255Google Scholar. Expulsion Edict (Bateren Isuiho ret): see Boot, W. J., ‘Japan, China and the West’ in: Blussé, Leonard, Remmelink, Willem, Smits, Ivo, eds, Bridging the Divide (Leiden 2000) 83–84Google Scholar.

26 See Jöji, Fujii, Tokugawa Iemitsu (Jinbutsu Sosho 213. Tokyo 1997) 149–186Google Scholar.

27 TKK 4050.

28 The instructions of Kan'ei 10, which were repeated in Kan'ei 11, were addressed to the Nagasaki magistrates Soga Matasaemon Hisasuke (1586-1658) and Imamura Denshirö Masanaga (1580-1653).

29 TKK 4049.

30 TKK 4051.

31 TKK 4052.

32 In Go-tōke reijō this text is called a seisatsu, i.e. a proclamation that was to be posted. is extremely unlikely. The instructions are signed by the complete rōjukai, and Sukemune was a very senior figure in the bakufu hierarchy. These were the instructions for Sukemune personally, given to him in the seventh month of 1639, when he was sent posthaste to Nagasaki as an emissary of the shōgun in order to impress upon the Portuguese that they were no longer welcome. Text TKK 4053.

33 This last version is translated in Elison, George S., Deus destroyed. The Image of in Early Modern Japan (Cambridge, Mass. 1973) 193–195CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Text in TKK 4054; Razan Rinsensei bunshu 58 ( Kai, Kyōto Shiseki, Razan-sensei bunshū [Kyoto 1920–1921] Vol. 2, 247–248)Google Scholar; Tokugawa jikki, under the date Kan'ei 17/6/27.

34 Early instances are the licensing ofships through so-called shuinjō (vermillion-seal letters), a practice diat begun in 1602, and the creation of the silk-buying cartel, , itowappu, in Keicho 9 (1604)/5/3Google Scholar.

35 The remainder of this paragraph is a paraphrase of TKK 4073.

36 TKK 4077.

37 TKK 4078.

38 TKK 4079.

39 TKK 4081.