442,466 views
- Imjin War general Samyeongdang, a legendary figure who was oppressed during the Japanese colonial period 300 years ago and crossed over to Japan to defeat the Japanese emperor with his mysterious magic. The monument commemorating him, Pyocheongbi, is said to have had the power to predict major national events by sweating. During the Japanese colonial period, a project was carried out to make the monument look shabby in order to discourage the spirit of Pyocheongbi. In addition, the stone monument at Haeinsa Temple, which was erected to commemorate Samyeongdang’s deeds, was broken during the Japanese colonial period, and eventually, Imjinrok, which recorded Samyeongdang’s story, was designated as a banned book. Why did Japan suppress everything related to Samyeongdang, a figure from the Imjin War? - Samyeongdang, a monk at the center of Joseon’s diplomacy after the Imjin War The Imjin War was a war in which diplomatic negotiations were just as important as actual battles fought with weapons. Surprisingly, the one who led such important diplomatic negotiations during the war was the Buddhist monk Samyeongdang, who was looked down upon due to the suppression of Buddhism. He was the first to obtain information about the plan to divide Joseon between Japan and the Ming Dynasty, and played a decisive role in stopping it. - Traces of Samyeongdang remaining in Japan The production team of History Special conducted on-site reporting in Japan to find traces of Samyeongdang and deduce the background of how a monk, not a high-ranking government official, was able to conduct diplomatic negotiations with Tokugawa Ieyasu, the highest-ranking official of the Japanese shogunate. By tracing the footsteps of the legendary monk Samyeongdang, we shed light on the secret diplomacy between the three East Asian countries that unfolded breathlessly during the Imjin War and the Byeongja War. History Special Episode 158 - Secret History of Diplomacy during the Imjin War, Why Did Samyeongdang Go to Japan? (Aired on May 18, 2002) http://history.kbs.co.kr/