Lost sailors connected Japan and Korea through shared characters

During the Edo period in Japan, after relations with Korea normalised following Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea (1592 to 98), Japanese communities along the western coast of Yamaguchi Prefecture protected and assisted Korean sailors who were shipwrecked in Japan.

The Edo Shogunate instructed feudal lords throughout the country to treat these castaways with respect and ensure their safe return home.

Records show that between the Edo and Meiji periods, officials in the areas around present-day Shimonoseki and Hagi documented the arrival of around 201 groups, comprising 1,748 individuals. When the Longfu domain lacked interpreters, Confucian scholars used shared Chinese characters to communicate with the sailors, discovering they could convey meaning despite the language barrier.