Disturbance of the Three Ports

With the founding of Joseon, the kingdom established new relations with surrounding states. After receiving investiture from the Ming Dynasty, Joseon entered into a tributary relationship with China, while maintaining equal diplomatic relations with Japan’s Muromachi shogunate. These leniencies were abused, leading to frequent violations of regulations by the Japanese, which escalated during the reign of Yeonsangun. In 1506, as part of his political reforms, King Jungjong enforced strict legal controls on the Japanese. ==Riots==

Although this trade system was institutionalized, by the reigns of Seongjong and Yeonsangun, Tsushima Japanese of Tsushima became dissatisfied with Joseon’s strict trade controls and poor financial hospitality. Increasingly, the waegwan broke regulations, and piracy flared again. Joseon repeatedly responded only with temporary fixes rather than lasting solutions. The riots resulted in 272 Korean civilians killed, 796 homes destroyed, 295 Japanese people killed, and five Japanese ships sunk. The Joseon government sent relief to people living in the affected regions and deported all remaining Japanese people to Tsushima Island. When the dead from the riots were buried, the graves of the Japanese were marked differently; the Joseon court piled up the heads of the executed Japanese in large burial mounds so that any future arrivals would feel fear and caution to warn future visitors to Korea of the consequences of participating in riots. Afterward, rewards and banquets were held for the troops, and an official inquiry into merit was conducted by order of King Jungjong. For their service in suppressing the uprising, 873 men were rewarded: Hwang Hyeong and 187 others received first-class merit, magistrate Baek Saban (白斯班) and 325 others received second-class, and Gapsa (armored soldier) Gwon Yeongsaeng (權永生) and 358 others received third-class. ==Aftermath==

After the riots, Joseon immediately cut off ties with Tsushima. This negatively affected the Japanese people living on Tsushima Island and Japanese citizens demanded a re-opening of the ports. The riot damaged relations between two countries and the 1443 Treaty of Gyehae was undone. In 1511 (Jungjong 6), the Muromachi shogunate dispatched an envoy, Bōchū (弸中), to request peace and the restoration of trade. ==Legacy==

In August of 1521 (16th year of King Jungjong), Busanpo was reopened in addition to Jepo, and in the 18th year (1523), five ships were added to the trade quota. Amid this climate, in April of the 39th year of Jungjong’s reign (1544), about 20 Japanese ships invaded and plundered Saryangjin (蛇梁津) in Gyeongsang Province. This incident, called the Saryangjin Waebyeon, was unlike the Disturbance of the Three Ports—it was an act of piracy. Although casualties numbered only around 10, its impact was great. Voices arose advocating a total prohibition of Japanese entry (絶倭論; "Absolute Ban on the Japanese"), and relations between Joseon and Japan were severed, except for ties with the Muromachi shogunate and the Ōuchi and Shōni clans. With repeated petitions from the shogunate and the Ōuchi, along with pleas from Tsushima's lord, trade was eventually reopened in 1547 (2nd year of King Myeongjong) under the Jeongmi Treaty (丁未約條). Its six articles included: • Reducing Tsushima's trade ships to 25 • Abolishing hospitality toward sudo-seoin and sujigin if 50 years had passed • Prohibiting smuggling (潛商; chamseong) • Other restrictions. The Jeongmi Treaty reaffirmed and tightened the terms of the Imshin Treaty. It also closed Jepo, leaving only Busanpo as the sole open port. Though trade resumed, peaceful relations became far more difficult. After the Disturbance of the Three Ports, more than 30 pirate raids occurred until the end of King Myeongjong's reign. The largest was the Eulmyo Waebyeon (乙卯倭變) in 1555 (Myeongjong 10). Wang Zhi, a major pirate leader based in the Gotō Islands, led more than 70 ships to invade Dallyangpo (達梁浦, modern Bukpyeong-myeon, Haenam County, Jeollanam-do). They killed the provincial commander of Jeolla and the magistrate of Jangheung, advancing as far as Yeongam. Retreating from Dallyang, the pirates regrouped and in late June, with over 1,000 men, invaded Hwabukpo in Jeju Island. These two raids together are called the Eulmyo Waebyeon. Ten days before the Jeju raid, Tsushima’s lord Sō Morinaga (宗盛長) sent intelligence that about 90 enemy ships had left Tsushima in three groups for Joseon, while others were restrained from departure. This information was given on the condition that Joseon restore Tsushima’s annual trade ship quota and rice stipend (sesamidu) to the pre-Imshin levels. In October of 1556 (Myeongjong 11), envoys Tenfu (天富) and Gyeongcheol (景轍), sent by the Tsushima lord but claiming the title of Japanese envoys, arrived to renegotiate the terms. In April of the following year (Myeongjong 12), the Jeongsa Treaty (丁巳約條) was concluded, increasing the Tsushima quota by four ships, restoring it to 30. This quota remained in place until diplomatic ties were severed with the outbreak of the Imjin War (1592). Japan’s desire to expand trade with Joseon ultimately backfired, as the Disturbance of the Three Ports led Joseon to pursue reduced trade instead. The vibrant activity of Muromachi-period merchants and daimyos from regions west of the capital, Wakasa, and Shinano—whose ships once flocked to Joseon—faded away. Apart from the Ōuchi clan, overall decline set in. Roughly a decade after the Sampo Waeran, in 1523 (Jungjong 18), Japanese merchants rioted at the Ming trade port of Ningbo. Rivalries between the Sakai merchant alliance and the Hosokawa in the Kinai region, and the Hakata merchants and Ōuchi clan in Kyushu, escalated into the Ningbo Incident. As a result, the Ōuchi gained dominance over licensed tribute trade with Ming. However, because of the Ningbo Incident, the Ming court abolished this tribute trade in 1547 (Myeongjong 2), dealing a heavy economic blow to Japan. Later, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, after unifying Japan, sought new opportunities for trade with Ming. Around 1589 (Seonjo 22), he considered suppressing piracy in exchange for restoring official trade. But three years later, in 1592 (Seonjo 25), he abandoned the idea and launched his invasion of China through Korea. This was the Imjin War. Politically, the war was meant to resolve conflicts among rival daimyōs; economically, it was a transformational war intended to break Japan’s disadvantageous trade position. The 17th century saw the "Little Ice Age", a period of global climatic cooling that caused severe natural disasters. As these crises worsened, the Jurchens of Manchuria moved southward, inevitably clashing with both Ming China and Joseon. Having shifted to agriculture in the 15th–16th centuries, they now faced even harsher struggles. Their southward advance slowed somewhat under Nurhaci (r. 1616), but when his successor Hong Taiji (r. 1626) came to power, expansionist policies accelerated again. The Sinocentric world order dominated by Ming, already shaken by the Imjin War, collapsed rapidly with the rise of Later Jin. Founded by Nurhaci, Later Jin launched the Jeongmyo War against Joseon in 1627, forcing a "brotherly" alliance. Later, in 1636 (Injo 14), they renamed their state the Great Qing and invaded Joseon again in the Byeongja War. Joseon capitulated, signing the Dingchou Treaty (丁丑和約) and entering into a tributary relationship with Qing. Thus, the Ming-centered Sinocentric international order finally collapsed. ==See also==