Japanese Pirates - Controversy Regarding Wokou Imitators

Controversy Regarding Wokou Imitators

Some Japanese scholars claim that some wokou were Korean, due to one interesting sentence that exists within a Korean text. In the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejong Sillok (Hangul: 세종실록; Hanja: 世宗實錄), Sunmong Lee said, "I hear that in the late period of the Goryeo Dynasty, Wokou were roaming over this land and peasants could not stand against them. However, even though only 1 or 2 out of 10 incidents were caused by real Japanese (Hangul: 왜인, Hanja: 倭人), some of our peasants wore the clothes of Japan, formed a group and caused trouble... in order to stop all evils, there is nothing more urgent than Hopae (a Goryeo word meaning 'personal identification')." This is the only record that documents some imitation wokou as Korean. Because of this record, some Japanese scholars claim that a portion of the wokou were Korean. Other scholars believe that this record is dubious, as Sunmong Lee was not an investigator working against the wokou, and was not alive during the Goryeo Dynasty. His record is based on a rumor he heard, ("I hear that..") implying that he was relating hearsay rather than facts. There are no other records indicating any Koreans imitated wokou raiders, which implies that the frequency of Korean wokou imitators was not nearly as high as Sunmong Lee's rumor suggests. In any case, most of the early wokou were of Japanese origin. Incidents relating to imitation wokou (of unknown nationality) were only 0.57% (3 of 529) within the full period of the Goryeo dynasty. (The other 99.43% of all Wokou incidents were from Japanese raiders).

Scholars who doubt the truth of Sunmong Lee’s record believe that it cannot be used to support the theory that many wokou raiders were Korean because his understanding of the wokou raids was based on hearsay, not on any source of facts, and because it was mainly intended to make the Korean king at the time strongly aware of the seriousness of public security and the importance of Hopae. The main body of Lee's record concentrates on how public security was deteriorating and how it required special attention. Different terms were used to distinguish between wokou and imitation wokou (倭寇 and 假倭, respectively). The Goryeo-sa states that only 3 incidents were caused by imitation Wokou. In addition, there are no Chinese, Japanese, or Korean records that document wokou imitators as Korean.

The Stories of Japan in the History of Ming (明史日本傳) states that in relation to one particularly extensive raid, "real Japanese comprise of about three in every ten, the remaining seven are the followers".