Page:The Truth about China and Japan - Weale - 1919.djvu/34

 was regular and formal, no succession being legitimate until it had Chinese Imperial sanction. Korea became so thoroughly saturated with Chinese culture that the Korean dress of to-day is still based on Ming models; the old Chinese topknot being left on Korean heads when the Manchus conquered Korea in 1637 (before they had entered China) as an act of grace because the Koreans had submitted so promptly.

The great and growing friction between China and Japan which was evident during the Ming period, and which was signalized by Japanese raiders in 1554 landing on the Kiangsu and Chekiang coasts south of the Yangtsze and capturing a number of towns, brought the inevitable result in Korea. Japanese raiding in the peninsula during the sixteenth century became more and more frequent, finally culminating in the great and hideous Hideyoshi expedition, which is such an outstanding feature in Far Eastern relations that it must be dealt with at some length.

The great commander Hideyoshi, taking advantage of the feudal militarism, had subdued all Japan and by 1592 had massed an immense army of 300,000 which he was determined to use abroad. His original design was undoubt-