所蔵：大阪歴史博物館

本資料は文禄5年（1596）、「文禄の役」の講和交渉に際し、明（中国）皇帝から豊臣秀吉に贈られた国書です。秀吉は天正11年(1583)に大坂を本拠地に定め、全国統一を成した後、アジアへの支配拡大を目論みました。文禄元年（1592）、日本軍は朝鮮半島への攻撃を開始し、「文禄の役」の戦端が開かれました。戦いは朝鮮側の反撃、明の参戦などにより膠着状態となり、やがて講和のための交渉が進められました。秀吉は講和にあたりいくつかの条件を提示しましたが、和平成立を望む交渉担当者により一部のみが明に伝えられた結果、本資料が作成され、大坂城で明の使者と秀吉が対面した際に差し出されました。「秀吉を明の臣下として、日本国王に封ずる」とありますが、そこには秀吉が求めた講和条件が盛り込まれておらず交渉は決裂し、「慶長の役」に突入します。
江戸時代の歴史家・思想家、頼山陽の『日本外史』には、上記の場面で激怒した秀吉は国書を引き裂いたとありますが、そのような痕跡は確認できません。本資料は秀吉の臣堀尾吉晴に下げ渡されたといい、吉晴の娘婿石川忠総の一族に伝来しました。

Collection: Osaka Museum of History

This document is a letter of state sent by the Chinese Ming emperor to Toyotomi Hideyoshi in 1596 during peace negotiations concerning Japan’s 1592 invasion of Korea. This invasion is called the “Bunroku invasion” in Japan. Hideyoshi established his base in Osaka in 1583 and, after unifying the country, planned to expand his rule into Asia. In 1592 the Japanese army launched an attack on the Korean Peninsula, beginning the Bunroku invasion. Owing to a counterattack from the Korean side and the participation of the Ming army in the conflict, the fighting reached a stalemate, and peace negotiations were eventually held. Hideyoshi presented several conditions for peace, but the negotiators presented only some of the conditions to the Ming side because they wanted to make peace. As a result, this letter of state was written up and presented when Hideyoshi met with the Ming envoy at Osaka Castle. It states that "Hideyoshi will be made a vassal of the Ming dynasty and will be made king of Japan," but the peace terms that Hideyoshi sought were not included, and the negotiations failed, leading to a second invasion, called the "Keicho invasion," in 1598. In Nihon gaishi (Unofficial History of Japan), San’yo Rai, an Edo period historian and thinker, wrote that Hideyoshi became enraged at this set of circumstances and tore up the letter, but no trace of his having done so has been found. This letter of state is said to have been handed down to Hideyoshi’s vassal Yoshiharu Horio and then passed down through the family of Yoshiharu’s son-in-law Tadafusa Ishikawa.