What is Kokushi Dialogue

The Potential for Dialogue in the National Histories of Japan, China, and Korea (Kokushi Dialogue)

 

Historical reconciliation remains a pressing issue in East Asia. Despite peace treaties and joint statements that legally reconcile countries, feelings of reconciliation have yet to be established on a national level, meaning that true reconciliation has yet to be reached.

 

How can historians contribute to historical reconciliation? Through fostering dialogues between Japanese history historians from Japan, Chinese history historians from China and Korean history historians from Korea, we believe that new connections between “national histories” and intra-East Asian histories will come to light and bring forth new understandings of history. This series seeks to recognize that there are many histories based on positionality. It is not our aim to reach a form of agreement.

 

In July 2015 the Atsumi International Foundation held the 49th SGRA (Sekiguchi Global Research Association) Forum in which the possibilities of  “a collective goods of east Asia” as well as an “East Asian civil society” were brought up. It was discussed that in order for there to be reconciliation, first a shared space for knowledge as well as a platform for discussing knowledge must be established, and this knowledge should be shared across East Asia.

 

This platform was first established in September 2016 as a session at the 3rd Asia Future Conference, and became the first “Dialogue on National Histories.” Although researchers from these three countries (Japan, China, Korea) have come together and engaged in dialogue before, there has not been sufficient dialogue between the historians of national history of these respective countries. With this understanding, we discussed the requirements that would make a dialogue about history in East Asia possible. The presentations of the three speakers – Mitani Hiroshi (professor, Atami University), Cho Kwang (honorary professor, Korea University)  and Ge Zhaoguang (professor, Fudan University) – provided insights into how events in Asia have been handled in the respective national histories and served as the basis for further discussion.

 

In order to more structurally examine each country’s national history and international relations, the theme of the second dialogue was “The Mongol Invasions and the Globalization of the Mongolian Empire in the 13th Century.” Held in Kita Kyushu in August 2017, 11 researchers of national histories from Japan, China, Korea and Mongolia participated and shared their research from the perspective of each country’s national history. Following the presentations there was a lively discussion about the tributary system, problems in Mongolian and Chinese history and the treatment of historical documents from the perspective of East Asian history.

 

For the third dialogue the focus shifted to a later period, and the theme was “International Relations in 17th Century East Asia.” 9 scholars of national history from Japan, China and Korea gathered in Seoul in August 2018, and discussed the two invasions of Korea by Japan’s Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Manchuria’s Hong Taiji and the context of the tightly interwoven economic relationship of which the trade dollar was the core, as well as the aftermath of the conflicts. A panel discussion entitled “Towards Reconciliation – Establishing a Joint Research Network of Historians” was also organized by Waseda University to re-examine the issues discussed in this third dialogue and to connect it to future discussions.

 

The theme for the fourth dialogue was “The Birth of “East Asia” – Changes in the International Order in the 19th Century.” The session was held in the Manila area of the Philippines, and national history historians from Japan, China and Korea gathered for a lively discussion and presentations about each country’s “awareness of the West,” “challenging and creation of  tradition,” and “human movement beyond international borders.” As the West expanded to the North Pacific Ocean, political and economic relations as well as communication between Japan, China and Korea grew tighter, and the image of “East Asia” as a region began to form. This session took as its main focus changes in the international order of East Asia as well as changes in the domestic order of each country.

 

Due to the coronavirus, the 5th dialogue was held entirely online in January 2021. The theme was “The Spread of and Responses to Infectious Diseases in 19th Century East Asia.” Given the sustained history of exchange between countries in the East Asian region, the origin and spread of diseases in Japan, China and Korea as well as its impact on society and social approaches were examined. How each country recognized infectious diseases in the 19th century and the tactics that were employed as well as international cooperation and its limitations were discussed. In addition to presentations from each country, many panelists from the previous four sessions also participated, leading to a lively discussion. Although the event had to be moved online because of the coronavirus, this led to the use of Zoom as a platform which in turn allowed for new developments in discussion and dialogue.

 

Through managing and distributing trilingual (Japanese/Chinese/Korean) publications as well as a mail magazine consisting of relay essays, we aim to establish a network of participants from these sessions.