An edited volume, containing collected essays by members of the Aftermath Project and participants in the project’s webinar series, has been published by Brill. The volme is freely available as an Open Access publication:
Rebekah Clements and James B. Lewis (eds). The Aftermath of the Imjin War in Early Modern East Asia. Leiden: Brill, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004771956.
“The Imjin War – Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s invasions of Korea – was one of the largest conflicts of the sixteenth century world, entangling Korea, Japan, and China between 1592 and 1598. This is the first volume-length study to address the long-term significance of the war by focusing on the social, technological, environmental, demographic, and administrative implications of the conflict in the seventeenth century and beyond. Heretofore, studies have mainly looked at diplomatic, political, and literary impacts, but this volume raises world historical comparative questions about the nature of “early modernity” and advances debates on war legacy in the East Asian context.”
Contents:
Editors’ Introduction
Rebekah Clements and James B. Lewis
Part 1: Overview
1 The Imjin War and the Beginnings of the Early Modern in East Asia
Rebekah Clements, James B. Lewis, and Barend Noordam
Part 2: Dealing with Destruction: Demography, Environment, and
Human Trafficking
2 What Caused Social Change in the Late Chosŏn Period?: the Impact of the Imjin War on the Korean Population
Sangwoo Han
3 Displaced Humans and Animals from the Imjin War to Postwar Recovery
Baihui Duan
4 Uncovering Historical Silences: Female Experience amidst the Japanese Invasion of Korea (1592–1598)
Lúcio de Sousa and James Fujitani
Part 3: Opportunities that Arise from Crisis: Technology and
Knowledge Transfer
5 Maps, Books, and Navigations: Practical Knowledge of Northeast Asia in Post–Imjin War China
Jing Liu
6 The Influence of the Imjin War on Japanese Ceramic Production
Watanabe Yoshirō
7 Ceramics from the Japanese Castles in Korea
Katayama Mabi
8 War, Captives, and Language: the Influence of Captives on Chosŏn’s Linguistic Institutions
Jing Hu
Part 4: Creating New Orders: State Building
9 The Harquebus in East Asia: War and State Building
Barend Noordam
10 The Aftermath of the East Asian War of 1592–1598: a Comparison of Tax Regimes in Korea, Japan, and China
Nam-lin Hur
11 Expansion of the Korean Militia System after the Imjin War
Seungwon Namgung
12 Changes in the Communication Systems Following the Imjin War
