Korean emissaries step foot on to the shores of japan. They are led into a reception hall filled with japanese courtiers, lords and advisers. And at the head of the hall they see a little, middle aged man in a simple black robe. The koreans thought he looked short and common looking, with the dark skin of a peasant. But his eyeballs gleamed and rays of light shined upon his people. In that brief moment, the korean saw a flash of what dozens of japanese lords had seen for years in hitayoshe an ugly, scrawny man imbued with a powerful, frightening intellect.