Outsider Perspectives on East Asia in the 17th Century

Faux said:

Hello all, I was wondering if anyone had read these cool (Cool for us to look at now, not so much for the visitors unfortunately...) accounts of Joseon and Japan around the 17th Century. They're really interesting but I wonder how accurate they are since I heard a few people say that some details got mixed up in Hamel's account. Additionally, if there's any other works like this please do recommend them, I'd love to read more! I haven't seen any on Ming though to be honest I haven't looked too hard into it. It'd be great if anyone knew of anything like that though since it may give an interesting perspective on the collapse of the Ming dynasty and rise of the Qing dynasty.

Hendrick Hamel's account of Joseon, "An Account of the Shipwreck of a Dutch Vessel on the Isle of Quelpaert" (This link supposedly only works in the US)
Mattheus Eibokken's account of Joseon, Link
Arnoldus Montanus' account of Japan, "Atlas Japannensis : being remarkable addresses by way of embassy from the East-India Company of the United Provinces, to the Emperor of Japan"
William Adam's letters from Japan, Link

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Faux said:

I think it was about one of the methods of punishment for a woman killing her husband. Hamel described the punishment as being buried until the neck somewhere public and an axe is placed by them, and those passing by take a swing at them until they die. It sounds pretty similar to the Japanese form of punishment of Nokogiribiki (sorry ik it's a facebook post and isn't entirely reliable but I'm not sure where to officially find a description ), so it either got mixed up or it got picked up at some point and they both practice it, just a little differently since one is an axe and one is a saw. Do you know which is the case?

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