Chosen Tsushinshi originally started as a return call for an envoy and message dispatched by Seii Taishogun (literally, "great general who subdues the barbarians") of the Muromachi bakufu (Japanese feudal government headed by a shogun) to Korea.
朝鮮通信使のそもそもの趣旨は室町幕府征夷大将軍からの使者と国書に対する返礼であった。