KJC Korea
Journal Central

The epitaph of high priests established during the end of Shilla Dynasty and the beginning of Koryo Dynasty shows many cases of using patrilineal terms to express a master-disciple relationship. Terms such as umgun(嚴君), youngja(令子), chongja(冢子), lason(來孫) are some of the examples. Some priests emphasized the Chinese-side of their lineage, while also valuing Korean lineage of ‘Gusanmun (nine mountain monasteries, 九山門)’. It is construed that high priests had liberty to choose particular lineage they wanted to underscore, and also that even students of the same priest did not have shared idea of lineage. Also, the epitaph of priests who had the same teacher show that they had little sense of solidarity. These suggest that the sense of belonging to the same sect of Buddhism was not as strong as it was later in Gusanmun. Meanwhile, in many written documents in addition to the claim of ‘Gajisan(迦智山)’ sect, was priest Toui(道義) widely perceived as the founder of the Zen sect, and such belief carried into the Koryo Dynasty. On the epitaph of priest Toui’s disciple, Chejing (體澄), was quoted a phrase from the Confucian book of etiquette, Yegi(禮 記), to confirm that Toui was the founding father of the Zen sect.

While the seventh king of Goryeo, King Mokjong(穆宗; r. Oct. 997～ Feb. 1009) was the son of the fifth king King Gyeongjong(景宗; r. May 97 5～July 981), he was raised by his uncle on his mother’s side, King Seongjong(成宗; r. July 981～Oct. 997) and ascended the throne at the age of 18 after the death of King Seongjong. However, during the period of his reign, his mother, Queen Cheonchu(or Cheonchu-taehu 千秋太后), exercised great influence over state affairs and her lover Kim Chi-Yang(金致陽) rapidly rose as a political power. In addition, while King Mokjong had no child, in the sixth year of his reign, a son was born between Cheonchu-taehu and Kim Chi-Yang. As Cheonchu-taehu wanted her son to become heir to the throne of King Mokjong, political conflicts erupted over the succession of the throne. This problem politically surfaced when a fire in the oil storage in Daebu(大府, Bureau of the Palace Bursary), a managemental organization of royal documents and fortunes, spread and burned up the House of Cheonchu-taehu, Cheonchu-jeon(千秋殿) in January 16, 1009 (12th year of the reign of King Mokjong). Following this event, King Mokjong became ill and did not administer the affairs of state while closing the palace and shutting himself up inside it. This resulted in an extreme political chaos. King Mokjong called in Gang Jo(康兆) who was in Western Capital Seogyeong(西京; modern Pyeongyang) and had him protect his security. On the other hand, He recalled in prince priest Daeryangwon(later Hyeonjong) to capital Gaegyeong(開京; modern Gaeseong) and sought to resolve the chaos by designating him as the heir to the throne. However, by misunderstanding that King Mokjong was murdered by the faction of Kim Chi-Yang, Gang Jo staged a coup for the apparent cause of removing the fraction of Kim Chi-Yang. As a result, Kim Chi-Yang was killed, and then King Mokjong was dethroned in February 2 and King Hyeonjong(顯宗; r. Feb. 1009～May 1031) was enthroned in February 3. In doing so, this event was concluded in 18 days. And a few days later, King Mokjong was killed by Gang Jo. Gang Jo, who had seized power by staging a coup with the military power of Seogyeong, integrated Jungchuwon(中樞院, Privy Council), Seonhwiwon(宣徽院, Institute of Palace Miscellaneousness), and Eundae(銀 臺, Office of Transmission), which are the administrative offices of the king’s aide, into Jungdaeseong(中臺省, Palace Secretariat). He appointed himself as its minister since then. These offices had it common that they were the offices in charge of intimately serving the king. Jungchuwon was the representative office to serve the king and in charge of receiving and passing the king’s orders to other offices. Seonhwiwon is presumed to have supervised the palace in which the king resided, including the handling of various miscellaneous events such as ceremonies and rituals within the palace. Finally, Eundae was in charge of the administration of central and local documentation, in other words, the process of delivering the king’s orders. In fact, these offices hint at the purpose for which Gang Jo installed Jungdaeseong. Given that Gang Jo enthroned King Hyeonjong and killed King Mokjong by mounting a coup with 5,000 soldiers in Seogyeong, he was already in control of military power from the early reign of King Hyeonjong. Based on this, he could seize practical political power. Despite this fact, because Gang Jo did not hold an important post in terms of the governing structure, he could potentially be isolated from the process of political decision making. As he had seized power through the emergency means of coupe, he must have placed great importance on the prevention of another potential coupe. Eventually, Gang Jo intended to eliminate such a likelihood for another coupe by gaining control over the courses of protecting the king’s security, receiving and forwarding the king’s orders, and delivering the king’s orders through documentation through a single office called Jungdaeseong. In addition, its installation may have had the meaning of checking and keeping an eye on the king. This may have been the key cause for the formation of Jungdaeseong. For this reason, King Hyeonjong, who had fled down to Naju due to the war with Khitan Liao, abolished the office in February 1011 during his return to Gaegyeong as soon as he heard the news that Gang Jo was captured and killed by Gang Jo in November 1010 and Khitan Liao retreated in January 1011.

Joseon improved the negative conventions of Goryeo dynasty(高麗代) and established the trade system with Ming which complied with Ming’s tributary system in its foundation. As the result, legal trade is limited to the trade through tributary envoy, that is envoy trade, and trans-border trade and seaborne trade were defined as illegal trade. As China adopted different tributary trade systems for each tributary state and the tributary state also had different trade attitudes toward China depending on era, the concept of trade can be accurately understood only after the trade policy and type at that time is understood first. Joseon’s trade with Ming can be divided into tribute-offering trade, public trade and private trade depending on the ‘main agent and type of the trade’. The tribute-offering trade refers to the act in which Ming gave returns to the offerings from Joesen though envoy trade. Public trade refers to the trade controlled by Joseon government. Private trade refers to all other private trades except the government-driven public trade. There was no legal governmental trade between Joseon and Ming. As Ming allowed Joseon to trade necessary goods through Hoedonggwan(會同館) commerce. it was easy to distinguish between public trade and private trade by the orderer of the purchase of Joseon envoy. Although the tribute-offering trade was a ritual in the tribute system, it may be regarded as a commerce in that the returns was a kind of payment for the offerings. The offering items and return items were designated by Ming. In particular, as the offerings are those items that should be offered to Ming, preparing those had a considerable impact on Joseon's entire economy. Hoedonggwan commerce was initiated by the application for commerce by Joseon envoy to Tonggeongsa(通政司) and subsequent public announcement of payment by Jugaeksa(主客司). If the commerce is allowed, Ming’s merchant entered in Hoedonggwan and the trade between two countries began. Joseon was relatively freer to enter Hoedonggwan than other tributary states and able to do other trades than Hoedonggwan commerce. Since the purpose of the public trade is to import the goods required by the state, the state did not mind even smuggling to secure the goods required for state operation such as military supplies. However, there was no intention to gain commercial profits through public trade. The major items in public trade were antlers for bow, medicines and books. Depending on the nature of the item, the methods to import were different. Private trade was not illegal itself. However, the government restricted the number of items that might be carried by the envoy. Thus, private trade was often conducted in an illegal form. Due to strict governmental regulation and distribution systems of both countries in the 15th century, it was limited to a small scale trade. However, the demand for private trade in civilians was gradually increasing.

This paper examines the way in which Hong Manjong and Im Sangdŏk from the Young Disciples (少論) between the late 17th and early 18th centuries interpreted Confucianism, universal civilization and power relations, and sheds light on the degree to which the intellectual activities as above made impact on the shape of their own identity. In particular, what is remarkable here is the double structure where the interior of their identity was built in conjunction with the political stance of the Westerner-Young Disciples while the exterior of their identity was formed in line with the discourse on a self-reliant Confucian state vis-a-vis Han Chinese dynasty and Northern polities. In the former case, there were an antagonistic Other, emerging from the political center, and a nonantagonistic Other regarded as the object of their social engagement in the public sector of the society. The coexistence of different Others reflects the sociopolitical reality of power relations embedded within Chosŏn. The latter case also included both an antagonistic Other of Northern nomadic forces and a nonantagonistic Other of Han Chinese dynasty. That duality displayed the geopolitical reality based on the power relations between Qing and Chosŏn. Studying the combination of the internal and external sides in the identity of Hong and Im will enable us to comprehend the historical awareness and historiography of the Young Disciples more clearly in the context of East Asia, including Chosŏn, during the period.

This article examined the farm encouragement policy(勸農策) in the late Joseon period by making a comparison between the traditional way of the ruling hierarchy and the reformed way of the ‘Silhak scholars(實學者).’ The latter showed the practical and reformative attributes while the former showed the slow and long term changes. It was the extreme contrast. First, the farm encouragement policy of the ruling hierarchy was proceeded in the Joseon’s way through the ‘rites to the heavens(祭天儀禮)’ and ‘agricultural ritual(勸農儀禮).’ Especially, ‘Sinocentrism(中華主義)’ becoming cracked in the late Joseon Dynasty, these rituals were also nationally emphasized and conducted more autonomously. For instance, in the reign of King Yeongjo(英祖) and Jeongjo(正祖) ‘the ritual of Royal plowing(親耕儀禮)’ which had been conducted perfunctorily was changed practically by the King’s plowing real land. Furthermore, King Jeongjo elevated the position of the ritual of ‘Nam-dan(南壇)’ and ‘Pungu-Noewu-dan(風雨雷雨壇)’ to ‘Hwangu-dan(圜丘壇)’ in the reign of King Sejo(世祖). Finally it could not help being diminished, as the ritual must be conducted only by the emperor. However, it was changing to the autonomous ritual as it was classified and emphasized as the ‘agricultural ritual.’ Secondly, ‘Silhak scholars’ proposed the farm encouragement policies that aimed the reformation of landlordism. It was the actual reformative discussion, which was different from the policy of ‘Zhu Xi(朱熹)’ that had been based on the landlordism. For instance, Ban-gye Yu Hyoung-won(磻溪 柳馨遠) made a application of Jeong-jeon system(井田制) by simplifying ‘the ritual of Royal plowing(籍田親耕)’. Especially, he regarded cultivation and irrigation facilities as the key points of the farm encouragement policies. For another example, Da-san Jeong Yak-yong(茶山丁若鏞) proposed the reformative thought that the governors(牧民官) were existing just for the peasants. Futhermore, he suggested the way the peasants could be wealthy. Especially, in Mok-min Sim-seo(牧民心書), the book he wrote, he spoke about not only the present problems in cultivation, farming tools, and farming cattle but also the future problems after the Jeong-jeon system implemented. Although the farm encouragement policies of the both sides were extremely different, they seemed to have mutual interactions. The fact that King Yeongjo and Jeongjo in 18th century republished Ban-gye su-rok(磻溪 隧錄), written by Ban-gye Yu Hyoung-won, means that the kings of the dynasty also referred the farm encouragement policy of the ‘Silhak scholars’.

Examined in this article, are the practice of filing petitions jointly and the characteristics of public opinion during the late Joseon dynasty. The source of those examples are Deungjang(等狀) documents that had been owned by Jin’sung Lee house which lived in Juchon(周村), Andong area of the Kyeongsang-do province for generations. The joint petitions of Lee were increased rapidly and became very popular in the late 19th century, and were concentrated in large scale more than fifty persons. Most of them were closely connected to guard the mountains which were full of their ancestors’ graves. The lawsuits concerned burial mountains(“山訟”) and tax issues constituted a larger percentage of Lee houses’ petitions, most of them were filed in the process of guard their mountains. Through the lawsuits of burial mountains and tax issues, Clan group of Lee could form consensus for realization of their guard the mountains based on honor their ancestors. Therefore They could actively participate to filing petitions and widely form the public opinions within the clan, compared to other issues. On the other hand, joint petitions for commemoration and decoration were proceeded by confucian scholars of local society through drawing collective consensus. They were proceeded for Ryu Do’jang couple who were Pung’san Ryu family not Lee family. Government put emphasis on the public opinion of local society for the commemoration and decoration of devoted son and daughter-in-law, so the Sa-Dae’bu families were more concerned with forming the public opinion of local society than clan. In this situation, Deungjangs referring to process of commemoration and decoration for Ryu couple have been in Lee house, and they signifies a leading role of Lee family in forming the public opinion of local society.