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A Study of Unho Im Seong-ju’s Newly Discovered Handwritten Letter

Kang, Soon-Ae 1

1한성대학교

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ABSTRACT

In this paper, I studied the newly discovered handwritten letters of Nokmun(鹿門) Im Seongju(任聖周, 1711∼1788) by examining Nokmun Im Seongju’s life and academic history ; the contents of the letters he wrote to Doam Yi Jae, contained in Collected Works of Nokmun (Nokmunseonsaengmunjib) ; and the bibliography and content of the handwritten letters. Although Nokmun Im Seongju based his philosophy on Nakron(洛論) from the Yeongjo and Jeongjo era of the late Joseon Dynasty, he developed his teacher Yi Jae(李縡)’s Simseongron of inmulsongdongron(人物性同論) to declare inmulsongiron(人物性異論) as claimed by Horon (湖論). He united and developed the theory of i (principle) and ki (energy) into the dualistic concept of i and ki, becoming known as one of the six great minds of Joseon’s neo-Confucianism. Volume 1 of Collected Works of Nokmun contains four letters. The letter from the third year of King Yeongjo’s reign (1727) has the seventeen-year-old Nokmun requesting Doam Yi Jae to accept him as a pupil. The letter written on the sixth year of King Yeongjo’s reign (1730) contains questions for Doam Yi Jae from the twenty-year-old Nokmun, but was not sent. The letter from the thirteenth year of Yeongjo’s reign (1737), written to Doam when Nokmun was 27 years old, is extremely important in the field of Simron which deals with the virtues and vices of Mibalsimche(未發心體). In the letter from the twenty-first year of Yeongjo’s reign(1745), written in the fall of Nokmun Im Seongju’s 35th year, Nokmun asks for advice on his family’s ancestral rites. Im Seongju’s handwritten letters were not included in Collected Works of Nokmun, but were drafted by Nokmun in the sixteenth year of Yeongjo’s reign (1740) to give to his teacher Doam Yi Jae. The letters measure 61.4 × 38.2 cm in height and length, respectively. The writing in its entirety has 25 vertical lines, with a blank space of 3 horizontal lines on the top of the letter. There are a total of 475 characters and 17 stanzas of the imprint in the text. The characters ‘候’, ‘靜中體候’, ‘門下’, ‘函丈之間’, ‘登覽’, ‘下覽’ which are related to his teacher have a blank space as a mark of respect. The calligraphy in the epistles has its basis on Ahn Jin Kyung’s printed and semicursive style with an appropriate balance of brush strokes(筆勢) and character style(字勢), a powerful energy as well as eloquence, while the connecting forms(結體) have gravity and style and variation along with the dignity of a classical scholar. The writing can be divided into eight paragraphs by content development. Im Seongju asks after his teacher Doam Yi Jae, expresses his sadness that he was unable to visit his friend Daesim (son of Yi Yu)’s grave before the second memorial ceremony(大祥) as he had intended although two years have passed since Daesim’s death, and worries that he is unable to focus on his studies because of troubles and mourning in the family. He recalled his days studying under Doam Yi Jae while worrying that he was not progressing in his studies as he should ; resolved to live according to Emperor Shun’s ‘惟精惟一’ and the Confucius philosophy that the superior man makes the difficultly to be overcome his first interest ; ‘克己復禮’ ; and expressed his wish to study with a teacher who would keep him vigilant and urge him on. He worried that he could not see Doam often because they lived so far away, said that he planned to borrow a horse and visit his teacher in the summer because he needed guidance, and worried about when his teacher would receive his letter. This research will henceforward be used not only in the study of private records but also as the most basic study results in bibliography, archives and records management, history and Korean linguistics.

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