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Records and Record-keeping in Nineteenth-Century Korea

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

James B. Palais
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Abstract

The article describes the types of written records available to scholars of late Yi dynasty Korea, in particular, daily chronicles compiled under official auspices. Koreans were indebted to the Chinese for the chronological format of compilation, the Confucian moralistic purpose for historical writing, the respect for bare fact, and the necessity for truthful reporting. These objectives were often violated, however, because the recorders were also active bureaucrats involved in political disputes.

For the modern historian, these sources have certain advantages and disadvantages. They are good for institutional and administrative history, and they provide raw data for political history. On the other hand, they reflect the biases of the recorders, they do not reveal the really private thoughts of kings and officials, they are confined to the formal apparatus of the official communication and the court conference, and they are comprised over much of moralistic exhortation and general preachment, rather than with concrete discussion of the problems of economy, society, and policy. They do, however, represent an enormous body of material hitherto neglected by Western scholars.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , May 1971 , pp. 583 - 591
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1971

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References

1 The term, “yangban,” is commonly used to indicate the hereditary social status elite in the Yi dynasty. In its strictest sense it refers to those who were eligible for the higher civil service examinations, but the identification of non-degree- and non-office-holding yangban has presented serious problems for scholars. The term is admittedly vague and further study is needed for an adequate definition.

2 The following materials have been consulted for background on Chinese historiography: Beasley, W. G. and Pulleyblank, E. G., Historians of China and Japan, (London: Oxford University Press, 1961)Google Scholar; Gardner, Charles, Chinese Traditional Historiography, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1938)Google Scholar; Torajir–, Naitō, Shina shigaku shi (Chinese Historiography), (Tokyo: Kōbundo, 1949)Google Scholar; Yü-fu, Chin, Chung-kuo shih-hsüeh shih (Chinese Historiography), (Peking: Chung-hua shu-chü, 1962), reprint of Chungking, 1944 edition.Google Scholar

3 For a discussion of the drive for immortality in China in a modern context, see Lifton, Robert Jay, Revolutionary Immortality: Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, (N. Y.: Vintage, 1968).Google Scholar

4 Yang Lien-sheng, “The Organization of Chinese Official Historiography …,” in Beasley and Pulleyblank, 46–7, 49ff.

5 Ibid., 44–6; Wolfgang Franke, “The Veritable Records of the Ming dynasty, 1368–1644,” in Beasley and Pulleyblank, 60–72; Charles Gardner, 86–105; Naitō Torajirō, 313–16; Chin Yü-fu 128–80.

6 The Sejong sillok. (Veritable Record of King Sejong) is exceptional because it contains several treatises which are more typical of the chi-chuan composite or annal-biography style. The Sillok properly belongs to the pien-nien or chronicle style.

7 Yasukazu, Suematsu, “Richō jitsuroku kōryaku (A Brief Study of the Veritable Records of the Yi dynasty),” in Seikyū shisō (History Drafts on the Country of the Green Hills), (Tokyo, 1966), 267–360Google Scholar. This was originally published in Gakushūin daigaktt bungakubu kenkyū nenpō, 5 (1958). The English version was published as “Introduction to the Ri Dynasty Annals of Korea,” in Memoirs of the Research Department of the Tōyō Bunko, no. 17 (1958); Sin Sŏk-ho, “Chosŏn wangjo sillok ŭI p'yõnch'an gwa pogwan (Compilation and Preservation of the Veritable Record of the Yi dynasty),” in Han'guk saryo hoe sŏl chip (A Collection of Bibliographical Essays on Korean Historical Materials), (Seoul, 1964), 16–23; Marugame Kinsaku, “Chōsen no shunjukan to Richō jitsuroku no senshū ni tsuite (The Yi dynasty Office of Historical Compilation and the Compilation of the Yi dynasty Sillok),” in Shigaku zasshi, 54:10–11 (Oct.–Nov., 1943).

The Ch'unch'ugwan (Spring and Autumn Office, or Office of Historical Compilation) had seventy-eight officials all of which were concurrencies. The post of Director (Yŏngsa) was held by the Chief State Councillor (Yŏng'ŭijŏng), and those of the Assistant Directors (Kamsa) by the Second and Third State Councillors (Chwaŭijŏng, Uŭijōng).

The Records of Current Government (Sijŏnggi) were kept by eight lower officials of the Yemun-'gwan, an office similar to the Chinese Hanlin Academy.

8 For revisions in the various Sillok. see Sin Sŏk-ho, 19–81, and Suematsu Yasukazu, 312–52. For an excellent description of the literati purge of 1498, the muo sahwa, which involved the contents of an historian's private draft (sach'o), see Wagner, Edward, The Literati Purges, Harvard University, unpubl Phd diss., 45–147.Google Scholar

9 yijio sillok.: Kojong sillok (Veritable Record of the Yi dynasty: Veritable Record of King Kojong), (Peking, 1959). This version was published under the joint auspices of the Scientific Institutes of the Korean People's Democratic Republic and the Chinese People's Democratic Republic.

10 The most important of the Yi dynasty codes were the Kyŏngguk. taejōn, 1469, the Soktaejŏn, 1746, the Taejõn t'ongp'yōn, 1784, and the Taejŏn hoet'ong, 1865. For a description of these and other codes and collections of statutes, see Chōsen Sōtokufu Chūsuin, Richō hōten kō (A Study of Yi Dynasty Codes), (Keijō, 1936).

11 Yasukazu, Suematsu, “Keishōkaku to keishō sōmoku (The Kyujanggak and its Catalogue),” in Seikyū shisō, II, (Tokyo, 1966), 223–34Google Scholar. This was originally published in Oda sensei shōju kinen Chōsen ronshū (Essays on Korea in honor of Oda Shōgo), (Keijō, 1934), 399–416; Kuksadaesajŏn (Grand Dictionary of Korean History), II, (Seoul, 1962), 1259. The llsŏngnok. was kept by the officials of the Kyujanggak. It was first begun while Chŏngjo was Crown Prince in 1760 and continued to 1910.

12 Pibyōnsa-dŭngnok (Records of the Border Defense Command), 28 volumes, Kuksa p'yŏnch'an wiwŏnhoe (Historical Compilation Committee), (Seoul, 1959–60); Sin Sŏk-ho, “Pibyŏnsa wa kubreve; tŭngnok e taehayŏ (The Border Defense Command and its Record),” in Han'guk saryo haesōlchip, (Seoul, 1964), 83–100; Kuksadaesajōn, I, 637. The extant portion of the Pibyōnsa-dūngnok covers the period from 1617–1892.

13 Sŭngjŏngwŏn-ilgi (Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat), Kuksa p'yŏnchʻan wiwŏnhoe edition; Sin Sŏk-ho, “Sŭngjŏngwon-ilgi haeje (Description of the Daily Records of the Royal Secretariat),” in Hanʻguk. saryo haesŏlchip, (Seoul, 1964), 101–14; Kuksadaesajŏn, I, 801; Chŏn Hae-jong, “Sŭngjŏngwŏn-go (A Study of the Royal Secretariat),” in Chindan hakpo, 25–27, (December, 1964), 185–223. Special Royal Secretaries were first established in the early eleventh century to handle the transfense mission of documents. The Royal Secretariat as a separate administrative office did not emerge until the period 1400–1405. The extant records of the Royal Secretariat date from 1623–1910.

The lower officials in the Royal Secretariat, the chusŏ, were also concurrent Recorders (Kisagwan) in the Chʻunchʻugwan (Office of Historical Comperiod pilation).

14 For examples of such irregularities, see James B. Palais, Korea on the Eve of the Kanghwa Treaty, 1873—76, Unpubl. Phd diss., Harvard University, (1968), 90, 92, 125–27, 133–4. Specifically, these refer to the deletion of a royal edict from the records, llsŏngnok. 142:26b–27a; the reproval of the King by Royal Secretaries during the Royal Lectures, Ilsŏngnok. 142:49b–50a; a request from the Royal Secretariat for officials who submitted a memorial, Ilsŏngnok 141 and Sŭngjŏngwon-ilgi, 1873.10.28 lunar; and the Royal Secretariat request for a continuation of a trial against the wishes of the king, llsŏngnok 142:49b–50b, and Sungjŏng-wŏn-ilgi, 1873.11.9 lunar.

15 Palais, 121. Ilsŏngnok 142:19a, 1873.11.4 lunar.

16 Chŏn Hae-jong, “Tʻongni gimu amun sŏlchʻi ŭi kyŏngwi e taehayŏ (The Circumstances of the Establishment of the Tʻongni gimu amun),” in Yŏksa hakpo, 17–18 (June, 1962), 687—702.

17 Palais, 413–4, 597–8. Nihon gaikō monjo (Japanese Diplomatic Archives), VII, Doc. 218, 1, p. 409.

18 Palais, 360–438, passim.

19 Chūngbo munhŏnbigo (Encyclopedia, enlarged and supplemented). Preface dated 1907.

20 Han Woo Keun (Han U-gūn), ed., Hanʻguk kyŏngje kwangye munhŏn chipsŏng (Annotated Bibliography of Korean Economic History, 1570–1910), Kyujanggak tosŏ yŏnʻgu chʻongso (Studies on the Kyujanggak Archives, No. 2), (Seoul: Tongʻa munhwa yŏnʻguso, 1966). The preface to this by Han Woo Keun contains an excellent survey of secondary works based on documents in the Kyujanggak collection.

21 Tongmun hwigo (Diplomatic Documents of the Yi Dynasty). The collection is in the Kyujangak archive at Seoul National University. A portion of the documents have been published as Tabohashi Kiyoshi, ed., Dōbun ikō, II and III, Keijō, 1936–7: Chŏn Hae-jong, ed., Hanʻguk kŭnse taeoe kwanʻgye munhŏn piyo (Manual of Korean Foreign Relations, 1876–1910), Kyujanggak tosŏ yŏnʻgu chʻōngsŏ, 1 (Studies on the Kyujanggak Archives, No. 1), (Seoul: Tongʻa munhwa yŏnʻguso, 1966).

22 Dennis Twitchett, “Chinese Biographical Writing,” in Beasley and Pulleyblank, 95–114.

23 For a bibliographic survey of the Yasa, see Suematsu Yasukazu, “Richō no yashi no sōsho ni tsuite (On Collections of Yasa in the Yi Dynasty),” in Seikyū shisō, II, 235–65. This was originally published in Cakushūin daigaku bungakubu kenkyū nenpō, 12 (February, 1966).

24 For a very useful survey of private historical compilations see Imanishi Ryū, Chōsenshi no shiori, Tokyo, Chōsen bunka sōsho, I, (1935), 25–37. The handiest genealogy is Edward Wagner, ed., Harvard Edition of the Mansŏng Taedongbo, xeroxed, 1967. The most accessible pangmok (examination roster) is that appended to the Chōsen sōtokufu chūsūin, Chōsen jimmei jisho (Korean Biographical Dictionary), (Keijō, 1937).