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This paper examines the 16th-century Royal Kiln-produced white porcelain in the context of the interrelationship between the royal family as the main consumer and the kiln as the producer. In particular, it structurally explains the changes in white porcelain from the perspective of the increase in demand for white porcelain and the imbalance in supply. The royal family enacted the Sinyu In-kind Taxation Reform in the early 16th century and expanded royal finances based on this. The demand for white porcelain produced at the Royal Kiln also increased through the provisions on appropriation and tax-in-kind hikes of the reform. On the other hand, the Royal Kiln was operated under the governmentrun craftsmanship system and, therefore, had a limited annual budget to spend and a limited number of available artisans. As a result, an imbalance occurred in the supply and demand for Royal Kiln white porcelain. The royal family and the kiln responded to this issue by reflecting on each other's positions. Accordingly, it is assumed that changes were brought about in the quality and inscriptions of white porcelain, and in the way Royal Kiln was operated. This paper is of significance in that it organically understands changes seen in white porcelain created at the Royal Kiln in the 16th century through the relationship between the royal family, the highest ruling class at the time, and the kiln operated under the state-run handicraft system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the exchange of Ming porcelain between Ming China and Joseon in comparison with those exchanges between Ming and other countries in East Asia in order to bring out similarities and differences and highlight the complexity and dynamics of East Asian cultural exchanges. First, the similarities are that the times when the Ming court bestowed porcelain on other countries were concentrated in the first half of the fifteenth century in most of the Asian region. Within the framework of tribute trade, porcelain with a three-clawed dragon design was found in large quantities. During similar periods of time, Longquan celadon and Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain as well as private kiln porcelain wares increased and had common features. Second, what makes the exchange with Joseon distinctive is the introduction of porcelain overland by Ming envoys whose country of origin was Joseon and the shipment of table ware sets manufactured by Ming imperial kilns. Also, most of the Ming porcelain discovered in Joseon has been Jingdezhen blue and white porcelain which was common with other East Asian countries, but only a few discoveries of Longquan or Zhangzhou wares, nor was there much Kraak ware from Jingdezhen kilns or Southeast Asian celadons. These differences put Joseon in a unique position. This analysis provides an implication that diplomatic interactions and the changes in distribution brought about by the main trading forces should be considered in order to have a deep understanding of porcelain exchange between Ming China and Joseon and throughout East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the functionalities and styles of Joseon paintings that were transmitted to Japan by considering them in terms of provenance and as objects with cultural biographies; further, this paper will note trends in Japanese collections regarding these works, particularly paintings on screens. Research on the history of art ownership looks at how artworks assume new cultural contexts through the journey from their place of origin to the final destination, and how new meanings are created through interactions between the different actors as human networks are built. Also, the function and implication of screens as diplomatic gifts will be examined by looking at the Joseon paintings which were reproduced onto screens. Screens were produced by collecting many paintings. Analysis of this method will provide insight into how objects evolve in cultural and materialistic terms. Based on the abundance of materials collected in the past century and the analysis of painting styles of the surviving works, this paper will perform a literature review from various angles and present recommendations regarding the study of Joseon paintings held in Japan. A case analysis will illustrate how works created new functions and meanings as they met various people--viewers, patrons, connoisseurs, and owners--during their journey departing the artist's hand and arriving in a new cultural environment, which will highlight the changes of the cultural and material biographies of Joseon paintings in Japan. In particular, paintings concerning Korean embassies have survived with a relatively clear record of provenance, and many of those works remain intact as they have not moved around within Japan since their arrival from Korea. But some were cut and mounted on silk scrolls and reborn into Japanese-style screens in combination with other paintings and calligraphic works after the occurrence of brush talks or singing events. These variations are attributable to the functionalities and characteristics of screens and influenced the way viewers sensed and appreciated the works. Tracing the changes which the objects underwent offers insight into the process of repurposing Korean paintings in cultural and material terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focused on Joseon court music in light of cultural history and symbolic aspects. The court music was primarily performed for oryeui, or the five state rituals, and thus it is important to understand it in connection with rituals. Therefore, this paper provided an understanding of court music in cultural history by exploring its symbols and their meanings. This paper classified court music into two--sacrificial and ceremonial ones--and provided details of them. It explained the use and characteristics of royal ensembles and introduced musical pieces played by them as well as dance performers. Moreover, it also described how the performance tradition of the Joseon court music has been transmitted today. The symbols and their meanings of the court music were explored by being divided into several topics. Instead of covering all about them, this paper singled out some major types of court music for this subject, which include as follows: sacrificial rituals and music that signified royal legitimacy and authority; ceremonial music that represented the hierarchical order and friendly relations with neighboring countries; saak, or music bestowed by the king; daesaryeo and music, a symbol of military leadership; the policy of sadaegyorin (served the great and keep good relations with neighbors) and music; state funerals and soundless music; and music as a symbol of a vassal country and wonguak (music for the rite to heaven) as an imperial symbol. These topics will help understand the court music as part of royal culture of Joseon. To promote studies of the Joseon court music and overall traditional Korean music in both domestic and foreign scholarship, it is important to provide information on related historical sources. Thus, this paper presented them in the final chapter. This paper focused on Joseon court music in cultural aspects and thus academic achievements, though having been produced in various areas, were not covered. It is hoped that this paper will help scholars abroad have basic understandings of the Joseon court music and inspire their academic passion for this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the background of the construction of New Seonwonjeon Hall in Changdeokgung Palace, the current state of the royal portraits of the Joseon dynasty that are stored there, and the court paintings installed to decorate the space where these eojin (御眞 royal portraits) are installed, such as folding screen paintings of five peaks and folding screen paintings of peonies. New Seonwonjeon Hall was constructed in the rear garden of Changdeokgung Palace in 1921 by recycling elements from royal buildings brought from Gyeongbokgung Palace and Changdeokgung Palace. In the early 1900s the Japanese Government-General of Korea implemented a policy of minimizing the national rites for the royal family of the Joseon dynasty, and the shrine buildings in the respective palaces were demolished. Although this place is part of the dark history of the Japanese occupation period, it is also the last jinjeon (royal portrait hall 眞殿) ever built and enshrines the final 48 portraits of the kings of Joseon. Furthermore, it is a historical site housing relics related to royal portraits. Although most of the royal portraits in this hall were lost during the Korean War, folding screens of five peaks and folding screens of peonies and other royal paintings that decorated the areas around the eojin have survived, shedding light on the way paintings were installed inside a royal portrait hall, the traditional decoration known as "majestic ornamentation," and the state of court paintings from the time after the Academy of Painting 圖畵署 was abolished until the mid-1930s. In conclusion, it is the only surviving royal portrait hall and shows the tradition of royal portrait production and "majestic ornamentation" 莊嚴 from the Joseon dynasty. New Seonwonjeon Hall offers important data on the trends in court painting, which did not cease even under Japanese colonial rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regardless of the geographical separation, from historical-cultural perspectives, Vietnam and Korea had very early exchanges, especially in culture, as both countries mutually absorbed the influence of Chinese civilization. Being influenced by Chinese civilization and bound by tributary relations with Chinese monarchies, Vietnam and Joseon had many mutual understandings in historical and cultural spheres. Besides, the contacts between Vietnamese and Joseon envoys in China were an essential opportunity promoting the cultural exchange and understanding between the two countries. This paper introduces results of research on the contacts--the composition of repartee poems and prose using the same rhyme sequence between Vietnamese and Joseon envoys in China. It can thereby partly explain the cultural closeness and similarities of the two countries and simultaneously set the stages for intensive cooperations between Vietnam and Korea in various fields, including culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to revisit the reception of Du Fu in the literary history of Korea, focusing on its canonicity and textuality. Jibong yuseol, an encyclopedic collection from 17th-century Joseon, Korea, vividly demonstrates how the author Yi Sugwang (1563-1628) attempted to subvert the transcendental positions of literary canons by positioning them in the networks of textual exegesis. Challenging the notion of canon as a perfect and fixed entity, Yi historicized the reception of Du Fu in Joseon and traced how this particular body of text became the most influential part of the canon and could be also deconstructed through interpretative performances. Highlighting the textuality of literary canons, which was considered fluid and flexible, this paper unravels the networks of interpretation drawn from the thousands of references found in Jibong yuseol. Special emphasis of this research also will be placed on the changing "material conditions" of the day, particularly after the Imjin waeran (1592-1598) war between Korea and Japan. The post-war intellectual environment witnessed the influx of a large number of books on Ming and Qing scholarship and prompted a significant shift in the perspective of the Joseon literati. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study summarizes the production, consumption, distribution, and perceptions of Dragon Jars in the late Joseon period and offers new perspectives and interpretations of their spread to the public sector during the nineteenth century. Dragon Jars from the late Joseon period were used as jars to hold liquor or flowers at various royal ceremonies, making them important symbolic ritual objects. In particular, Dragon Jars were used as wine jars for various rituals such as weddings, banquets, guest rites, ancestral sacrifices, and funeral rites. Their names, styles, and uses varied depending on the ritual. The form of Dragon Jars is characterized by their height, the composition of their designs, and number of claws on the dragon, all of which subtly indicate the ritual's nature and the user's status. This study analyzes the private firing of the official kilns, the private demand for items in the palace style, the spread of the Confucian ritual guide Zhuzi jiali, and the sharing of ritual vessels in order to explain the spread of Dragon Jars beyond the royal court and into the private sector during the late Joseon period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the fact that the products from the private kilns of Jingdezhen comprise a major portion of the blue-and-white porcelain excavated from the early Joseon sites in Korea including Hanyang. The blue-and-white porcelain that was used mainly by the royal family and the scholar-officials in Hanyang during the first half of Joseon spread to the public and the provinces. One of the driving factors behind the increasing popularity was the fact that the Joseon government limited the use of blue-and-white porcelain as a luxury item of a privileged class. Due to the limitation in domestic production, most of the demand for the blue-and-white porcelain was fulfilled by the imported products from Ming. The excavated items also show us that most of the blue-and-white porcelain used nationally were drinking vessels such as small bowls and cups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cotton manufacturing in Korea is known to have started with Mun Ik-jeom (1329-1398), who brought cottonseeds from China during the last days of the Goryeo dynasty. Despite the great achievement of Mun's introduction of cottonseeds, by focusing exclusively on Mun or a few historic figures, we tend to disregard the more crucial agencies to have made this great social transformation possible. To complement existing scholarship, the paper address the agency of Hoseung Hongwon 胡僧弘願 in social transformation of medieval Korea. Starting with the introduction contextualizing the spread of cotton in a wider perspective, it consists of three main sections: firstly, which identifies the presence and role of the foreign monk in the official narratives of Goryeo and Joseon; secondly, which examines the actual significance of his contribution--ginning and carding (also known as bucking or batting)--to the distribution of cotton cloth making; and lastly to suggest his presumed Tibetan or Inner Asian origin in connection to its long cotton culture tradition and to Buddhist trade network on the Silk Road and to scrutinize the trajectory of how his story was treated and forgotten over the course of the time. The research shows that the Korean cotton manufacturing process was not an isolated event made by a heroic effort of a single person, but an outcome of the connected world of the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manchus conquered Beijing and re-structured the social and political order of China in the 1640s. Meanwhile, Joseon Korea necessitated following the Qing's new tributary rituals to appoint envoys visiting China regularly, although Joseon intellectuals refused to accept the Qing's new order. Joseon's mission route to Beijing was the primary battlefield for the Ming-Qing conflict. It provided opportunities for them to encounter different battlefield sites, such as Ningyuan and Shanhai Pass. In looking for the glory of the Ming Dynasty, some Joseon intellectuals were curious about the places of the Ming-Qing transition. As a result, members frequently asked the appointed interpreters for interpretation of the information. Interpreters acquired extensive experiences in China and widespread network with Chinese to collect information of the past. Joseon intellectuals relied on interpreters' elaboration to understand the history of the Ming-Qing transition and even recorded the intelligence in their Yeonhaengrok. The record was circulated as the intellectuals' shared memory of the Ming-Qing transition in Joseon intellectuals' circle. This article attempts to address how the Joseon interpreters worked as the "cultural broker" to utilize their social network and knowledge to construct the discourse of the conflict during the Ming-Qing transition for re-shaping the memory of Joseon intellectuals on Ming Empire. The article's argument demonstrated the Joseon interpreters as an intermediary, who operated the cultural contact zone in East Asia to produce and circulate the knowledge in China for the Joseon community to create their own memory of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on Buddhism in the Joseon dynasty has seen many achievements during the past 100 years. Under Japanese colonial rule, the introduction of the modern academic research methodology and the collection of historical material allowed the pioneering research on various topics and formed the main theories. However, a negative image was layered onto tradition, reflecting the reality of being colonized, and the formula of suppression and decline was set in place. In the late 20th century, as the base of research broadened and a more autonomous perspective towards the tradition of Korean history was emphasized, the areas and topics of research diversified, leading to the accumulation of research achievements. From 2000 on, research that looks at Buddhism in the Joseon dynasty from a new perspective and attempts to clarify the historical reality in detail have been attempted. While the Joseon dynasty has been known as a period of elevating Confucianism and suppressing Buddhism (sungyu eokbul), this is a neologism created during the modern period, and its contents and characteristics should be understood depending on the time period. It is also necessary to reexamine the Buddhist traditions that have become academically formulized such as the theory that Buddhist monks were equal to the low-born, the theory of the doctrinal study, and the Seon-oriented perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the dreams recorded by O Huimun (1539-1613) during the period of the Japanese invasion of Joseon in the lunar year 1592 to gain an insight into the interior life of a member of the yangban class in sixteenthcentury Joseon. The largest category of these dreams concern people who were absent through death or separation due to the war, particularly members of his own family, such as his elderly mother, wife, children, and his deceased father. O Huimun's dreams of people almost invariably invoke heartfelt sadness in the diary's author and frequently result in the reported shedding of tears. Other dreams were interpreted by the author as being more symbolic in nature, and in these cases, O Huimun would often attempt his own interpretation or even record the opinions of other members of his refugee household and acquaintances. This article will examine a broad selection of the dreams recorded in "Imjin namhaeng illok" and "Imjin illok," which comprise the first volume of Swaemirok (Record of a Refugee) covering the lunar year 1592, and categorize them in accordance with the traditional dream categories outlined in the Zhou li (Rites of Zhou 周禮) in order to demonstrate how dreams and dream interpretation functioned as a form of psychological support for a Joseon yangban steeped in Neo-Confucian rationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]