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This article discusses how paper artisans in Chosŏn Korea transformed the once government-controlled paper production into their own prosperous trade, by focusing on their techniques for recycling paper. They called the paper they made that was not in use 'resting paper', and referred to its reuse, which they facilitated, as a process of 'returning'. These recycling techniques were unique even among its East Asian neighbours and induced new rules about paper production, including the careful accounting of 'resting paper' by government officials. This essay thus helps illuminate two things thus far less noted in the Chosŏn transformation of production: First, the prominent role of techniques in Chosŏn's productive revolutions (not best characterized as either 'industrial' nor 'industrious') before the twentieth century; and second, the constant negotiations that these recycling artisans had made with the Chosŏn court and its officials. The essay uses the robust recycled paper products still remaining in museums, and new kinds of documents about 'resting paper' and its constant transformers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study applied various scientific analyses to one fragment of paper and three pigments excavated from earthenware found in the Hoeamsa Temple site at Yangju, Korea, which is believed to have been built in the early twelfth century. Radiocarbon dating of the paper fragment suggests a manufacture date between 1460 and 1646 (at a 95% confidence interval). It was estimated to have been used during the early and middle period of the Joseon dynasty (1391–1776), when the Hoeamsa Temple site was rebuilt. In addition, by staining the fiber of the paper fragment with Graff "C" stain, the paper's raw material was identified as paper mulberry through dislocation, cross-marking, and transparent membrane, which are characteristics of the bast fiber. Efforts were made to identify their material properties and manufacturing techniques of the three types of pigments. Color difference analysis was performed by distributing the pigments in large areas to reveal characteristic differences according to the color difference of the pigment. We found that green-type pigments are malachite and atacamite, red-type pigments are hematite based on the element Fe, and white-type pigments are quartz and muscovite based on the elements Si and Al. In addition, as the size distribution of the three types of pigments is wide and has a multi-peak distribution curve, it was concluded that the pigments were used without purification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pre-modern Korea, paper was renowned for its white glossy surface and cloth-like strength, becoming an important item in both tributary exchanges and private trade. The unique material of the tak tree and related technical innovations, including toch'im, the repeated beating of just-produced paper that provides sizing and fulling effects, were crucial to this fame. However, the scholar-officials who integrated papermaking into the state production system in order to meet administrative and tributary needs initially made toch'im corvée and then penal labor, thereby dismissing it as simple toil. They were not alone, though, in denigrating a form of manual labor. Historiographies of modern science and technology are generally silent about such work, focusing instead on how we invented the human out of drudgery. However, papermakers in late Chosŏn Korea (the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries) chose to identify their artisanship with toch'im and eventually succeeded in securing recognition for that technique as a highly paid specialty. By examining this skilling of toch'im, this paper seeks to change the historiographical silence about toil. It overcomes the archival silence that accompanies manual skills by tracing toch'im's contours through its changing locations and associations in society's changing social and material networks, revealing paper artisans' social techniques, or everyday politics that eventually dignified their laborious technique. Paper artisans' changing relationships with tak barks, tools and facilities, central and local authorities, farmers, merchants, and scholar-officials reveal how such social skilling was made in late Chosŏn Korea, where papermaking became a most successful industry. This tracing of toch'im re-situates creative toil and everyday politics of artisanal hands in the interconnected transformation of social relations, craft, and knowledge practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Just as we can hardly find references on how traditional I hanji i making has weathered the transformation of South Korea into a hypermodern society during the last century, Lee had to start from scratch to identify artisans who continued handmade papermaking using authentic old methods. However, Lee's engagement in traditional papermaking led her to immerse herself in the exciting versatility of I hanji i and the community of artisan-teachers using I hanji i for various crafts. [Extracted from the article]

The article is a book review of "Technoscience of Tak and Artisans: Resourceful Evolution of Chosŏn Papermaking" by Jung Lee. The book explores the history of papermaking technology and industry in Joseon Korea (1392-1910) and its impact on science and technology in early modern Korea. The author examines the unique papermaking process in Korea, which involved using a native tree called "Dak" to create durable paper that could be recycled and repurposed. The book also reevaluates the intellectual reform movement in the eighteenth century known as "Silhak" and highlights the importance of artisans in shaping Korean history. The concept of "giji," or being resourceful, is central to the book and emphasizes the artisans' skillfulness in rearranging material sources. The book offers insights into science and technology beyond the Western context and challenges conventional narratives about Korean history. [Extracted from the article]

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 article explores the significance of gift-giving in human relationships, with a particular focus on traditional Korea. It discusses how gift exchanges create value and satisfaction for both parties involved, and examines the principles of gift exchange as outlined by anthropologists Marcel Mauss and Karl Polanyi. The article also explores the practical and symbolic functions of diplomatic gifts in establishing and fortifying international relationships and political order. It provides examples of diplomatic gift exchanges between China and neighboring countries, as well as between European countries and China. The article concludes by mentioning three papers that will further examine the practice of diplomatic gifts in East Asia, with a focus on Korea. [Extracted from the article]

This paper presents the results of a bibliometric analysis undertaken on Joseon gogo yeongu (Joseon Archaeological Research), North Korea's preeminent archaeology journal, providing information on the researchers, institutions, and research topics that have come to form the field of archaeological research in North Korea since the mid-1980s. Deviating from previous analyses of Joseon gogo yeongu, this paper focuses on the authors that contributed to Joseon gogo yeongu, identifying the archaeologists that have been most active in publishing articles. This particular method of establishing the key figures of North Korean archaeology reveals the presence of certain archaeologists whose importance has been overlooked within the South Korean discourse on North Korean archaeology. In addition, by tracing the research topics of these key figures over time, a broad understanding of the field of archaeological research in North Korea can be obtained. Information on institutional affiliations and co-authorships present within Joseon gogo yeongu also provide valuable insights into the workings of North Korean academia. Finally, by visualizing the results of the bibliometric analysis using word clouds and networks, the efficacy of Digital Humanities approaches to large data sets is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce the project, which is based on Sunghaksipdo (聖學十圖). Known as the Ten Diagrams on Sage Learning, Sunghaksipdo was a heritage created by Toegye, the Korean Confucian scholar of the Joseon Dynasty. While conveying philosophical concepts such as Li (理) and Gyung (敬) and their spiritual values of mindfulness from the heritage to VR, we have focused on reconnecting the original visual diagrams and texts into perceivable VR experiences. We approached this task through the following: (1) by constructing conceptual and philosophical VR space and environments based on the original diagrams, (2) by creating conceptual objects inside VR, and (3) by designing diverse user interactions with such virtual conceptual objects. Particularly the interactions allow the user's embodied experience and performative engagement, which become a way of understanding the meaning of the philosophical message. While explaining these with diverse exemplary cases, we hope to show how new media and interactive VR technologies can be used to realize philosophical concepts and spiritual value. Through this, we hope to discuss how VR could be imagined as a tangible philosophy discovering the plane of immanence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1930s the Japanese Government General of Korea's Society for the Compilation of Korean History commissioned facsimiles of some 21 rare historical sources to accompany the publication of the colossal History of Korea (Chōsenshi 朝鮮史), funnelling select xylographic, typographic, and chirographic products of the defunct Chosŏn dynasty's book ecology through offset lithography and collotype, and on occasion movable type. This article investigates the Society for the Compilation of Korean History's collection and classification of historical materials against the larger backdrop of colonial knowledge production, illuminates the different economic and editorial logics of the new printing technologies used to produce the facsimiles, and examines the products as one example of the significance of facsimiles in the field of history. It suggests that the interplay of traditional print media, dominated by woodblock prints, and the new photomechanical means of reproduction, allowed for the swift reproduction of the unfolded page image and the easy utilization of traditional-style binding, permitting the Society to create purposefully antiquated reproductions with a high degree of fidelity to the original. At the same time, the use of modern materials (paper, string, and covers) and certain features common to traditional Japanese book binding meant that the facsimiles were irrevocably hybrid. These facsimiles ended up in a wide range of research libraries, representing the Korean past to the scholarly community in the Japanese empire. [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]

Red-crowned white cranes, large migratory birds symbolizing longevity, fidelity, and independence from power across East Asian cultures, came to live in scholar-official households in late Chosŏn. With the residency of this elegant bird in scholarly households around the mid-eighteenth century, a new knowledge practice that took serious interest in things like cranes emerged. This paper illuminates the roles of these highly cross-cultured things in late-Chosŏn knowledge transformation, echoing material turns in various disciplines. Necessitating knowledge to properly possess and accompany them, cranes led to a new scholarly attachment to things. It opened up an unprecedented intellectual attitude that valued curiosity, taste, and facts concerning things and emphasized usefulness of that newly obtained thing-knowledge. Curiosity, taste, facts, and the usefulness of knowledge obtained new meanings in other parts of the world that experienced similar transitions in knowledge practice by and towards things. While delineating the roles of cranes specifically in late-Chosŏn's transformation through the imprints that they left in scholarly acts and works, this paper proposes a new way to connect knowledge transformations in different parts of the globe, via these newly migrating things, moving away from the narrative that requires an origin and transfers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fish have long been of importance to North Korea, vital to its developmental ambitions, and through structures of division such as the Northern Limit Line, also to its politics. Fish and seafood in general have been key elements in the cuisine and dietary practices of the Korean peninsula since the beginning of its recorded history. Korean food frequently has fish, molluscs and cephalopods at its heart, from more common forms such as jjigae stews 찌개, to the challenging san-nakji 산낙지 (live octopus). Fish is eaten everywhere on the Korean peninsula, though of course it is less frequently eaten in the interior and in mountainous areas. Fish and seafood products are also eaten across all social classes on the Korean peninsula and in Korean history. In particular miyeok 미역 or wind/beach dried kelp has long been a vital element in Korean cooking, and the drying of miyoek by coastal communities was a key element to many of those communities social and economic practices in previous sentences. Of course there were varieties of seafood and maritime products that only the rich and elite could afford, and places where such food could be bought and consumed naturally became rarefied and expensive places, and seafood became an important element in the rediscovered "Korean Royal Court Cuisine" 조선왕조 궁중요리 Joseon wangjo gungjung yori, which harked back to the food practices of the Joseon dynasty. North Korea itself claims or aspires to be a classless society and a political space where there are no elites, and where the memory of the Joseon dynasty is dismissed as a feudal aberration. This paper explores an element of the reality of North Korea dining and food consumption and practices, particularly around seafood. Considering the vital importance of fishing and seafood to North Korea, particularly as a source of revenue and goods for export, and the role of fish and maritime products as a vital source of protein in Pyongyang's conceptions of socialist developmental practice, the paper in particular considers the environmental and ecological histories of the seas around the north of the Korean peninsula in mind, as well as North Korea's history of aquaculture, and efforts to farm particular species like Sturgeon and Atlantic Cod. Having done this the paper seeks to understand what the presence of elite fish restaurants and dining places in Pyongyang, and the research and logistics required to support them mean within the nation's environmental and developmental history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We know more about how Joseon people wrote, and the texts they produced, than about how and why they read. Existing scholarship has primarily investigated Korean premodern texts from a linguistic and bibliographical perspective, while comparatively few approaches have centered on the social and cultural aspects of their reading. The present paper offers an understanding of how the practice of reading represented a key component of the ideological and institutional configuration of the state during King Sejong's reign (1418–1450) by analyzing reading activities taking place in the context of the royal court as recorded in the Joseon wangjo sillok (Veritable records of the Joseon Dynasty) and other selected documentary and literary sources, mainly from the Kyujanggak archives. The paper starts by exploring the practice of reading in state rituals, assessing its significance as a public demonstration of royal authority. It then investigates how reading constituted a primary activity performed by the king, the crown prince, and other young male members of the royal family. Finally, it considers how the ruler actively used reading as an instrument of governance, assigning the reading of specific books as a strategy for reinforcing ideological and administrative control in and outside the royal palace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the potentially scandalous truce between the front-line Ming and Japanese commanders in the last days of the sixteenth-century Korea War. Mao Guoke, a Ming officer, was "dressed up" as the younger brother of his senior commander Mao Guoqi and sent to Japan as a hostage. He returned after almost two years (1598–1600) expecting to be received as a hero but was dismissed as more of a "self-made hero." This was because the Ming court preferred the "correct" version of the war: that it was ended not by negotiation but by the military victory of the Ming and Chosŏn Korea. Mao Guoke's odyssey is an illuminating case of the interflow and mixture of information, true and false, amid the fog of war. The case also highlights the unique pattern of war and diplomacy in premodern times wherein front-line agents enjoyed and exercised autonomy to an extent that is unthinkable to modern minds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fashion industry is one of the sectors most responsible for environmental pollution and waste generation. Zero-waste design either minimises or prevents waste generation by efficient use of resources for sustainable growth with environmental responsibility. This paper reviews traditional clothing, focusing on pants, go (袴), from the Joseon Dynasty, an era that emphasised 'oneness with nature'. It analyses their zero-waste design aspects and formative features and, in order to examine their eco-friendliness and aesthetic value applies these to three fashion designs. Sapok pants, pungcha pants and dan-sokgot were selected as design motifs because of their unique structures, creative construction methods and zero-waste aspects. Results demonstrate that the zero-waste patternmaking and composition methods significantly lowered the fabric waste rate, by 0.6–6%. In addition, new design silhouettes are presented by applying unique structural principles and recombining traditional patterns, and these offer highly effective and creative alternate zero-waste fashion design methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Korea's late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Chosŏn Dynasty is marked by evidence of climate change. A distinctive feature of this period was the frequent outbreak of plagues such as cholera, dysentery, and typhoid, especially among the less privileged. There was, consequently, a large-scale discontentment among the poor. In this milieu, some local Confucian scholars, dismayed by the prevailing corruption in the central government, withdrew themselves from government business, focused on studying imported Catholic texts from China, and converted to Catholicism. The emergence of indigenous religious movements also reflected this social reality. This paper explores the correlation among climate anomalies, decline in agricultural productivity, competition for limited common resources, heightened social inequality, and frequent plagues, and how Catholicism, an indigenous religious movement, and Protestant Christianity impacted and were impacted by these processes in Korea's late Chosŏn Dynasty. It also suggests missional implications of this in the post-Covid-19 era. [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]

Based on the government's historical records and personal documents of the pre-modern Chosŏn Dynasty, this paper examines the socio-economic impacts in Korea in response to climatic variability from 1809 until 1819 that may have been influenced to some degree by the eruption of the "unknown volcano" (1809) and the Tambora eruption (1815). In the early 1800s, when volcanic eruptions occurred successively, the Korean Peninsula experienced a temporal precipitation variation—drought, abundant rainfall, and normalcy—twice. The precipitation variation in this period had a heavy impact on the yields of rice, major crop on the peninsula. In the phase of drought in 1809 and extreme climatic anomalies in 1814, the country suffered record poor harvests, and in the abundant rainfall phase in 1810 and 1816–1817, it had bumper crops. For this reason, 1816–1817 were the halcyon years for Korea, unlike the case of Europe and the northeastern USA which suffered from extreme climatic anomalies in those years. This case of the Korean Peninsula indicates that the climate change and natural disasters of the 1810s were influenced by not only of the single event of the Tambora eruption but of the successive eruptions of volcanoes in the 7 years from 1809 to 1815, which also affected other areas on the globe for 11 years (1809–1819). [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]

Since the 1920s, nearly six identical versions of an ancient printed book, The Song of Enlightenment with Commentaries by Buddhist Monk Nammyeong Cheon (南明泉和尙頌證道歌), have been found in Korea. Until very recently, they were believed to be woodblock-printed versions from the 13th to 16th centuries using woodblocks carved from the sheets of a metal-type-printed version from 1239. Two of the six versions were once identified to be woodblock prints in the Goryeo dynasty in the 13th century and designated as Korean treasures in 1984 and 2012. In 2021, one woodblock-printed version printed during the Joseon dynasty in 1526, was designated as a treasure of the Metropolitan city of Seoul, Korea. Historians in Korea have been in heated debate over the printing techniques (metal type print for one version or all woodblock prints) and printing dates (or sequence) of the two versions designated as Korean treasures for the last 50 years. It was almost a never-ending debate with struggles and anger among Korean historians due to the very subjective nature of the examination method and decision-making process by consensus. The heated debates in Korea were never brought to the world's attention, outside of Korea, and are still considered to be a taboo subject in Korea. To conclude this heated debate with direct evidence of metal type printing of the particular version of interests, all six versions were examined by image comparisons and quantitative analyses of inked areas of individual characters, lines of characters, pages and borderlines. All claims against the possibility of metal type printing of the particular version were reviewed thoroughly. Very clear circumstantial and physical evidence for metal type printing of the version designated as a Korean treasure in 2012 was found. The version carries more than metal casting defects and has the smallest inked area (characters with thin strokes) among all six versions. The version of interest was very likely printed using movable metal type in September 1239, as indicated in the imprint, and is definitely the world's oldest extant book, printed using metal type in Korea in 1239, predating Jikji (1377) by 138 years and the 42-line Gutenberg Bible (1455) by 216 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern law treats land as real estate, subject to rights of ownership. Land must be immobile and clearly partitioned. Pieces of land are described on cadastral maps, with a link to a unique and permanent location. Yet, before the advent of modern law, how did people recognize each piece of land? The Joseon dynasty made numerous maps and conducted various land surveys. However, there was no sense that land should be divided by drawing lines on paper. Beyond a mere object of ownership, land was considered a basis for feeding the people. Hence, conceptions of land existed in by-play with human activity. Boundaries could not be drawn without consideration of local conditions such as the current status of cultivation. This paper will demonstrate Korean indigenous senses of boundary in the 19th century. The Gwangmu Land Register will be compared with land registers and cadastral maps from the Japanese colonial period to reveal key characteristics of late Joseon conceptions of land demarcation. I will show how boundaries shifted between humans and land, among plots, and within Korean society. Moreover, I highlight how new types of land demarcations in turn separated humans from their environment and reconceived land as immovable (real) estate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abdürreşid İbrahim, a leading Muslim scholar originally from Russia, embarked on his journey to Japan in 1908 to meet with his contacts from Kokuryūkai (Black Dragon Society). On his way back, he spent around ten days in the Korean Empire. İbrahim, who was convinced of the "barbarism" of the West, found quite a few examples in Korea to build upon his theory of "Eastern civility," just as he had found during his time in Japan. He met with a range of people, from porters to the Korean Empire's Interior Minister, and wrote about them in his travelogue titled Âlem-i İslam [The World of Islam]. This paper argues that İbrahim was particularly sympathetic to Koreans because he saw their position in a world of imperial hierarchies as analogous to that of Muslims in the Russian Empire. In Korea, İbrahim's anti-Westernism is coupled with his vision of a Pan-Asian world order led by Imperial Japan. Âlem-i İslam is significant because it is the only account of the Korean Empire's final years written by a Muslim intellectual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Qiu Jun of Ming China, with the aim of "rendering the Zhuzi jiali both accessible and practicable for ordinary folks," compiled the Jiali yijie. Among the annotations of Jiali in the Ming dynasty, Jiali yijie gained the widest popularity and greatest influence, and was regarded as a new classic, on par with the Jiali itself. In the 16th century, Jiali yijie was also introduced to Joseon Korea, where it was regarded as "an important supplement to the Zhuzi jiali" by Korean scholars, attaining a high level of popularity. This paper draws on 23 versions of the Jiali yijie from the Ming dynasty and 33 from the Qing. Historically, the Jiali yijie was introduced to the Joseon dynasty from China by Kim Anguk in 1518. Through the comparison of these four Joseon print versions and their Chinese counterparts, we are led to the conclusion that it was the Yingtian prefecture's print, dated the twelfth year of the Zhengde Era, that Kim Anguk brought back to Joseon from Ming China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For this paper, the authors selected three historical events taken from the Annals of the Choson Dynasty that represent dramatic and tragic stories about parents and their sons for data visualization. By connecting names with entities indicating conductions from history books, they found interesting patterns that tell stories with embedded relations. The visualized images in this paper were mainly code-generated, based on the data of the Annals, with some graphic embellishment added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

King Yeongjo, the 21st king of Joseon (18th Century Korea), reigned during the prime years of the dynasty and was its oldest king. Despite his many accomplishments, debate surrounds his reputed display of the symptoms of dementia during the last years of his life. The King showed signs of dementia after 40 years of his regency in 1762 at the age of 69 years, including disorientation, cognitive impairment, amnestic disorder and so on. We examined evidence from the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and related research papers. Additionally, dementia specialists were asked to undertake a survey to provide objectivity to the literary findings. Prior to his death in 1776, 25 meaningful dementia symptoms were recorded in the Annals across a 10-year period. However, despite indications of dementia, the Joseon dynasty supported him as a king and helped him retain his dignity until the end. This suggests that historical perception changes regarding dementia may also inform current-day attitudes to improve the living standards of patients suffering from dementia and related neuropsychiatric disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The early modern history of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) in East Asia is often depicted as an era of political conflict between the king, the Hun'gu faction, and the Sarim faction. The four major Sahwa (literati purges) reflect its seriousness through which Neo- Confucian scholars were sacrificed by the punishments of execution, exile, or dismissal. The Kimyo Sahwa was the most notorious incident for the Chinese ideology of the Sarim political party. What, then, happened in 1519? What kind of social transformation occurred in relation to the Sungkyunkwan scholars (the national university of the era)? Why did the public office of Daoist Sogyŏksŏ become one of the most controversial issues at the Joseon court? How was the royal shrine of Samch'ŏngjŏn criticised by the leaders of the Sarim faction? This paper explores the politico-religious landscape of early modern Korea through the key features of Jungjong coup (Royal Coup of 1506), Jo Gwangjo (1482-1520) and 'the Literati Purge of 1519', and argues the critical insight that the Daoist rituals and sacred sites (altars for the sky, stars, and gods) were traditionally maintained in the Pŏpcho philosophy of the royal sovereignty even if the culture of Jongmyo (ancestral altars) and Sajik (altars of soil and grain) were legally implemented at the beginning of the Confucian Joseon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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How does a reader give a text meaning? In what ways do we understand the operations of encounters between a text and a reader? Focusing on the materiality of reading, this study aims to understand how anonymous readers in late Chosŏn Korea read the poetry of Du Fu, a renowned literary canon from China. To identify the meaning of the texts as constituted by the readers, we look at both the texts and the readers' practices by identifying the readers' prior knowledge of the text that has been embedded and coded in their reading notes, and by analyzing the relationship between the notes and the main body of poetry. Through this analysis, this paper shows that the reading of texts was performed through constant interactions with interpretive traditions and cultural legacies. Through their practices of reading, consequently, they reveal which communities of interpretation they distinctively belong to. To identify the invisible patterns of the exegetical traditions in their reading practices, we particularly apply methods in digital humanities, such as citation network analysis, which is an effective tool to recognize the structure of relationships among the notes, poems, and many other factors of the texts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper illuminates the cultural performance of Chosŏn (1392–1910) interpreters in the nineteenth century, with a particular focus on interpreters' participation in poetry societies (sisa 詩社). The study aims to explore the cultural status of interpreters by examining the networks they built within poetry societies and to investigate whether engagement in cultural activities contributed to their social mobility in the late nineteenth century. Existing scholarship on the social mobility of the chungin (中人, "middle people") heavily relies on the influence of demographic expansion and position monopoly, at the expense of other indicators reflecting the chungin's social position such as economic, cultural, and political standing. To bridge this research gap, this research uses the cultural life of Chosŏn interpreters as a lens to examine how the chungin interacted with other groups. I use Kang Wi's (姜瑋 1820–1884) Kohwandang such'o (古歡堂收艸, "Collected Works of Kang Wi") as the primary source to extract social connections between the Poetry Society of the Sixth Bridge (Yukkyo sisa 六橋詩社), of which most members were official interpreters and medical doctors living in Hanyang, and the South Poetry Society, which was a poetry community organized by the yangban. Through analyzing clusters and patterns based on the concurrence of the participants, this study concludes that the cultural status of the chungin did not fully align with their categorization in the social hierarchy, and the social gap between the yangban and the chungin did not cease because of cultural exchanges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the process of digitally reconstructing the ancient Korean city of Suwon Hwaseong in 3D utilizing Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) resources to accurately represent its wooden architectural heritage. Previous 3D reconstructions of cultural heritage have often prioritized appearance or remained partially disassembled. However, our reconstruction method offers a comprehensive representation of the appearance and the internal structure of wooden architectural heritage, which can be suitable for restoration maintenance. To ensure accuracy in digital restoration, we collected and utilized administrative records and historical materials, including the geography, fortress walls, folk houses, and Haenggung (the temporary palace of the Joseon Dynasty)—drawing from the archive of the Korean Cultural Heritage Service's management records and the 1796 manuscript "Uigwe: Royal Protocols of the Hwaseong Fortress" which documents the construction of the ancient city of Suwon Hwaseong. Extensive architectural records were used to generate HBIM data, which digitized historical records, documents, and drawings to accurately represent the complex layout of the wooden architectural heritage. For the folk houses that lacked design records and the fortress walls that retained their original shape, we performed a digital restoration-based façade modeling. These elements of the ancient city of Suwon Hwaseong were assembled into a 3D model using Unreal Engine (version 5.1.1) to digitally reconstruct the city and enhance its visual representation. The digital restoration content, which utilizes visual effects and precise rendering from a game engine, can be used for the restoration, repair, and maintenance of both appearance and internal structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical weather records from Europe indicate that the Earth experienced substantial climate variability, which caused, for instance, the Little Ice Age and the global crisis in the period between the 14th and 19th centuries. However, it is still unclear how global this climate variability was because of the scarce meteorological data availability in other regions including East Asia, especially around the 17th century. In this context, Seungjeongwon Ilgi, a daily record of the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, is a precious source of historical meteorological records for the Korean Peninsula, as it covers 288 years of weather observations made during 1623–1910. We used the digital database of Seungjeongwon Ilgi to construct a machine‐readable weather condition dataset. To this end, we extracted valid weather information from the original weather description text and compiled them into pre‐defined weather categories. Additionally, we attempted to improve the usability of dataset by converting the reported dates in the traditional calendar system to those in the Gregorian calendar. Finally, we outlined promising implications of this dataset for meteorological and climatological studies, while describing the limitations of the dataset. Overall, future studies focusing on the climate and weather of the past could use this meteorological database for investigating long‐term climate variability. Our datasets are publicly available at 10.5281/zenodo.8382243. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the complex historical narrative surrounding the practice of finger severing (danji 斷指) in early Joseon Korea, focusing on its unique origins and widespread dissemination, and the multifaceted discourse it generated among the ruling elite. By tracing finger severing from its emergence during the reign of King Taejong to its proliferation in the 16th century, this research illuminates the interplay between institutional factors, societal customs, and cultural perceptions that shaped its evolution. This study deviates from the conventional approach of explaining Joseon’s cultural edification solely through the intentions and actions of the government and the royal court. Instead, it explores how folk customs were discovered and then intentionally spread by the government, thereby providing a more comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of Confucianization in Joseon Korea. The dissemination of finger severing highlights the success of the early Joseon ruling class’s proactive policies aimed at cultivating and standardizing ethical practices. However, this study also explores the contradictions within the ruling elite’s discourse surrounding finger severing, as well as the discrepancy between the ruling class’s intentions and the actual motivations driving the civilian populace’s engagement in the practice. The proliferation of finger severing in early Joseon Korea represents both the triumph of the state’s cultural cultivation policies and the unexpected outcomes of the complex interplay of institutional efforts, societal customs, and divergent perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines ideas on the public (公) and the private (私) among Joseon scholars of the 18th century, with a particular focus on Seongho Yi Ik (1681–1763). Yi Ik understood the private as the state one personally feels and experiences and the public as the state one shares and sympathizes with others. The private acquires universality when one rejoices together in what pleases others and hates what others dislike. Although he did not believe all diverse desires and emotions experienced at the private level to be inherently universal and public in nature, he argued that the understanding of the moral foundations of the public could not be detached from the consideration for innate human desires and common emotions. Yi Ik recognized the public value not only of the special emotions known as the four sprouts (四端), but also of general emotions known as the seven emotions (七情), if they were expressed with situational appropriateness through empathy with others. Seongho saw human nature as having empathy for others and an aspiration for coexistence, and understood the social realization of these natural tendencies as the public (公). Thus, the public was understood primarily as stemming from spontaneous human nature and emotions, rather than being enforced through institutional or legal coercion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its dexterous interweaving of synchronic and diachronic perspectives, with the rich detail it provides of Choson communicative practices, and with its thorough consideration of material culture, I The Power of the Brush i is an important and very welcome addition to scholarship on Choson cultural history. The Power of the Brush: Epistolary Practices in Choson Korea, by Hwisang Cho. The main argument brought forward by this book is the centrality of letter writing to the cultural and political process of Choson Korea. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines the transnational literary interactions in the early modern Sinographic sphere by examining the late Chosŏn writer Yi Tŏngmu's reading of an early Qing text, Liuxi Waizhuan, and its resonance in his compilation of Noeroe Nangnak Sŏ. Reconsidering the unmediated communicability of the Sinographic text, it demonstrates the ways in which Noeroe Nangnak Sŏ decoupled Liuxi Waizhuan from its local conditions of production and circulation and relocalized it to fit Chosŏn Korea's agenda of repositioning itself in the changing Sinocentric order after the downfall of the Ming. Between delocalizing and relocalizing the Sinographic text, the compilation of Noeroe Nangnak Sŏ participated in the constantly shifting meanings of loyalty to the fallen Ming, thereby diversifying the repertoire of the shared civilization in early modern East Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Confucian literati's multilayered recognition of kwisin in the Chosŏn dynasty by focusing on three distinct genres: philosophical writings, ritual writings, and fictionalized writings. Multifaceted concepts of kwisin in these three genres are analyzed through interpretive lenses such as philosophical thought, cultural sensibilities, and literary imagination. In the context of philosophy, Chosŏn literati developed the traditional concept of kwisin as spiritual beings in accordance with the Confucian paradigms. In the context of empirical cultural fields, however, sadaebu collected fantastic stories as contemporary cultural research with the aim of publishing encyclopedic collections. In such works, Chosŏn intelligentsia exhibited a dual position: one criticizing the worship of kwisin by the lower classes, the other recognizing such as a cultural tradition. Although literati criticized fictional stories containing ghosts, they penned their own versions with female apparitions, maintaining their patriarchal Confucian ideology by "otherizing" these ghosts of unclear familial lineage. Fictional narratives in which kwisin appeared fostered communication across ideology, folk knowledge, and experiential sensibility and embraced the metaphysical recognition and everyday sense of kwisin. Gendered kwisin stories played the cultural roles of criticizing and reflecting social paradox and received a wide range of social sympathy, from the elite class to commoners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the aspect of physical expression in the Korean Bongsan Mask Dance, a composite art form that combines theatre, music, and dance. Compared to other Korean mask plays, movement is highly important in the Bongsan Mask Dance as it contains a variety of technically developed and stylized physical expressions. Considering that dance is so prominent and influential in the development of the story, this drama is referred to as the Bongsan Mask Dance rather than the Bongsan Mask Play. This paper focuses on both direct and indirect physical expression--often neglected despite their importance--and this is in contrast to other studies of this work, which have primarily the actors' dialogue. This paper classifies physical expression into three types based on style and form, and into four categories according to function and role. Also, it argues that physical expression in the Bongsan Mask Dance functions not only as a supportive but also an independent medium that develops the story, contributes to the overall coherence of the artistic work, and communicates critical ideologies and themes differently from speech. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chang Hon has drawn considerable attention for his academic efforts in the histories of literature, printing culture and education in the late Chosŏn period. This evaluation is substantiated because he compiled and published various books and also produced a sizable amount of his own poetry and prose. In particular, his accomplishments in the history of education are significant because the books he compiled, including Ahui wŏllam (Primer in children's education) and Mongyu p'yŏn (Book to instruct the ignorant) are considered as typical instruction books that represented a new trend of education in the nineteenth century. These books were evaluated highly because these attempts showed the potential for spontaneous modernization efforts in Korean education; however, this paper argues that previous scholarship in the history of education largely made such assessments without closely examining the characteristics of supporting documents. Based on a contextual reading of his works, I conclude that Chang Hon was not recognized as an educator by his contemporaries. Furthermore, his books were not intended as formal textbooks, but as reference books designed to impart miscellaneous knowledge or to assist in poetry composition. Additionally, the study materials he compiled should be understood as part of an interaction with the culture of both previous and contemporary generations. Chang Hon, as a man of the secondary status group cbungin, was a poet who compiled his own instructional works and published them, yet at the same time participated in state publication projects; thus, his works should be seen as his own particular engagement with the culture of his day. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There were encounters between Chosŏn 朝鮮 scholar Hong Tae-yong 洪大容 (1731- 1783) and Jesuit missionary Ferdinand Augustin von Hallerstein (1703-1774), whose Chinese name was Liu Songling 劉松齡 at the South Church (Nantang 南堂) in Beijing on the 9th day of the 1st month of 1766. Hong Tae-yong, who wanted to learn advanced Western technology, met Hallerstein personally three times and asked him about various aspects of astronomy, Western technology, musical instruments, and Catholicism. He recorded these encounters in classical Chinese in one of the chapters of Tamhŏn yŏn'gi 湛軒燕記 (Hong Tae-yong's record of an embassy to Beijing), entitled "Yu P'o mundap" 劉鮑問答 (Questions and answers with Hallerstein and Gogeisl). He also recorded these encounters in vernacular Korean in his Ŭlbyŏng yŏnhaengnok 乙丙燕行錄 (Record of an embassy to Beijing in 1765-1766). This study discusses how Hallerstein's and Gogeisl's names came to be recorded on the two red papers used to accept Hong's request for the visit, and further analyzes the historical context related to the red papers. This study also introduces Hallerstein's letter concerning Chosŏn and attempts to evaluate the encounter between Hong Tae-yong and Hallerstein. Ultimately, in explaining how the background and surroundings of that time made it difficult for their relationship to develop in a constructive way, this study tries to shed light on one case of important interactions between Chosŏn and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nikkō Tōshōgū, a mausoleum and place of worship for the deified spirit of the first Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), is famous for its sacred spatial sites, sumptuous architectural and sculptural decorations, and political and religious significance for the Tokugawa shogunate. Interestingly, the shrine holds several ritual objects sent by Joseon kings in the 17th century and still displays a large Joseon bell engraved with the writings of Joseon officials (sent in 1643) in front of the Yōmeimon, the entrance to the inner shrine complex. More significantly, Japan requested that these specific items be sent from Joseon, and that they be presented as voluntary gifts. This article aims to examine the uniqueness inherent in the Joseon gifts on display at Nikkō Tōshōgū and the conflicts of interest surrounding them. With a thorough analysis of this gift-giving process--during which both countries, operating from disparate perspectives and driven by their respective needs and interests, engaged in and navigated constant deliberations and negotiations--this article suggests that these gifts, while seemingly a peaceful gesture, actually conceal a complex and contentious history and are a result of both countries' fierce and desperate struggle to address their practical needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The late 19th century marked a significant period in Korea's history, when it established formal diplomatic relations with the outside world. Goryeo celadon began appearing in the context of diplomatic and other exchanges in the 19th century. These celadon pieces were exquisite and often of the highest quality. There are also cases of foreign diplomats collecting Goryeo celadon. British consul William Carles, French consul Victor Collin de Plancy, and American consul Horace Allen played prominent roles in collecting, selling, and donating Goryeo celadon. In the complex landscape of East Asian diplomacy, ceramics occasionally played a role in exchanges between China, Japan, and Southeast Asian regions. Overall, this phenomenon can be attributed to the changing economic and cultural value of Goryeo celadon, particularly during the late 19th century. However, the inclusion of Goryeo celadon in diplomatic contexts or as prominent diplomatic gifts was also closely related to the changing perception of Goryeo celadon within Korea, as it began to be viewed from a more externalized perspective. Moreover, as foreign interest in Korean (Joseon) culture expanded into a range of ethnographic studies, Goryeo celadon came to be recognized as an artistic product that demonstrated the cultural competence of the nation. Simultaneously, Goryeo celadon took on the role of a diplomatic medium, symbolically representing Korea's heritage on a national level. [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]