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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 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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

In the Joseon period, the maritime ban policy gradually became a means of controlling the people when a reorganization of the military defense system and the preparation of countermeasures against the appearance of unidentified vessels were required. In the process, a maritime boundary consciousness was formed, and a defense system centered on the inner sea was established. As a result, islands located in the West and South Seas were transformed into garrison areas, receiving increased attention from the central government. By contrast, the change in the island policy toward Ulleungdo was relatively uncomplicated. In the early Joseon period, the governance of evacuating residents of Ulleungdo and the so-called island vacancy policy were carried out as a way of preventing damage from Japanese pirates. And the sutoje of Ulleungdo was formalized when the territorial dispute over Ulleungdo with Japan began in earnest at the end of the 17th century. The character of Ulleungdo was the same as that of the islands located on the West and South Seas in that it revealed the government's determination to properly control domestic territory. The development of the sutoje of Ulleungdo was also related to changes in maritime territorial consciousness and island policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses an extremely favorable portrayal by an envoy of Joseon Korea, Jeong Du-won, of the Portuguese Jesuit Joao Rodrigues, whom Jeong met in the course of his tributary mission to Ming China in 1630-1631. In his subsequent report to the Joseon king, Jeong portrayed Rodrigues as a benign gift-giver, while portraying himself as a passive recipient of Western gifts. Jeongs characterization of the Jesuit and his gifts has provided modern historians with an important case to illustrate their Eurocentric account of Western Learning in Korea, an account in which the Koreans played simply the passive role of recipient of European culture. While questioning this Eurocentric account, I shall situate Jeongs portrayal of the Jesuit in its political contexts-- Jeong's China mission and the bureaucratic politics of the Joseon dynasty. The image of Rodrigues as the benign gift-giver was created by Jeong, the Joseon envoy who served as the transmitter of higher culture from China to Korea. In his self-serving rhetorical efforts to legitimize the "barbarian" informant from the West, he managed to legitimize his own achievements within the China mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will explain the Zhonghua community strategy and its impact on the formation of the self-identity of Joseon's political elites, and the resulting change in the Ming court's attitude toward the Joseon dynasty. The architect of the institutions of the early Joseon dynasty, Jeong Dojeon, insisted the Joseon dynasty should internalize Confucian moral values and become the model tributary in this world order. His plan was materialized by kings of the early Joseon dynasty. Among various policies, the establishment of new rituals was the key project of the Zhonghua community strategy. The political elites of the early Joseon dynasty prided themselves on representing the country of courtesy. In the mid-Ming period, the Ming court accepted Joseon's claim, and began treating it as a civilized country distinctive from other barbarian nations. Far from being a purely anachronistic policy of a distant period, this "Zhonghua community strategy" of the early Joseon dynasty can be taken as a reference point for understanding the policy-making of modern Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jeongjo was the last strong king of the Joseon period and the most successful of the latter half of the dynasty. Jeongjo used his extensive Confucian education to propagate a royalist political philosophy through which to combat the minister-centered thought of the aristocracy. After a brief discussion of royal power in Joseon vis-à-vis contemporary China and tracing the history of the "imperial pivot" (hwanggeuk) concept, this paper draws on conceptual metaphor theory and blending theory to examine how King Jeongjo argued for royal power in his preface to the Hwanggeukpyeon (Book of the Imperial Pivot). It explores four primary metaphors embedded in the complex metaphor of the king as the "imperial pivot" and then looks at the metaphor as a double-scope blend that creates a new space from the source domains of central pivot and king in politics. It argues that Jeongjo draws upon four primary metaphors--particularly that of balance--in order to provoke a visceral desire in his ministers for him to use the power of the throne to eliminate divisive factions. The imperial pivot is a blended space that allows Jeongjo to invoke the visceral desire for equilibrium provided by the pivot metaphor while leaving behind its connotation of passivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a debate held between Korean Neo-Confucian philosophers during the reign of the Joseon dynasty, termed the Horak debate, which largely dealt with themes of human nature, animal nature, and morality. The role of Korean philosophers Han Won-jin (or Namdang) and Yi Gan (or Oeam) in instigating the debate is explained. The ways in which both philosophers understood the Chinese philosophical notion of "qi" are explored. The author details how the establishment of the Qing dynasty in China largely influenced this schism in Korean philosophical and political thought.

The purpose of this paper is to make sense of Yi Gyu-bo's (1168-1241) seemingly religious and apolitical text, "Munjomul" (Questions to the Creator), as a political text, and to suggest its vision as a possible prelude to the Goiyeo (918-1392)-Joseon (1392-1910) transition. If Neo-Confucianism articulates a political vision for the Joseon dynasty, one can construe that political vision as an answer to the previous dynasty's long-lasting questions about the relation of the self and politics as the dominant political thought loses ground. To the extent that "Munjomul" shows the weakening state of the ideological foundation of Goryeo, it can be interpreted as the embodiment of the problem, the answer to which was statecraft thought and Neo-Confucianism in early Joseon. This paper sees that Yi Gyu-bo disconnected the link between politics and the power of the God, and foregrounded the issues of the self while Neo-Confucianism forged the link between the self and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widow's heir adoption in Joseon was largely secured by the adoption law in the Great Code of Administration. Widows, especially eldest daughters-in-law, in late Joseon were involved in legal disputes with their husbands' younger brothers or the entire descent group over adoption. On the one hand, widows relied on adoption to protect their positions in their husband's lineage against the encroachment of their brothers-in-law claiming the status of lineage heir. On the other hand, widows actively pursued their choice of an adoptee with strong social background, albeit from a distant relative, against the collective opinion of the husband's descent group. In most cases, the state ruled for the widow's adoption not only by law but also by acknowledging the widow's position as the eldest son's wife. The state believed that the widowed eldest daughters-in-law could secure the lineal succession of a descent group against the collateral line. Widows themselves went on to appropriate such a descent- line principle to their favor, actively claiming their status as a representative of the direct line of descent. Such a close relationship between widows and the lineage principle in late Joseon was something rarely seen in contemporaneous China. Widow's heir adoption may be a useful lens for observing differences in kinship practices between pre-modern Korea and China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a case study of Bogwangsa, this article examines the active role played by laity in rebuilding the devotional and material culture of Buddhism in the final decades of the Joseon dynasty. While the monastic community of this royal votive monastery reached out to the laity to ensure its institutional survival, lay devotees made changes to the physical structure and cultic practices at the monastery, heralding new developments soon to follow in the greater capital area. This study probes the questions of why the monastery was patronized by lay devotees of varied social standings and motivations as well as what benefits, religious and secular, they gained as a result. The study pursues this inquiry through an analysis of the networks of followers and their patronage of "Buddhist projects" (bulsa)--from the construction of worship halls and the publication of Pure Land texts to the dedication of Buddhist paintings--centering around Bogwangsa. While influential male members of King Gojong's court sponsored the monastery in order to endorse the legitimacy of the monarch, male lay devotees of the "middle" (jungin) class and female court members--who were limited by the status system or gender norms--found in this monastery a place of their own in a society dominated by male Confucian elites. This study restores the role of lay Buddhists, little-explored in previous studies, in the revitalization of Buddhism in 19th-century Joseon society, while enriching our understanding of Buddhist devotionalism. [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]

Korean royal court culture was doomed by the fall of the Joseon dynasty at the hands of Japanese imperial forces at the beginning of the twentieth century. After the establishment of Japanese colonial administration in 1910, court traditions mostly disappeared as displaced royal family members and their former attendants grew older and suffered economic hardships. It was only in the 1970s that royal court cuisine began to receive official attention as part of efforts to reconstruct and preserve national cultural heritage. In 1970, the royal cuisine of the Joseon dynasty was designated by the state as the Important Intangible Cultural Property No. 38. Through a detailed case study of Hwang Hye-seong (1920-2006), the second state-designated holder of the cultural property, this paper examines the process by which "royal court cuisine" was identified and redefined within the framework of the Important Intangible Cultural Property system in Korea, and analyzes how the royal cuisine thus reconstructed has come to be established, recognized, and successfully commoditized as a specific brand of haute cuisine in the dietary culture of late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century Korea. [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]

Before we can fully appreciate how Catholicism came to be established in Korea, we need to describe the socio-religious context of the late Joseon period. It was in the later Joseon period that Joseon society became increasingly Confucianized, yet despite this transformation Buddhism maintained its authority over issues of the afterlife. Among indicators of this, the popularity of the Buddhist Pure Land tradition can be particularly noted, among others. It was within this socio-religious context that was widely grounded in Pure Land practices and its thinking that Catholicism arrived on the Korean Peninsula offering new notions of religious practices and religiosity. In the initial stages, Catholicism was noted to be uncannily similar to Buddhism. The newly arrived Catholicism followed a similar pattern of thought regarding the afterlife that had long been sketched by Buddhism. However, unique differences were perhaps the reason for the final success of Catholicism, characteristics such as monotheism and personal devotion have come to be accepted as characteristics of what it means to be a religious tradition, facets that other religions in Korea have come to adopt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Queen Munjeong (1501-1565) was a substantial power holder who administered national affairs from "behind the bamboo curtain" during the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910). The purpose of this article is to examine the relationship between her view on Buddhism and statecraft in sixteenth-century Confucian Joseon. To that end, this study examines Queen Munjeong's Buddhist activities in anti-Buddhist Confucian society, her understanding of Buddhism, and her statecraft in relation to her Buddhist policy. Queen Munjeong did not reject heterodoxy and respected tradition, which served as the logic for her favor of Buddhism. She was a substantial power holder who surpassed royal authority in power and suppressed remonstrators, and her Buddhist activities had strong elements of private character while seeking miraculous efficacy, which eventually resulted in criticism from her contemporary and immediate later generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the key characteristics of Buddhism from the late nineteenth century through the first half of the twentieth century was the rise of lay leadership. East Asian Buddhism was no exception, but the ways, degree, and timing in which this modern phenomenon manifested itself varied, especially in the case of Korean Buddhism, which saw a delayed arrival of lay leadership. This article addresses the question of why lay Buddhism struggled to emerge as a strong force in colonial Korea. A key factor that has been underestimated in scholarship is that Korean monks were socially stigmatized during the Joseon period (1392-1910). The rhetoric of stigmatism was so ubiquitous in journals and newspapers in colonial Korea that it begs a closer analysis of the correlation between the societal perception of monks and its influence on the development of lay Buddhism. This article first examines three interrelated aspects of Korean monastics: (1) the stigmatization imposed on monastics during the Neo-Confucian Joseon dynasty, (2) the persistence of these stigmas in the minds of Koreans, and (3) their internalization among Korean monastics themselves. The article then draws out the impact of these three aspects on the late and limited emergence of lay leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In premodern Korea, religion provided many of the important tools for legitimizing political authority. Since the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) eventually privileged Confucianism over all other religious traditions, Confucianism supplied the vast majority of the rituals and religious rhetoric that the court used to assert its right to rule during that period. However, when the dynasty was first established at the end of the fourteenth century, the dominance that Confucianism would later display was not yet evident. Instead, in addition to Confucian rituals and rhetoric, official depictions of the founder of the dynasty point to his support of Buddhist and Daoist rituals, and even supernatural phenomena, as well as his reputation for extraordinary military skill, to legitimize his overthrow of the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392). This pluralistic religious environment makes Korea in the fourteenth century look very different from Europe in the same time period, particularly in terms of the ability of the king of Korea to use religious rituals and rhetoric as he saw fit, without the worry of religious leaders trying to control him. This relationship between political and religious power in Korea is a distinctive characteristic of the political culture of premodern Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article defines Dasan's view on the Seongni debate as "metaphilosophy." Metaphilosophy is often dubbed the "philosophy of philosophy" or "second-order philosophy." The word "meta" has Greek origins, meaning "after" or "beyond." A metaphilosopher stays outside of an ongoing philosophical debate or problem and conducts a second-order review of its nature, purpose, and method, instead of being directly involved in the debate. If a metaphilosopher is defined as such, Dasan, then, can be regarded as the first and foremost metaphilosopher in the Neo-Confucian history of Joseon. Instead of engaging in the intense Seongni debate of his time as a participant, he remained outside the debate and criticized its nature, goals, and methodology from a second-order perspective. As a metaphilosopher, Dasan employed methodological tools, such as linguistic analysis. This article analyzes Dasan's metaphilosophical stance on the Seongni debate and concludes that his metaphilosophical perspective provided a turning point in the history of Joseon Neo-Confucianism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the cultural irony of Confucian discipline set against the literary presentation of emotions, from the angle of cultural studies grounded on historical and philosophical approaches, literary text analysis, and gender criticism. First, it aims to explore how funeral oration legitimized the act of weeping for scholar-officials of Joseon and shows how gender was a key element in understanding the way emotional expressiveness was accommodated, represented, and articulated in the Confucian norm. Next, it examines how the level of emotional expressiveness of the funeral oration was closely linked to bloodline, physical and psychological distance, the nature of a relationship, and social context. Finally, it shows that mourning and sadness were deemed the purest and sincerest expression of authentic feeling, as seen through its close association with bodily reactions, and that the funeral oration served as an exhibition of the interaction of human feelings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a case study on Korea's Joseon dynasty, the primary purpose of this article is to uncover the Confucian foundation of public sector welfare in the kingdom era of East Asia's history and to discuss the unlikelihood of realizing Confucian idealism in a pre-industrial country that was experiencing cycles of poverty and natural disasters. To this end, this article answers the following research questions: What are the central philosophical and political ideas of Confucianism? In what ways are the Confucian concepts of wangdao politics and datong society related to public sector welfare? How did Joseon's minbon (minben in Chinese) ideology influence the establishment of its public welfare system? What were the main attributes and programs of Joseon's welfare institutions? Finally, why did Confucian idealism fail to materialize in Joseon? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shin Yun-bok's (1758-?) satire, which pointed out the hedonistic social aspect in the capital of Joseon, constituted a blow to the noblemen's moral authority. We can see in his paintings that in the late Joseon dynasty, the ruling ideology, Confucianism, became sullied and collapsed in its faculties as both mental principles and basis for social order. Shin's genre paintings show by way of ridicule that he rejected the traditional structure of Confucian aesthetics and devalued the fixed relationship between image and text. The two significant characteristics of Shin's style of genre paintings are "one icon representing two codes" and "leverage of ideology and mentalité." Shin's genre paintings are a meaningful landmark because they showed and established a new order of mentalité. The mentalité established in inverse proportion to that situation, however, was also not sound. Even though Shin disclosed the moral collapse by satirically criticizing the hedonistic life of the yangban class in his paintings, the very depictions expressed in Shin's works also captured the social changes and emergences of modernity. This is a significant virtue of Shin's paintings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There might have been two ways through which Korea could have maintained independence despite what seemed a fait accompli. First, it could have gotten military assistance by forging an alliance with either Russia or Japan. But setting up an alliance with one side would have created animosity with the other side, thus making a war between Russia and Japan inevitable and colonization of Korea the outcome. The Independence Club stressed the importance of protective neutral status in order for the Great Han Empire to sustain its national sovereignty. The club desired balanced relations between Russia and Japan, but ended up believing that Russia held the greater danger for Korea. Their support of Japan, the United States, and Britain subsequently led to the strengthening of Japanese influence and encouraged a pro-Japanese atmosphere among Koreans. In the process, Japan's influence grew as it ended up taking a mediating role between the Korean government and the Independence Club, opening the way for the Japanese colonization of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Joseon dynasty is recognized as being the most exemplary tributary state to the Ming dynasty of China. In particular, it is considered an ideal member of the tribute system, which is believed to have been established in its most orthodox form during the era of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). However, the historical facts demonstrate that Joseon Korea, though it fully observed the tributary rites, was an exceptional case. The evidence points to the fact that Ming China and most of its tributary states simply intended to maintain the status quo through the formation of superficial tributary relationships, while concealing any conflicts or opposing interests that may have existed. Thus, tributary relations were easily changeable and were based on the economic, cultural, and political benefits they represented. As the logic of the "tribute system" has emerged as a prominent topic of discussion, it has become neces- sary to take a cautious approach when it comes to regarding Joseon as a typi- cal example of this system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the eighteenth century, classic revivalism (bokgojuui …) emerged as a scholarly method for East Asian intellectuals in search of a new self-identity after the dynastic shift from Ming to Qing. Amidst this trend of the East Asian intellectual world, the Horak debate that arose among Joseon scholars was a peculiar phenomenon. Its basis was on the Noron's political and scholarly positions founded upon Zhu Xi Confucianism (Jujahak …), which was incompatible with classic revivalism. Noron labeled classic revivalism negatively as classic imitationalism (uigojuui …), and, in that context, the Nak-ron group of the Noron emphasized presentness and universality by arguing the equalness of past and present, the mind-hearts of sages and commoners, and natures of humans and animals. However, the Horak debate and the ideas that it represented began to decline in the nineteenth century in various ways, caused by, for example, Nak-ron's overemphasis on presentness, its assimilation into Ho-ron, and the emergence of classic revivalism in Joseon Korea.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]