Joseon Archive Selection: Essence of Royal Culture
KOREA TIMES
01-15-2010 18:22
 “Selected Items from the Jangseogak Collection” (Academy of Korean Studies; 319 pp., 45,000 won) published by the Academy of Korean Studies is a compilation of 126 pieces carefully chosen from 100,000 royal documents both in English and Korean. / Courtesy of Academy of Korean Studies |
By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
The Jangseogak Library is an archive of the nation’s most time-honored records containing the essence of Korea’s cultural traditions. The records and documents stored in the Jangseogak archival collection deal with the full spectrum of activities of the royal court of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), ranging from writings on the culture of the nobility and royal power to edicts and state policies.
The collection encompasses over 100,000 classical texts, formerly held in the royal archives, along with tens of thousands of texts from private collections.
“Selected Items from the Jangseogak Collection,” published by the Academy of Korean Studies, is comprised of 126 pieces carefully chosen from 100,000 royal documents with brief annotations and introductions both in English and Korean.
The Jangseogak Library was relocated permanently from the Cultural Heritage Administration to its present home, the Academy of Korean Studies in 1981.
Since then, the library has performed the dual function of preserving and managing invaluable classical texts from the royal archives of the Joseon Kingdom and carrying out research on those texts in order to disseminate historical knowledge to a broader audience.
Some of the materials in the archives, such as the “Uigwe” (Joseon Kingdom Royal Protocols) and “Dongui-bogam” (The Great Compendium of Eastern Medicine) have earned worldwide recognition with their recent inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The academy said that the new book was planned last year as 2009 marked the 90th anniversary of the renaming of the Yi Royal Household Archives in Changdeok Palace as Jangseogak, which eventually became the Jangseogak Library of the Academy of Korean Studies. Also, the book is in line with the upcoming completion of the new library building due for completion in 2011 to help extended research and collection for old manuscripts.
The book consists of five sections with distinct themes ― Birth and Education; State Administration and Foreign Affairs; Royal Rites and Ceremonies; Pursuits in the Arts and Literature; and Objects Designated as National Cultural Heritages.
It presents various materials such as those related to the cultural life and royalty of the Joseon Kingdom; the policies and political programs of the rulers which shed light on various periods in its history; sources that testify to the grandeur and dignity of royal events and state rituals; and works of literature, art and culture.
The Birth and Education chapter deals with the birth of royal heirs overseen by the Delivery Room Office for the queens and the Office Assisting Royal Delivery for royal consorts. When the princes were born, they were registered to the royal genealogy and became the members of the royal household. The responsibility of managing and recording the royal genealogy was done by a number of government offices. “Seonwonseongyerok” (Genealogical Table of the Joseon Royal Clan) and “Donyeongbocheop,” (Genealogical Book of the Joseon Royal Clan Published by the Office of Royal Relatives) show the royal genealogical records in detail.
Other documents such as “Records of Delivery Office for Royal Concubine, Choi Suk-won” and “Records of Placing King Sunjo’s Placenta in Burial Chamber” present how the royal families gave birth to babies and conducted the rituals of burying the placentas of baby princes.
Not only the birth rites but also their life-time of learning is explained in the chapter. The kings were expected to have a virtuous personality as well as being morally disciplined and highly cultured, and education as such was the ideal image of a monarch demanded by a literary ethic-dominated society.
The State Administration and Foreign Affairs chapter examines every action taken by the kings during their rule recorded in the Veritable Records, which became an impartial and objective historical source. The antique documents, such as “Markings for King Yeongjo’s Final Decision for Appointment of Military Officers” and “The Album of Painting of the Welcoming Ceremony for Chinese Envoys” are among good examples showing the general landscape of the political and foreign affairs of the Joseon Kingdom.
The Royal Rites and Ceremonies chapter selects documents related to the kings and queens who conducted numerous state protocols and ceremonies over the course of their lives. Royal rites were often carried out examples for vassals and subjects of the kingdom, and precedents for later generations were formalized in the Ritual Codes. Royal rites comprised of five rituals ― “Gilrye” (the worshiping ceremony for royal ancestors), “Garye” (the royal wedding ceremony), “Binrye” (the welcoming ceremony for envoys), “Gunrye” (the military ceremony), “hyungnye” (the funerary ceremony) ― which were conducted according to rules outlined in the book of the Five Rites of State (Gukjo-orye-eui) and Supplemented Volumes of Five Rites of State. In order to establish standards for state rituals and pass them on to posterity, the Records of the Superintendence for Court Events (Uigwe) were produced.
In the chapter titled Pursuits in the Arts and Literature, various documents relating the royal families to the highest level of culture and literature are explored. Royal writings and calligraphic works were imbued with authority and also displayed the artistic abilities of the kings and were thus considered invaluable. Kings were often avid readers and left many personal writings; some achieved a great reputation in learning and calligraphic arts. This section presents the calligraphic works of the kings Jeongjo, Yeongjo, Sunjo and Gojong. King Yeongjo personally produced over 1,000 works of poetry, short letters and essays, while King Joengjo wrote and published over 100 personal volumes.
The last chapter, “Objects Designated as National Cultural Heritages” lists “Daebuljeongdarani” (Darani Sutra of the Great Buddha) and “Dongui-Bogam” (The Great Compendium of Eastern Medicine).