[One Sip of a Book] Diary of a Joseon Dynasty Scholar Who Passed the Exam at Forty-Two

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This is the result of research on the lifestyle diary ‘Joseongdang Ilgi’ left by Joseon mid-period scholar-official Joseongdang Kim Taekryong. Kim Taekryong entered the tutelage of Wolcheon Jo Mok, a disciple of Toegye Yi Hwang, in his childhood and remained a disciple of Toegye throughout his life. He passed the state examination at age 42 and served in various government posts for 20 years. ‘Joseongdang Ilgi’ is a lifestyle diary written by Joseongdang Kim Taekryong in his later years, with three volumes recording daily life in 1612, 1616, and 1617. It details facts and thoughts about human relationships and various local incidents, providing a close look at the gentry in rural communities of the time. A research team composed of experts in history, classical Chinese literature, sociology, and humanities informatics examines the lifestyle of 17th-century Yeongnam aristocrats from multiple perspectives through his diary.

The reason for this lengthy introduction is that Joseongdang Ilgi is a very complex and challenging text. As will be introduced again below, only three years’ worth of the diary remains. Therefore, it is not merely a worthless fragment. Although many lifestyle diaries from the Joseon period survive, many are merely brief daily records of facts. Compared to such diaries, the daily records in Joseongdang Ilgi are very detailed, and the narrative style and sentences are very sincere, revealing the author Kim Taekryong’s inner self relatively honestly, making the material dense. In other words, it is like a “gye-ryuk” (a chicken rib)?difficult to handle but too valuable to discard. Kim Taekryong himself was a multifaceted figure. He was a Confucian scholar and senior disciple of Wolcheon Jo Mok and one of the most respected figures in the region at the time, but on the other hand, his family’s status was relatively modest, and his record was not without flaws. Therefore, the Joseongdang Ilgi written by Kim Taekryong himself must be read carefully (as with any text). However, these facts do not seriously diminish its value as a detailed lifestyle diary left by a prominent aristocrat of the time. - pp.14?15

In the “Memorial Writing for Master Wolcheon” (Je Wolcheon Seonsaeng Mun), written by Kim Taekryong, there is a passage that reveals what kind of teacher Wolcheon was to the young Kim Taekryong. Kim Taekryong served Jo Mok, who was 31 years old, as his teacher when he was eight. From childhood, he received guidance, was led and supported, and was gently enlightened to realize his own foolishness. To Kim Taekryong, Wolcheon was a caring teacher. He said Wolcheon became a compass on a dark path, helping him find direction when lost, and that the grace he received was like that of parents who cared for him like a child. In 1559 (Myeongjong 14), Jo Mok’s son Gu-bung was born, and to Jo Mok, Kim Taekryong was like a child. Kim Taekryong recalled about Wolcheon, “He worried when I did not come and was glad when he saw me,” and their relationship was so close that it could be described as a father-son relationship beyond that of teacher and student. - p.104

As examined in this article, although the observations are limited to some cases, most figures of the Giho Sarim faction had entered the Gajeongbo network quite early and deeply (including many paternal and maternal relatives), and their individual official career records were relatively richer. In the case of the Yeongnam Sarim faction, many did not enter the Gajeongbo, and even those who did often began to become renowned civil officials only from the paternal grandfather’s generation. Despite this, the Yeongnam Sarim faction was believed to be striving to advance more centrally within the nationwide aristocratic society. Efforts to approach political power were ongoing. Through political power and acquisition of various resources, they were entering the center of the aristocratic network. Kim Taekryong was also part of this process. - pp.222?223

While repeatedly reading the contents of Joseongdang Ilgi and examining Kim Taekryong’s life from various angles, the author extracted and organized clues to identify the locations mentioned in the diary on modern maps. Whenever it seemed possible to obtain even small information, materials available online and offline were extensively collected, reviewed, and referenced. Subsequently, coordinates for a total of 84 old place names were found, and these were marked as dots, connected by lines, and faces were implemented on an electronic map to understand the spatial relationships between places. This experimental attempt aimed to establish foundational resources to spatially analyze Kim Taekryong’s life recorded in Joseongdang Ilgi. This approach is part of a strategy to carefully read Joseon-era diaries mediated by data and a digital humanities attempt to process and share foundational resources for Joseon studies in digital format. - p.307

Joseongdang Ilgi | Written by Yoon Seonghun, Jang Junho, Shin Donghun, Baek Gwangyeol, Choi Eunju, and one other | 324 pages | Banknamu | 22,000 KRW

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