개항장 釜山에서 閔建鎬가 경험한 음력과 양력

Abstract

Korea started to use the solar calendar from January 1, 1896. However, after introducing the solar calendar, the Joseon government implemented the policy of jointly using the lunar calendar. The implementation of the solar calendar influenced the format of Min Geonho’s journals. He used to write only the lunar dates, but changed to indicating dates by both systems, the lunar date and then the solar date. However, the system by which he remembered and measured time was the lunar calendar. He informed his ancestors on January 1, 1896, according to the lunar calendar that the date has changed to the solar calendar system. And for the lunar year in 1896, he indicated the date according to both systems as the “solar calendar date-lunar calendar date.” However, starting from 1897, he changed the order of writing the date and used the “lunar calendar date-solar calendar date.” Japan implemented the solar calendar system in 1873. In the open port of Busan, residents included the Westerners who had long lived in the tradition of the solar calendar system and the Japanese who had just started to use the solar calendar. Busan was a special time space in which both the lunar calendar and the solar calendar were jointly used even before the national official implementation of the solar calendar system. The seven-day week, which includes a Sunday once a week, was implemented in Korea from 1895. Min Geonho,who worked as a clerk at a Gamriseo office, took one day off every seven days. However, he did not refer to this day as “Sunday.” In addition to this periodic holiday, there were other legal holidays. The most representative solar calendar events that Min Geonho experienced were Christmas, New Year’s Day, and the birthday of the Japanese emperor. Christmas was recognized as a worldwide holiday. For the Westerners and the Japanese living in Busan, time according to the lunar calendar was a new experience. The representative lunar calendar events observed were the New Year’s Day, the birthday of the King of Joseon, and the birthday of the Emperor of China. On New Year’s Day according to the lunar calendar, Mr. Lovatt, an Englishman who was the Customs Director of Busan, even sent out a New Year’s card written in Chinese characters. The open port of Busan was a time space where time according to the lunar calendar system and the solar calendar system interacted. It was also a contact zone where cultural exchangeoccurred between mutually different and new cultures. Time according to each calendar system formed the respective traditional holidays. Yet, a new order of time was being formed around these holidays. Under this new order of time, a platform for international exchange as well as for the relationship between Korea and Japan were formed. In this time space, many people were actively engaged in building relationships from experiencing, exchanging, and sharing cultures of other countries. The open port of Busan was a time space of confusion.