조선시대 과거 응시 자격과 赴擧都目

Abstract

This paper delves into the standards and procedures for the creation of the bugeodomok, an official roster of candidates partaking in the civil service examination, with a specific focus on the academic criteria required for the exam. This will provide insights into comprehending the qualifications sought from the examination applicants and how its population was defined. During the early Joseon dynasty, the government attempted to determine eligibility for civil service examination candidacy based on enrollment in government-operated educational institutions. However, due to the growing tendency of local literati to avoid local public schools, this standard underwent transformation in the eighth year of King Myeongjong’s reign: towards the retention of academic records and the outcomes of the preliminary exam, known as joheulgang. This criterion was subsequently reaffirmed during the 17th century, culminating in the introduction of preliminary exam assessing Elementary Learning for classics and literary licentiate examination in the first year of King Injo’s rule. This further solidified the principle of conferring examination candidacy solely to those who had received government-sponsored education, which was formally established in the fifth year of King Hyojong. By the late 18th century, the discontinuation of yusaengan in local public schools or cheonggeumnok resulted in the diminishing efficacy of using academic records as the basis for qualification. Instead, the compilation of a list of examination candidates could be prepared through various educational programs initiated by individual counties. In cases where such lists could not be compiled, eligibility for the examination was determined by an individual’s inclusion in the household registration and their possession of the occupational title of a Confucian student. The government showed a consistent effort to manage the examination candidates in coordination with state-sponsored education. Amidst this endeavor, the number of qualified candidates sought by the state continued to increase, culminating in the surge in examination applicants within late Joseon society.