동몽선습(童蒙先習): 조선시대 아동교과서에 수록된 오륜 그림 연구

Abstract

This study examined the characteristics of five illustrations of five moral human relations in the representative children’s textbook <Tong Mong Sun Seup: Children’s Early Learning> in the Chosun Dynasty and discussed the meaning and value for contemporary Korean people. Every children in the Chosun Dynasty learned the five moral human relations through Tong Mong Sun Seup with the five illustrations at their early age. By studying illustrations of five moral human relations in the textbook, we can see how social core ideas are taught through art. The illustrations of the five moral human relations depict that the filial son honors his bad parents(filial duty), the faithful retainer serves the bad king by loyalty(the ruler and retainer duties), the husband and wife becomes a married couple by course of marriage and respect each other(husband and wife duties), the elders loves the youngers at an early age(the old and the young duties), and one makes virtuous and faithful friends who are filial sons(between friends duties). The core of Tong Mong Sun Seup is that the five moral duties of human relations are what human to be human and filial piety is its fundamental. To practice the five moral duties in one’s lifelong and everyday life, everyone should learn at the very early age. Through this study, it is possible to understand the concept and core of child education in the Chosun Dynasty and to read the teachings of the ancestors’ social order, personal life, thoughts on Korea and the concepts of education, for the future generations.