김성일의 「조선국연혁고이(朝鮮國沿革考異)」와 「풍속고이(風俗考異)」에 대한 재고

Abstract

Kim Sŏng-il (金誠一)’s Record of a Sea Raft (海槎錄, Haesarok) contains the two pieces “A Clarification of Chosŏn’s History” (朝鮮國沿革考異, Chosŏn'guk yŏnhyŏk koi) and “A Clarification of Folk Customs” (風俗考異, P'ungsok koi), which expound on the history and customs of Chosŏn in Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Great Ming as requested by the Japanese monk Kokei Sōchin. This study reexamines the two writings in the context of exchange between East Asian intellectuals. Inaccuracies about Chosŏn in Comprehensive Gazetteer were already an issue since the fifteenth century. However, there were not yet any writings addressing these inaccuracies point by point. In other words, Kim’s two pieces were borne from the unique circumstances of contact with foreign intellectuals through missions. Following this premise, this study will examine the nature of these writings from three aspects; the first of these is the widespread perception of ancient history among Chosŏn’s ruling class as expressed in the article on Tan’gun in “A Clarification of Chosŏn’s History.” The second is the goal of “Folk Customs” demonstrating Chosŏn’s status as a “little China” through the conveying of detailed funeral rites. The precise explanations are not only due to being Kim’s scholarly specialty, but because funerary rite procedures were regarded as mark of civilization in the Confucian cultural sphere. Third, while Kim recognized that China equated both Chosŏn and Japan as ‘barbarians’, he distanced Chosŏn from Japan by emphasizing the former’s similarities with China. To correct the inaccuracies in Chinese records on Chosŏn while also demonstrating Chosŏn’s superiority, he exploited this variation on linking and distancing the two countries. The above analysis demonstrates the need for investigating other instances of contact between East Asian intellectuals and their contexts along the same or later time periods, which is the ultimate goal of this study.