『호산청일기』 연구

Abstract

This study intends to investigate the childbirth pattern of Sukbin indicating the rank of the royal consort Choi, a royal concubine of King Sukjong, and the significance of the official journal that records her giving birth to three sons. The Journal of Hosancheong is a rare official journal that recorded the childbirth process of Sukbin Choi, the biological mother of King Youngjo, when she gave birth to three sons. Hosancheong, a provisional organization formed a month before the childbirth of a royal concubine or the queen in the late Joseon Dynasty, recorded it. The King established Hosancheong when his concubine’s delivery was imminent to govern all childbirth related affairs. It is remarkable that we can study the birth processes of the three sons of Sukbin Choi, King Sukjong’s royal concubine, nearly 300 years ago through a temporary government organization called Hosancheong. The implications of Sukbin Choi’s deliveries can be summarized as follows. The most important significance is that King Youngjo’s birth process is clearly recorded. This was his pride and the only evidence of his love for his biological mother. Among the 27 kings in the 500-year history of the Joseon Dynasty, the Journal of Hosancheong is the only record indicating the birth scene of a king . Second, the Journal of Hosancheong was an important official document that recorded the ritual childbirth process of royal concubines in the late Joseon Dynasty, specifically and vividly in a conversational style. Third, it displays King Sukjong’s unique love for Sukbin Choi. King Sukjong had nine wives: three official queens and six concubines. However, none of the three queens gave birth to a single son. Sukbin Choi’s pregnancy would have been an answer to King Sukjong’s prayers and desire for a son. Fourth, through the record of Sukbin Choi’s pregnancies we learn that Hosancheong, a temporary organization of the late Joseon Dynasty, displayed the royal family’s special consideration toward the childbirth of royal concubines. Giving birth to a son in the royal family meant having an heir to succeed to the throne. In that sense, Hosancheong was an emergency medical institution with more than 20 doctors in reserve in case a baby and the mother required emergency assistance. Finally, the Journal is an official record of the concubine’s childbirth process in the late Joseon Dynasty and served as a mother’s diary. A faithful and objective record, it presented everything regarding the mother and baby a month before and after the birth. It is also noteworthy as a record of the female body under the patriarchal system during a Confucian regime.