麗末鮮初 本國曆 완성의 道程

Abstract

A Chinese calendar system, the Shoushili (授時曆) from the Yuan dynasty, had been acquired by astronomers of the Goryo and Joseon dynasties during the 14th and early 15th centuries. The long-term attainment brought forth the establishment of Joseon's own system of calendar, when the first indigenous calendar system, the Chiljeongsan Naepyon (七政算內篇), was compiled and published in the 26th year of King Sejong’s reign (r. 1418-1450). In this paper, the entire period of the calendar’s acquirement was divided into three stages and then into further sub-stages, in order to see what kinds of definite matters had happened in the course of calendar learning, as well as to clarify the details of mathematical problems and obstacles that were overcome to settle the foreign system at home. This paper aims to reveal concrete aspects of the progress for calendar acquirement during every critical step. This includes the level at which Goryo was able to utilize the remarkably advanced new Shoushili system, the exact successive measures King Sejong's scholars should have taken to assimilate the Chinese calendar, and how the enactment of the Chiljeongsan Naepyon befitted the location of Seoul. The role and significance of the Ganuidae (簡儀臺) instruments were reconsidered in connection with Joseon’s new calendar system. Some vague and ambiguous traces of mutations of the Shoushili itself and its evolution to the Datonglifa Tonggui (大統曆法通軌) of the Ming dynasty have become clear through this study. Interestingly, the materials recorded in the existing books printed by metallic movable type during King Sejong's reign were indispensable to understand the traces clearly.