鶴峯 金誠一의 學問論과 居鄕觀 - 「童子禮」·「居鄕雜儀」의 간행과 유포를 중심으로 -

Abstract

The sadaebu class within local villages established their authority as the ruling class of Joseon during the 16thcentury through the moralistic autonomy of local villages. This autonomy was in turn made up of the exclusive possession of learning and politics through morals and community-oriented ties and unit among local gentries(sajok). To this end, a sadaebu born and raised in a village was expected to be a moralistic virtuous man who did not pursue secular interests and profits and practiced the everyday ethics of hyoje (孝悌, and fraternal duty) from childhood onwards. Furthermore, the sadaebu were expected to abide by the ethics applicable within the class as well as basic etiquette, and to live the type of upright and honest lifestyle needed to show an ethical example and enlighten the inane commoners. The Dongjarye 童子禮(Educational Text of Rites for Children) and Geohyang japui 居鄕雜儀(Rules for Moralistic Dwelling) introduced from China by Kim Seongil in 1577 served as good guidelines for the sadaebu class that was expected to live this kind of lifestyle. Kim Seongil’s efforts to focus on the Dongjarye and Geohyang japui as the main contents of the work known as Hyanggyo yejip 鄕校禮輯(Rites for County Public Schools) to be diffused among the public should be viewed from this standpoint. The ideal learning for the sadaebu and his life (dwelling) in local village which Kim Seongil sought to highlight through the Dongjarye and Geohyang japui can be summarized as the discipline needed to exercise moralistic behavior from childhood. This in turn could be reached through respect for one’s parents, master, and the director of hometown-shrines, and the achievement of moral inspiration for local villages based on community-oriented ties and mutual unity rooted in the notion of Yesok sanggyo 禮俗相交(mutual decorum in social relationships). Kim Seongil rejected the image of sadaebu as a lofty academic authority far removed from everyday life. Kim focused on everyday ethics that could easily arouse sympathy and consensus among the common people. In this regard, he believed that the Dongjarye and Geohyang japui could serve as great guidelines for members of the sadaebu class who sought to practice every day ethics in their own daily lives. As such, Kim Seongil expected the sadaebu class in Joseon’s local villages to continuously recreate the ‘authority’ needed to play certain roles within local villages and to maintain their influence vis-à-vis a state that oppressed local villages via its centralized control and commoners that posed a grassroots threat to the hierarchal social status structure that had seemingly always been in place. The historical significance of Kim Seongil’s efforts to highlight the utmost importance of the Dongjarye and Geohyang japui for the sadaebu during the 16thcentury should be seen as originating from these points.