曆書의 네트워크 : 왕의 시간과 일상생활

Abstract

Calender books in Joseon Dynasty consist of two parts: (1)'the study of calender(yeokhak 曆學)' and (2)'the annotation of calendar(yeokju 曆註)’. Yeokhak refers to the first and the fifteenth day of the lunar month (sakmang), the first and the last quater of the moon (sanghahyun)·the twenty-four solar terms (yisipsa julki), solar and lunar eclipses (ylyeolsik) and so on. Yeokju is a study of the principles of yin and yang (陰陽書), identifying misfortune and fortune as well as taboo in daily lives during the year. Yeokhak cannot be understood without susi(授時), one of the examples of the rule of monarchy. susi is the abbreviation of kwansangsusi(觀象授時), which means that the ruler provides his people with a proper knowledge of agriculture by casting a horoscope. Since the ancient time, it was strongly believed that the ruler needs to offer an accurate timetable for agriculture in order to buttress his authority. In this context, it is important to remember that the social life of calendar books was shared by all the people – from the king to ordinary peasants. Ritualistically, the king in Joseon Dynasty granted his ministers the Chinese calendar which he had received from the emperor of China. Nevertheless, the king attempted to monopolize the production and circulation of calendar books. This is the very evidence that he actively intervened in regulating time for his rule. Agriculture was not the only reason the king attempted to predominate over time. By controlling time, the king also tried to intervene in daily events of ordinary people by linking them to his own time. yeokju served for this purpose. It covered a wide scope of everyday lives such as marriage, trade, and movement. By doing so, yeokju incorporated the lives of the king, officials, noble classes, and peasants in to the frame of the sovereign time. Today the linkage between yeokhak and yeokju is considered to be arbitrary. Such linkage seems to be irrational and outdated. The magic of calendar books, which had been still effective in the early Joseon dynasty, fell in to a decline in the late period. As Jung Yakyong(丁若鏞), the famous scholar in the late Joseon period, pointed out, calendar books failed to function in domain of offering correct time, agricultural calender(農曆), and the choice of an auspicious day(擇日). They were nothing but cheap, trivial gifts that people used only once in a while. Although some scholars still emphasize their one-time significance, calendar books were as trivial as scratchbacks or nailclippers. Nevertheless, it is intriguing that the supply of calendar books expanded from one per 400 households in the early Joseon to one per 6 households in the 19th century. Such expansion had little to do with the functional utility of calendar books. Rather, it resulted from the mixture of different ideas and intentions. On the one hand, the king attempted to buttress the rule of monarchy while actualizing the expansion of calendar books through the market device. Given the time sensitive nature of calendar books, the king had to provide more people with more books as quickly as possible, encouraging market trades. On the other hand, people in his time system situated the use of calendar books in different ways according to their different life styles. The rapid spreading of a Confucian ritual in the late Joseon period had made the productive amount of the calendar.