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Encyclopédie des historiographies : Afriques, Amériques, Asies

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Nathalie Kouamé
, 
Éric P. Meyer
, 
Anne Viguier

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Veritable Records (Sillok) of the Chosŏn Dynasty

Annales de règne (Sillok) de la dynastie des Yi du Chosŏn

Chosŏn Wangjo Sillok 朝鮮王朝實錄

Hur Nam‑lin

Résumé

Les Annales de règne de la dynastie des Yi du Chosŏn (environ 1900 livres, plus de 49 millions de caractères) représentent la collection des archives officielles sur le gouvernement de chaque règne de la dynastie. À la mort d’un souverain, son successeur éditait l’histoire officielle du règne précédent selon un plan chronologique et en faisait quatre copies déposées dans des réserves dans différents lieux du pays. L’ensemble des annales, sillok (實錄) de la dynastie embrasse la totalité des vingt‑sept souverains (1392‑1910). Au cours de la dynastie, les sillok jouèrent un rôle important comme guide moral et politique de la gouverne des rois et des hauts fonctionnaires du fait du jugement par les annalistes. L’utilité de ces Annales est incomparable et leur accessibilité - en version originale et traduite (en coréen) - est facilitée par leur mise en ligne sur un site de référence (sillok.history.go.kr). Pour toute personne menant des recherches sur la période leur consultation est indispensable.

Texte intégral

What are the Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty?

1Written in Chinese, the veritable records of the  dynasty (1392‑1910), known as Chosŏn wangjo sillok, refer to the collection of official records of governance pertaining to each king’s reign. When a king died, his successor edited an official history of his predecessor’s reign in the order of day, month, and year, made four copies of it, and deposited them at “history storages” (sago; 史庫) located at different places. In theory, the whole sets of the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty (simply referred to here as the sillok) encompass the reigns of 27 kings from King T’aejo (太祖; r. 1392‑98) to King Sunjong (純宗; r. 1907‑1910). However, there is a tendency in South Korea to consider the last two sillok (the Kojong sillok and the Sunjong sillok), produced by the colonial government in 1927‑1932, as inauthentic, and they are thus usually excluded from the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty. In comparison, in North Korea, this is not the case.

2The chronological list of the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty is as follows.

Title

Year of
Printing

# of Fascicles

(kwŏn ; 卷)

# of Volumes

(ch’aek; 冊)

T’aejo sillok 太祖實錄

1413

15

3

Chŏngjong sillok 定宗實錄

1426

6

1

T’aejong sillok 太宗實錄

1431

36

16

Sejong sillok 世宗實錄

1454

163

67

Munjong sillok 文宗實錄

1455

13

6

Tanjong sillok 端宗實錄

1469

14

6

Sejo sillok 世祖實錄

1471

49

18

Yejong sillok 睿宗實錄

1472

8

3

Sŏngjong sillok 成宗實錄

1499

297

47

Yŏnsan’gun ilgi*燕山君實錄

1509

63

17

Chungjong sillok 中宗實錄

1550

105

Injong sillok 仁宗實錄

1550

2

2

Myŏngjong sillok 明宗實錄

1571

34

21

Sŏnjo sillok 宣祖實錄

1616

221

116

Sŏnjo sujŏng sillok** 宣祖修正實錄

1657

42

8

Kwanghaegun ilgi***光海君日記
(chungch’obon 中草本

T’aebaeksanbon 太白山本)
(chŏngch’obon 正草本 –

1633

187

64

Chŏngjoksanbon 鼎足山本)

1653

187

40

Injo sillok 仁祖實錄

1653

50

50

Hyojong sillok 孝宗實錄

1661

21

22

Hyŏnjong sillok 顯宗實錄

1677

22

23

Hyŏnjong kaesu sillok ** 顯宗改修實錄

1683

28

29

Sukchong sillok 肅宗實錄

1728

65

73

Kyŏngjong sillok 景宗實錄

1732

15

7

Kyŏngjong sujŏng sillok**景宗修正實錄

1781

5

3

Yŏngjo sillok 英祖實錄

1781

127

83

Chŏngjo sillok 正祖實錄

1805

54

56

Sunjo sillok 純祖實錄

1838

34

36

Hŏnjong sillok 憲宗實錄

1851

16

9

Ch’ŏljong sillok 哲宗實錄

1865

15

9

Total

1894

888

Kojong sillok 高宗實錄

1935

52

52

Sunjong sillok 純宗實錄

1935

22

8

Total

74

60

3Notes:

  • 1 Yi Sŏngmu, 1999, p. 84‑85.

4* The term ilgi (日記; literally “diary”), seen in the Yŏnsan’gun ilgi and the Kwanghaegun ilgi, was used for the veritable records of kings dethroned by force and therefore disgraced in distinction from other regular kings. In the case of the Tanjong sillok, it was originally called Nosan’gun ilgi; however, when the status of King Tanjong (r. 1452‑55) was posthumously restored in 1698, the suffix ilgi was replaced with sillok in 1704.1

5** The sujŏng/kaesu sillok refers to a later revised edition added to the original one. The term sujŏng (修正) was used for a minor revision, whereas the term kaesu (改修) was used for a major revision intended to replace the original one. The Hyŏnjong sillok was completely revised, and as a result its revised edition (kaesu sillok) ended up exceeding the original one in length from 23 fascicles and 23 volumes to 29 fascicles and 29 volumes, respectively. Although some sillok were subjected to revision, it did not mean that the credibility of the original ones was abandoned. It was rather a reflection of shifting factional politics that demanded a new historical perspective.

6*** The Kwanghaegun ilgi has two editions: the chungch’obon (中草本; literally “a middle draft”) was printed before being finalized and deposited at the storage on Mount T’aebaek (or T’aebaeksan), and it is usually called the T’aebaeksanbon; the chŏngch’obon (正草本) refers to the “authentic” (or “final”) edition deposited at the storage on Mount Chŏngjok (or Chŏngjoksan) and called the Chŏngjoksanbon.

  • 2 Kim Kyŏngsu, 2008, p. 52.

7As a whole, the Chosŏn wangjo sillok has about 1,900 fascicles and boasts a massive number of characters. In comparison, the Ming shilu (明實錄; the veritable records of the Ming dynasty that cover the years 1368‑1644) has 2909 fascicles, and the Qing shilu (the veritable records of the Qing dynasty that cover the years 1644‑1912) encompasses 4326 fascicles. But in terms of the number of characters – an accurate indicator of the sizes of documents – the Chosŏn wangjo sillok contains, in total, more than 49 million characters (49 646 667 characters exactly when the Kojong sillok and the Sunjong sillok are included).2 The Ming shilu has slightly more than 16 million characters, whereas the Qing shilu has about 24 million characters. The combined number of characters in both the Ming shilu and the Qing shilu (淸實錄) is about 40 million, more than 9 million fewer compared with that of the Chosŏn wangjo sillok.

  • 3 Han U’gŭn, 1988, p. 129.

8In the Chosŏn dynasty, the sillok played an important role in guiding the king and his officials by subjecting them to historical evaluation by dynastic chroniclers and descendants and thus warning them against any wrongdoing. It was often said that in the Chosŏn dynasty the king feared nothing but heaven and the brushes of royal record keepers.3 Thus, the sillok were expected to reflect things as they were along with critical comments made without being altered by anybody, including the king. In particular, given that the king was not allowed to see the sillok, the principles of objectivity and accuracy were strictly kept in the process of compiling them. The procedures in which sillok were produced underwent some changes in the early period of the Chosŏn dynasty, but over time they were largely institutionalized and steadily practiced.

The Source Materials for the Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty

  • 4 Han U’gŭn, 1988, p. 125.

9The Chosŏn wangjo sillok have three components: (1) “main descriptions” (本文; ponmun); (2) “annotations” (細注; seju) written in a smaller font and added to main descriptions when necessary; and (3) “comments” (史論; saron) often made by editors on an individual or issue. In the case of the Myŏngjong sillok, the seju were made at 2 996 places, and the saron were made at 1 449 places.4 Among the three components, the primary value of the sillok lies in the main descriptions even though comments made by editors often offer some insights into how politics unfolded in the Chosŏn dynasty in terms of factional politicking, the rise of Confucian literati and their growing influence over time, and subtle tensions emerging between the king and his officials.

  • 5 Kim Hyŏnyŏng, 2008, p. 49.

10The main descriptions of the sillok were based upon a wide variety of source materials called sach’o (史草; “grasses of history”). According to the “Editorial Guidance of the Yŏngjo sillok” (Yŏngjo sillok ch’ansu pŏmnye 英祖實錄纂修凡例), the source materials included (1) the sijŏnggi (時政記; “daily records of governance”) compiled by royal “record keepers” (called sagwan 史官) on a daily basis, the Sŭngjŏngwŏn (承政院; Royal Secretariat) diary kept by royal secretaries, the diary of “royal lectures” (經筵日記; kyŏngyŏn ilgi) kept by royal tutors, reports submitted by the Pibyŏnsa (備邊司; Border Defense Council) and other government organs, the records of interrogation and punishment documented by the Ŭigŭmbu (議禁府; Office of State Tribunal) and the Ministry of Punishment (刑曹), diplomatic documents and correspondences, biographical notes on deceased high court officials, information on natural disasters and harsh weather, policy suggestions and memorials submitted by censors and court officials, appointments of officials, information on those who passed civil/military service exams (科擧), data on military organizations and households, government “newsletters” (朝報; chobo) regularly distributed throughout the country, and materials related to state/royal rituals and ceremonies. In addition to these materials, private records/documents, including personal diaries, “literary compendia” (文集; munjip), and local gazetteers, were also collected and utilized.5. The sach’o source materials were far‑reaching in their coverage.

11Among the source materials, the daily sijŏnggi was considered the most important, for it documented in detail the king’s daily activities of governing. Along with the Sŭngjŏngwŏn diary (承政院日記), the sijŏnggi featured records of what the king did and said during the day from morning to evening. The sijŏnggi was stored at Ch’unch’ugwan (春秋館; Spring and Autumn Office) once royal record keepers completed it on a daily basis. The record keepers were also allowed to keep sensitive or secret documents related to individuals or government affairs, which they produced, compiled, or collected, at their homes. These materials were called “home‑stored grasses of history” (家藏史草; kajang sach’o) and were exempted from being copied into the sijŏnggi. The record keepers were instead obliged to submit in a timely manner their home‑stored materials when a sillok was compiled. So even the king was kept away from the home‑stored materials of the record keepers. In compiling raw data for a sillok, the record keepers played a central role.

  • 6 Kim Kyŏngsu, 2008, p. 47.

12In fact, a pair of royal record keepers always accompanied the king when he was involved in government affairs and recorded what he said and did in detail, without being hampered by anybody. In theory, the record keepers on duty could write down verbatim any conversation that the king had with court officials at meetings or audiences. In this way, the king’s official conduct was subjected to being watched and recorded all the time. The daily scribbles on his activities were then handed to an off‑duty record keeper, who copied them in tidy characters and returned the rewritten records. After checking their accuracy, the former record keepers stored them at Ch’unch’ugwan, where they could be retrieved and used when daily sijŏnggi were compiled.6 In addition, the record keepers had access to all other government documents when they compiled the daily sijŏnggi according to a format stipulated in the Kyŏngguk daejŏn (經國大典; The Great Code of Governing the Country of 1469).

  • 7 Han U’gŭn, 1988, p. 108‑109.

13The recording order of daily sijŏnggi was as follows: (1) year/month/day, weather, and natural disasters; (2) the king’s whereabouts during the day, information on royal lecture sessions, and reports made in person by court officials; (3) conversations that the king had with officials and memorials presented by officials along with comments by royal record keepers; (4) reports and memorials presented by censors, without specifying their identities, as well as counterarguments/disputes submitted by other officials; (5) other memorials submitted by local officials and literati; (6) state or royal rituals of celebration/mourning, information on civil/military service examinations, and eulogies of deceased officials that could serve as models for posterity; (7) a list of those who had passed the civil service exam; (8) appointments made by the king along with comments when necessary; and (9) the king’s instructions given to government organs/officials.7 As a whole, the sijŏnggi focused on the king’s interactions with officials and literati – a feature that reflected the governing structure of the Chosŏn dynasty.

14At the end of each year, the royal record keepers were obliged to report to the king on how many volumes of the sijŏnggi had been compiled during the year, to bind the sijŏnggi of every three years together, and to make three copies and store each of them at Ch’unch’ugwan, Ŭijŏngbu (議政府; Council of State Affairs), and the sago of the court. The sijŏnggi volumes safely stored at multiple locations served as the basic sach’o when a sillok was edited.

The Compilation of the Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty

15In editing a sillok, the royal record keepers played a key role even though they were relatively low‑rank officials concurrently assigned to Ch’unch’ugwan from Yemun'gwan (藝文館; Office of Royal Decrees), to which they originally belonged. Ch’unch’ugwan did not maintain its own full‑time officials but, instead, was filled with officials concurrently assigned from other government organs. The record keepers at Ch’unch’ugwan, who numbered eight in total and were collectively called “eight hallim (翰林; cour diarists),” included two ponggyo (奉敎; royal editors) two taegyo (待敎; junior librarians), and four kŏmyŏl (檢閱; royal scribes) All of them were usually young and considered elites on promising paths of bureaucratic success.

16Given the gravity of their job, the royal record keepers were expected to abide by the principle of “direct writing” (直書; chiksŏ) about all government affairs as they heard and observed them. In order to ensure their safety and objectivity, nobody, not even the king, was allowed to see what they recorded, though that does not necessarily mean that all kings strictly kept this principle and always respected the system of record keeping as established in the tradition.

17For their part, some royal record keepers, afraid of criticism or retaliation, compromised what they were supposed to do or were sometimes reluctant to submit their records when source materials were collected for the upcoming production of a sillok. In order to prevent the principle of direct writing from crumbling within, for the position of record keeper the court tried to recruit young, energetic, and upright officials endowed with the qualities of chae (才; ability to “describe” history), hak (學; “knowledge” of history), and sik (識; ability to “value‑judge” history), and it carefully considered family background by checking male ancestors of the preceding four generations.

18In addition to the eight royal record keepers, key government organs appointed their own record keepers and obliged them to document what happened in their own organs. The documents generated were then also deposited at Ch’unch’ugwan, where the royal record keepers could consult them when they compiled the daily sijŏnggi. Moreover, from the sixteenth century, in order to widely collect information on local administration and affairs, the government appointed a select group of local magistrates as local record keepers and obliged them to submit all relevant records to Ch’unch’ugwan. Source materials for the production of a sillok were never in shortage.

19Once a king died, the government established a temporary bureau called Sillokch’ŏng (實錄廳; Bureau of Sillok) within Ch’unch’ugwan and obliged it to carry out the job of compiling a sillok of the deceased king. The Bureau of Sillok was composed of three offices in the following hierarchy: (1) the office of “bureau chief” (總裁官; ch’ongjaegwan) at the top, temporarily appointed from among the state counselors and responsible for the whole process of sillok compilation; (2) the supervisory office of “general management” (都廳; toch’ŏng) responsible for checking and editing a sillok draft forwarded from the editorial pang (房; “room”) office below; and (3) the editorial pang office in charge of compiling all source materials and drafting a sillok. In the case of a lengthy sillok, the pang office consisted of six units of draft editors; otherwise, it usually had three units. Depending on the length of the deceased king’s reign, each office in the Bureau of Sillok was assigned with an appropriate number of staff members recruited from Ch’unch’ugwan and other government organs.

  • 8 Kim Kyŏngsu, 2008, p. 82‑83

20For example, the Bureau of Sillok for King Injo had the following staff members: (1) two bureau chiefs (first Kim Yuk and then Chae Yuhu ; (2) the supervisory office of general management, which contained five tangsang (堂上; “supervisors”) and 25 nangch’ŏng (郞廳; “team members”); and (3) the editorial pang office of three units as follows: unit 1 with five tangsang and seven nangch’ŏng, unit 2 with three tangsang and eight nangch’ŏng, and unit 3 with eight tangsang and seven nangch’ŏng. In total, the Bureau of Sillok for King Injo embraced about 70 officials, all reputed to have had good writing/editorial skills. In compiling a first draft of the Injo sillok that covered the span of 27 years (162349), unit 1 was responsible for the 1st, 4th, 7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 19th, 22nd, and 25th years of the Injo reign; unit 2 was responsible for the 2nd, 5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 20th, 23rd, and 26th years; and unit 3 was responsible for the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th, 21st, 24th, and 27th years8. In this way, each unit was evenly responsible for nine years of the reign. In addition to these editorial staff members, 60 officials at minor ranks were assigned as copyists. Their job was to copy an approved draft of the sillok and to get it ready for printing.

  • 9 Yi Sŏngmu, 1999, p. 188‑189.

21Once the Bureau of Sillok was in place, it directed the royal record keepers and government organs, both central and local, to submit sach’o related to the reign of the deceased king. After collecting all materials, the Bureau of Sillok started compiling records to be included in the sillok according to a set of criteria.9 In compiling a first draft from the source materials, the pang editors exercised a high degree of discretion in terms of excerpting what they considered important from the source documents, removing parts of the documents that lacked relevancy or accuracy, summarizing complex or redundant descriptions into short sentences, and rewriting vague contents to clarify them. Nevertheless, the editors were advised to include all records on state rituals and ceremonies that could serve as models for posterity.

22Once a “first draft,” called a ch’och’o (初草), was completed in chronological order, it was handed over to the supervisory office of “general management” (toch’ŏng). The editors and supervisors there worked on the first draft in order to produce a second draft called chungch’o (中草; “middle draft”). The chungch’o was usually adopted without further editing as a final version of the forthcoming sillok. In producing a middle draft, the editors in the supervisory office often trimmed the first draft and added new entries when necessary, and they streamlined sentence styles as well as paragraph formats.

  • 10 Kang Munsik, 2016, p. 251, 260-261. It was clearly seen in the Kwanghaegun ilgi – the only sillok (...)

23The chungch’o, scribbled in “cursive” script (草書體; ch’osŏch’e), was then transcribed by copyists on paper in clearly legible “running” script (行書體; haengsŏch’e), at least until the time of the Sŏngjong sillok. From sometime in the sixteenth century, the transcription was made on white‑powdered and then oil‑coated wooden panels. Some scholars have suggested that the chief of the Bureau of Sillok was responsible for finalizing a middle draft into a third and final version called the “authentic draft” (chŏngch’obon). But that was not the case. The middle draft transcribed in running script was used for printing, though corrections were made during the process of transcription when errors were found.10 Until the time of King Sejong, copyists produced required copies (usually four of them) of the finalized sillok with hand brushing, but thereafter five copies were printed in metal types and deposited at the history storages. The whole process of publishing the required copies of a sillok and storing them usually took up to four years.

  • 11 For details, see Cho Kyeyŏng, 2014, p. 131-135.

24Once the process of sillok publication was completed, the original source materials, except the Sŭngjŏngwŏn diaries, were all destroyed so that nobody could know upon which materials the descriptions in the sillok were based or who was responsible for which information. The source materials subjected to disposal were taken to a creek in Segŏmjŏm of Hansŏng, soaked in the water, and then pounded into pulpy chunks. All brushstrokes on paper were completely washed away, and the chunks were later recycled as new paper.11 After the process, called “washing source materials” (洗草; sech’o), was completed, all officials involved in the compilation of the sillok were treated with a lavish banquet offered by the king.

25It was customary in the Chosŏn period that original documents (except the Sŭngjŏngwŏn diary) produced at government organs were destroyed once a certain period of time had passed. Instead of keeping the originals in perpetuity, the government copied important ones entirely or partly and compiled the copies into bound “files of copies” called tŭngnok (謄錄) and made them available for reference for precedents. Again, the destroyed documents were recycled as new paper. As in the case of the sillok, which retained most of the original data, the tŭngnok reflected well what the original documents contained.

  • 12 Pae Hyŏnsuk, 2002, p. 397.

26Under strict regulations, court officials could consult the sillok stored at secure places when they needed to check precedents or collect necessary information on important issues. When “retrieving” sillok volumes from storage, an act called koch’ul, one royal record keeper was required to be present and supervise the process until the sillok volumes in question were safely returned to their original shelves. At that time, the record keeper was obliged to record which volumes were retrieved and returned according to a format called hyŏngjian (形止案; hyŏngji 形止 signifies “the state of things” and an 案 means “a record of documents”). According to Pae Hyŏnsuk, in the Chosŏn period, the sillok were consulted on 45 occasions by the end of the sixteenth century and thereafter on 213 occasions.12

  • 13 O Hangnyŏng, 2003, p. 16.

27In an effort to ensure that the sillok be preserved without being damaged, Ch’unch’ugwan dispatched royal record keepers to the storages on a regular basis in order to “dust and dry” (known as p’oswae 曝曬) the sillok. This was designed to keep the sillok from the harm of moisture and bookworm infestation – key causes of book damage. When the sillok storage was opened, it was always preceded by a ritual designed to publicize the importance of the sillok in the governing system of the Chosŏn dynasty.13

The History of the Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty

  • 14 For a detailed account of the sillok in the Chŏnju storage during the war, see Pak Taegil, 2006, p (...)

28The printed volumes of all sillok were stored at sago established at different locations and securely guarded. Before the Imjin War (壬辰倭亂; 1592‑1598), the whole sets of sillok were deposited at four places: Ch’unch’ugwan at the court and three local storages built in Ch’ungju (忠州; Ch’ungch’ŏng prov.), Sŏngju (星州; Kyŏngsang prov.), and Chŏnju (全州; Chŏlla prov.). During the Imjin War, however, all but the Chŏnju storage were burned down as the Japanese invaders went through the peninsula, and all materials in them were lost.14 During the war, the sillok sets at the Chŏnju storage were hurriedly evacuated to a Buddhist hermitage located in the deep valley of Mount Naejang and barely escaped the disaster of destruction.

29After the war, the Chosŏn government reprinted four more copies from the preserved Chŏnju sillok sets, newly built four history storages (located at Kanghwa Island 江華島, Mount Myohyang [Myohyangsan 妙香山], Mount T’aebaek [T’aebaeksan 太白山], and Mount Odae [Odaesan 五臺山]), and stored each set at them. The original Chŏnju sillok sets were later deposited at the Kanghwa storage. It was the beginning of the system of four “outside history storages” (外史庫; oesago).

30Not long after, however, the Kanghwa storage was severely damaged by Qing invaders in 1636‑37 and further damaged by a fire in 1653, resulting in the loss of a significant portion of the sillok. The government then moved the storage to a nearby location on Mount Chŏngjok (Chŏngjoksan 鼎足山) – a relatively safe location surrounded by stone walls that could be guarded by the Chŏndŭngsa Buddhist temple (傳燈寺). Yet, as hostilities against the Qing built up, the Myohyangsan storage in the north was considered vulnerable because of its proximity to the Qing. In 1633, the government abandoned the Myohyangsan storage and moved the collections in it to a new storage built on Mount Chŏksang (Chŏksangsan 赤裳山) in Muju (茂朱) of Chŏlla province. The T’aebaeksan and Odaesan storages remained unchanged.

  • 15 Yi Sŏngmu, 1999, p. 212‑213.

31In order to safeguard the four sillok storages located in the mountainous areas, the government assigned a nearby Buddhist temple to guard each of them: Chŏndŭngsa for the Chŏngjoksan storage, An’guksa (安國寺) for the Chŏksangsan storage, Kakhwasa (覺華寺) for the T’aebaeksan storage, and Wŏljŏngsa (月精寺) for the Odaesan storage. On average, about 20 to 50 monk‑soldiers guarded each storage, and this system worked well until 1910, when the Chosŏn dynasty collapsed.15 The sillok sets preserved at these storages are respectively known as Chŏngjoksanbon (鼎足山本; the Chŏngjoksan sets), Chŏksangsanbon (赤裳山本; the Chŏksangsan sets), T’aebaeksanbon (太白山本; the T’aebaeksan sets), and Odaesanbon (五臺山本; the Odaesan sets).

  • 16 The survived ones include nine volumes of the Sŏngjong sillok, 50 volumes of the Chungjong sillok, (...)

32Soon after Japan colonized Chosŏn Korea, the colonial authorities decided to move all materials stored at the four local storages to Kyŏngsŏng (京城; Keijō), the capital of the country. Furthermore, in 1912, they allowed the whole sets of the Odaesanbon sillok (788 volumes) to be taken out of Korea and given to Tokyo Imperial University. It is not clearly known what was behind this sudden move that betrayed the long tradition that the Koreans had cherished. Unfortunately, most of the Odaesanbon sillok at the university were destroyed by the massive Kantō earthquakes in 1923. At that time, only 74 volumes, which happened to be checked out from the library for research, survived. In 1932, the university returned 27 volumes of the 74 volumes to Korea, and, through lengthy negotiations, in 2006 Tokyo University agreed to return the remaining 47 volumes to Korea. The repatriated 74 volumes of the Odaesanbon sillok are currently kept by the National Palace Museum of Korea.16 In 1923, when Kyŏngsŏng (Keijō) Imperial University was established in Kyŏngsŏng, the colonial government moved the entire sets of the Chŏngjoksanbon and T’aebaeksanbon sillok to its university library while sending the Chŏksangsanbon sillok to the Yi Wangjik Changsŏgak Library (李王職 藏書閣).

33During the Korean War of 1950‑53, the two sets of the sillok at the Kyujanggak (奎章閣) Library of Seoul National University were evacuated to Pusan for safety, and when the war was over they were brought back to Kyujanggak. Amid the war, however, the Chŏksangsanbon sillok sets at Yi Wangjik Changsŏgak went missing. It later became known that they had been taken to North Korea. In 1985, the whole sets of the T’aebaeksanbon sillok were moved to the Pusan Branch of the National Archives of Korea (釜山記錄館) for the purpose of permanent preservation. These are the sillok sets that the National Institute of Korean History (國史編纂委員會) photocopied in one‑eighth size of the originals and printed in 48 volumes for distribution to research libraries in Korea and beyond. The Chŏngjoksanbon sillok still remain at the Kyujangkak Library of Seoul National University.

  • 17 For example, Chŏng Yŏngmi examines the major differences between the two translations of the Hyŏnj (...)

34Currently, the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty in classical Chinese are all translated into contemporary Korean in both South and North Korea. The major differences between South and North Korean translations lie in the style of translation of a range of pronouns and professional terms. The South Korean version keeps the original pronouns and terms as they are without translating them into plain Korean. For some hard‑to‑understand professional terms, the South Korean version adds annotations on them as footnotes when necessary. In contrast, the North Korean version renders most of these terms into plain Korean of daily usage without adding any footnotes.17 The South Korean version of translations is accessible at the website sillok.history.co.kr.

The Veritable Records of the Chosŏn Dynasty for Korean Studies

35Primary source materials are essential in understanding Chosŏn Korea. The usefulness of the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty in Korean studies is unsurpassable: their coverage of Chosŏn Korea is comprehensive; their descriptions of important issues in Chosŏn Korea are detailed and far‑reaching; their originality as sources of information is reliable; and the open accessibility to both the originals and the Korean translations could not be better, though the latter, not free from errors or misunderstandings, should be checked carefully against the former. For any student of Chosŏn Korea and, by extension, Korean studies, consulting the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty is a must.

36In particular, when it comes to the issue of governance in the Chosŏn dynasty, these records offer detailed information on how decisions were made at the court and put in practice. At the court, decision making on key policies usually involved a process of discussion open to officials and reflected opinions of Confucian yangban literati. At the court meetings, the king and his officials debated and made decisions in a highly transparent manner, and this whole process was recorded in detail in the sillok.

37Nevertheless, when consulting the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty, researchers should bear a few things in mind. First, the sillok are primarily focused on how the king and his officials governed the country in alliance with the ruling yangban class, so they rarely convey the voices of the ruled. The sillok are reflections of the highly bureaucratic structure of the Chosŏn dynasty, though that does not mean that the king and the ruling class were always in harmony or that the court officials were always supportive of the king without reservations. Depending on what was at stake, factions emerged, and antagonism between political players built up. In understanding the context of what the sillok describe, it is helpful to trace who belonged to which faction, family, or locality and how group interests manifested and shifted. Thus, the veritable records of the Chosŏn dynasty can be utilized most effectively when they are cross‑referenced against other available source materials.

Bibliographie

Books

Pae Hyŏnsuk (배현숙), 2002, Chosŏn sillok yŏn’gu sŏsŏl (朝鮮實錄 硏究序說) [Introduction à la recherche sur les sillok du Chosŏn], T’aeilsa (태일사), Taegu.

Yi Sŏngmu (이성무), 1999, Chosŏn wangjo sillok ŏttŏn ch’aeg‑in’ga (조선왕조실록 어떤 책인가) [Quelles sortes de livres sont les sillok du Chosŏn ?], Dongbang media Co. Ltd (동방미이더), Séoul.

Papers and Contributions to Books

Cho Kyeyŏng (조계영), 2014, “Chosŏn hugi sillog‑ŭi sech’o kirongmul‑gwa chŏlch’a” (조선후기 실록의 세초 기록물과 절차) [Textes et procédures de lavement des moutures des sillok de la dernière période du Chosŏn], Komunsŏ yŏn’gu (古文書硏究); The Journal of Korean Historical Manuscripts), no. 44 (February 2014), p. 117‑142.

Chŏng Yŏngmi (정영미), 2016, “Nam‑Pukhan Chosŏn wangjo sillok pŏnyŏk pigyo: Hyŏnjong sillog‑ŭl chungsim‑ŭro” (남북한 조선왕조실록 번역 비교: 현종실록을 중심으로) [Comparaison des traductions nord et sud‑coréennes des sillok du Chosŏn, centrée sur le Hyŏnjong Sillok], Minjok munhwa 民族文化, no. 48, (December 2016), p. 299‑342.

Han U’gŭn (韓㳓劤), 1988, “Chosŏn chŏn’gi sagwan‑gwa sillok p’yŏnch’an‑e kwanhan yŏn’gu” (朝鮮前期 史官과 實錄編簒에 관한 硏究) [Recherche sur les historiographes et la compilation des sillok de la première période du Chosŏn], Chindan hakpo 震檀學報, no. 66 (December 1988), p. 77‑130.

Kang Munsik (강문식), 2016, “Chosŏn wangjo sillok yŏn’gu‑ŭi t’ongsŏl chaegŏmt’o: Sillok p’yŏnch’an tangye mit ‘Manisan sagosŏr’‑ŭl chumsim‑ŭro” (조선왕조실록 연구의 통설 재검토 : 실록 편찬 단계 및 ‘마니산 사고설’을 중심으로) [Révision des théories générales de la recherche sur les sillok du Chosŏn : autour des étapes de la compilation des sillok et de la théorie sur la réserve des écrits historiques des monts Mani], Kyujanggak 奎章閣, no. 49 (December 2016), p. 247‑278.

Kim Hyŏnyŏng (김현영), 2008, “Chosŏn sidae‑ŭi munsŏ‑wa kirog‑ŭi wising : Sach’o, sijŏnggi‑e taehan chaegŏmt’o” (조선시대의 문서와 기록의 위상 : 사초, 시정기에 대한 재검토) [Manuscrits et statut des sources écrites de la période du Chosŏn : reconsidération des brouillons d’historiographes et des notes journalières sur le traitement des affaires politiques], Komunsŏ yŏn’gu 古文書硏究, no. 32 (February 2008), p.  43‑65.

Kim Kyŏngsu (김경수), 2008, “Chosŏn wangjo sillog-ŭi p’yŏnch’an-gwa saryojŏk kach’i” (조선왕조실록의 편찬과 사료적 가치) [Compilation et valeur historique des sillok du Chosŏn], Chŏlla munhwa ch’ongsŏ (전라문화총서), no. 27, p. 15‑57.

O Hangnyŏng (吳恒寧), 2003, “Sillog‑ŭi ŭiryesŏng‑e taehan yŏn’gu : sangjingsŏng‑gwa p’yŏnch’an kwallye‑ŭi hyŏngsŏng kwajŏng‑ŭl chungsim‑ŭro” (實錄의 儀禮性에 대한 硏究 : 象徵性과 編簒慣例의 형성과정을 중심으로) [Étude sur le caractère ritualize des sillok : autour de processus de constitution du symbolisme et des pratiques de compilation], Chosŏn sidaesa hakpo (조선시대사학보), no. 26 (September 2003), p. 5‑38.

Pak Taegil (박대길), 2006, “Chosŏn sidae sago kwalli‑ŭi pyŏnhwa” (조선시대 사고관리의 변화) [Changements dans l’administration des réserves des écrits historiques de l’époque du Chosŏn], Kukhak yŏn’gu 국학연구, no. 4 (June 2006), p. 521‑549.

Yi Sangch’an (이상찬), 2013, “Odaesan sagobon sillog‑ŭi charyojŏk kach’i” (오대산 사고본 실록의 자료적 가치) [Valeur documentaire des sillok de la version de la réserve des Monts Odae], Han’gukhak yŏn’gu 한국학연구, no. 31 (December 2013), p. 497‑539.

Notes

1 Yi Sŏngmu, 1999, p. 84‑85.

2 Kim Kyŏngsu, 2008, p. 52.

3 Han U’gŭn, 1988, p. 129.

4 Han U’gŭn, 1988, p. 125.

5 Kim Hyŏnyŏng, 2008, p. 49.

6 Kim Kyŏngsu, 2008, p. 47.

7 Han U’gŭn, 1988, p. 108‑109.

8 Kim Kyŏngsu, 2008, p. 82‑83

9 Yi Sŏngmu, 1999, p. 188‑189.

10 Kang Munsik, 2016, p. 251, 260-261. It was clearly seen in the Kwanghaegun ilgi – the only sillok that has both the middle draft and the final draft.

11 For details, see Cho Kyeyŏng, 2014, p. 131-135.

12 Pae Hyŏnsuk, 2002, p. 397.

13 O Hangnyŏng, 2003, p. 16.

14 For a detailed account of the sillok in the Chŏnju storage during the war, see Pak Taegil, 2006, p. 531‑534.

15 Yi Sŏngmu, 1999, p. 212‑213.

16 The survived ones include nine volumes of the Sŏngjong sillok, 50 volumes of the Chungjong sillok, and 15 volumes of the Sŏnjo sillok. For a detailed discussion of the value of these 74 volumes, see Yi Sangch’an, 2013, p. 501‑505.

17 For example, Chŏng Yŏngmi examines the major differences between the two translations of the Hyŏnjong sillok. For details, see Chŏng Yŏngmi, 2016, p. 323‑328.

Auteur

Department of Asian Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver

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