Seungjeongwon ilgi (Diaries of the Royal Secretariat)

The diary kept by the Seungjeongwon, the Royal Secretariat of Joseon, recording the transmission of royal orders, administrative business and ceremonies. It is written in chronological form, one month to a book, or two books when a month was long. The diary was kept from the reign of King Sejong in early Joseon, but the early diaries were lost in the Imjin War, the Yi Gwal rebellion and other upheavals; only the diaries of 288 years, from March 1623 (the first year of King Injo) to August 1910 (the fourth year of Yunghui), survive. Parts were lost to palace fires in late Joseon too, and each time they were supplemented from the court gazette, the diaries of the Crown Prince's tutors, the Ilseongnok and other sources. The diary was written by the jangseo, officials of the senior seventh rank in the Secretariat. There were originally two; as the business of state to be recorded grew a provisional jangseo was added, and during the Imjin War another was added to record matters of the war alone, so that in late Joseon two jangseo and two provisional jangseo kept it. They attended the king and took down the conduct of state business in draft books, and from these wrote up each day's diary. The clerks of the Secretariat made a fair copy, and when a month's diary was complete it was bound and reported to the royal secretaries, who submitted it to the king for approval, completing it. Of the 3,243 books, 3,045 are titled Seungjeongwon ilgi and the other 198 bear titles such as Seungseonwon ilgi, Gungnaebu ilgi, Jeonbiseogam ilgi, Biseowon ilgi, Hubiseogam ilgi and Kyujanggak ilgi, because the Secretariat's name changed often after the Gabo Reform of 1894. Written in the king's own secretariat, it is very detailed on the king's activities. In particular, the discussions of state between king and officials and the memorials submitted to him are recorded in full without abridgement, so it served as a basic source for compiling the Annals, and it is still valued as a primary source for the study of late Joseon history. It was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in September 2001.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gwanak-gu, Seoul

Designation

National Treasure · 국보