Swaemirok (Diary of O Hui-mun)

Swaemirok is a diary kept by O Hui-mun (1539–1613) as he lived through the Imjin War, the Japanese invasions of Korea of 1592–1598, recording events over roughly nine years and three months from 1591, the twenty-fourth year of King Seonjo, to February 1601, the thirty-fourth year of King Seonjo. Although O Hui-mun was accomplished in scholarship, he never passed the state examination and so never held formal office. His son O Yun-gyeom served as Chief State Councillor under King Injo, and his grandson O Dal-je was one of the Three Scholars (Samhaksa), officials who insisted on fighting to the end during the Manchu invasion of 1636 and were taken to Qing China and put to death. The diary comprises seven volumes in total, and at the end of each volume are collected royal edicts issued by the king and the crown prince, various writings by righteous-army volunteers, declarations written by well-known generals, official documents of various kinds, notices announcing state examinations, and other miscellaneous writings, all of which greatly help our understanding of conditions at the time. It also gives a broad and comprehensive account of the long war, including criticism of the powerlessness of the government troops during the Imjin War, the dispatch of Ming relief forces, the progress and breakdown of peace negotiations, and the Jeongyu War, the renewed Japanese invasion of 1597. O Hui-mun was able to leave such a record because, although he held no official post himself, he received help from the many county magistrates with whom he was on close terms, and because he was better placed than almost anyone to gather and synthesise accurate information about conditions at the time. In particular it contains reports he saw and heard while at Jangsu County of the state of fighting in various regions and the exploits of righteous-army leaders, the cruel killing and plunder committed by Japanese troops, the merciless plunder and devastation wrought by Ming forces, the flood of refugees caused by the war, military conscription, and the provisioning of army rations — entries difficult to find in other sources. The diary contains not only historical material relating to the Imjin War, such as the conditions of ordinary people's lives and the actual state of local administration at the time, but also a wide range of material valuable for research into the general economic history of Korean society, and its value is further enhanced by the fact that it is a first-hand record of lived experience written by a private citizen.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jinju, Gyeongnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물