Gukjo jeongtorok (Records of Wars in the Early Joseon Period)

This book records the history of military campaigns waged from the reign of King Sejong to that of King Jungjong of Joseon against Tsushima, the Pajeo River region, the Jianzhou Guard, Nimacha, raiders on the northwestern border, and the Japanese uprising at the Three Ports (Sampo). In terms of structure, after a table of contents and explanatory notes, the first volume covers the campaigns against Tsushima, the Pajeo River region, and the Jianzhou Guard, while the second volume covers the campaigns against the Jianzhou Guard, Nimacha, the northwestern border raiders, and the rebel Japanese at Sampo. Each campaign is narrated chronologically in the "case-and-commentary" (gangmokche) style; as the explanatory notes state, the account follows the conventions of the Comprehensive Mirror in the Gangmok Style, applying moral judgement to historical events — Joseon's military actions are termed "jeong" (expedition) or "to" (subjugation), enemy troops are termed "gu" (raiders) or "ban" (rebels), and victories are described as "cham" (beheading) or "ro" (capture). According to the entry for the twenty-ninth day of the seventh month of the sixth year of King Gwanghaegun's reign in the Gwanghaegun ilgi (Taebaeksan Archive edition), the Gukjo jeongtorok, which until then had circulated only in manuscript form, was printed with movable type sometime after the sixth year of King Gwanghaegun's reign; a record in the "Classics and Histories" section of Yi Ik's Seongho saseol also shows that even after being printed it remained a book difficult to obtain. This copy of the Gukjo jeongtorok is, as far as is known, the only one surviving in Korea, making it a rare item of considerable value as material for the study of early Joseon military history and bibliography.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seongnam, Gyeonggi

Designation

Treasure · 보물