Seongbuk-dong Pobaekunjogye Official Confirmation Regulations

This document is a wanmun (an official confirmation certificate) and its accompanying jeolmok (detailed regulations), reissued in June 1805 (the 5th year of King Sunjo). It re-records an original case file of the Bibyeonsa (Border Defence Council) and records of the Hullyeondogam (Military Training Command) that had established the facts that a dunjin (a garrison settlement) was first set up at Seongbuk-dong -- an area now incorporated into Seoul but which in the Joseon period lay outside the walled capital -- and that its resident villagers were assigned the duties of pobaek (bleaching cloth by sun exposure) and hunjo (smoke-curing work). In 1765 (the 41st year of King Yeongjo), Kim Han-gu (?-1769), Internal Prince Oheung, and Hong Bong-han (1713-1778), Chief Administrator (dojejo), petitioned the court to establish a dunjin at Seongbuk-dong, north of the capital walls, and settle people there; the following spring they chose a site between the left side of Hyehwamun Gate and the right side of Sukjeongmun Gate. As the valley there was deep and the residents found it hard to make a living, in the autumn of 1767 it was proposed that the three cloth guilds -- cotton, hemp, and ramie -- be given sun-bleaching work, and once the residents had become skilled at it, a hunjomak (a smoke-curing shed) was set up in the winter of 1768. The case file of the Myodang (a term for the Bibyeonsa) and the records of the Yeongmun (a term for the Hullyeondogam), which recorded that the dunjin residents had been assigned pobaek and hunjo duties, were made into scrolls and kept at Yeonyungdae of the Chongyungcheong (the house of Kang Un-bong), but are said to have been lost after Kang Un-bong's death. The residents of Seongbuk-dong then petitioned for these past facts to be certified, and in June 1805 the old case was reviewed and the document reissued -- this document is precisely the Seongbuk-dong Pobaek-hunjogye Wanmun Jeolmok (the Official Confirmation and Regulations of the Bleaching and Smoke-curing Guild of Seongbuk-dong). The jeolmok, recording the detailed matters the residents were to observe, follows the wanmun, is written in idu script, and consists of nine articles in all. These include: that the processing work for the three guilds should follow the precedent set by the Bibyeonsa, with no delay in delivery; that the wages for the bleaching work should follow the precedent set by the Bibyeonsa, at 4 nyang for cotton, 6 nyang for hemp, and 10 nyang for ramie; and that the price for processing the jeojangpo (a curtain cloth) used by the Hojo (Board of Taxation) should follow the Hojo's fixed regulation, at 20 doe of polished rice. This document was handwritten on jangji paper and bound in book form; official seals were stamped at 22 points between the pages and sheets, though the text of the seal is unknown. At the end of the document is written "Daejang Sugyeol" (the signature mark of the Commander-in-Chief), suggesting that it was issued by the Daejang (Commander-in-Chief) of the Hullyeondogam. After the Japanese invasions of 1592, the Hullyeondogam, besides its original duty of military training, took on responsibility for defending the capital and guarding the king, and in the late Joseon period it was one of the Five Military Garrisons, defending the capital together with the Eoyeongcheong and the Geumwiyeong. Its officials were headed by the Daejang (Commander-in-Chief, junior second rank), with a Dojejo (Chief Administrator, senior first rank), two Jejo (Superintendents, senior second rank), commanders such as the Jungun (Second-in-Command) and Byeoljang (Garrison Commander), and Jongsagwan (staff officers). The wanmun was issued to the Pobaek-hunjogye (Bleaching and Smoke-curing Guild) of Seongbuk-dong. This document sets out the regulations governing the manufacture, delivery, and wages of the sun-bleaching and smoke-curing work carried out by the Pobaekgye (Bleaching Guild) and Hunjogye (Smoke-curing Guild) established at Seongbuk-dong in the late Joseon period. It is a valuable and meaningful source for understanding the process of establishing a dunjin at Seongbuk-dong near the capital in the late 18th to early 19th century, as well as an aspect of the lives and industry of the residents of the Seongbuk-dong area, and it is also well preserved.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jongno-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산