Jeungson Community Compact, Sangju

This is a community compact (hyangyak) that draws together the various compacts handed down over time, drafted to suit the particular circumstances of the southern part of Sangju; it is also known as the Namchon Samyeon Hyangyak (the Community Compact of the Four Southern Districts). The four districts — Cheongnam, Cheongdong, Gongseo and Gongdong — lay in the southern part of Sangju, and correspond to parts of present-day Cheongni, Gongseong and Oenam. The compact was first put into practice in 1634, when Kim Sang-pil, the magistrate of Sangju, entrusted the drafting of its provisions to two scholars, Yi Jeon (pen name Wolgan) and Yu Jin (pen name Suam). The book opens with general guidelines, comprising the General Provisions in Four Articles of the Lü Family Compact, followed by the Articles of Master Toegye, and then the Rules Established by Wolgan and the Village Compact Provisions. It also contains the Posan Foundational Text, Master Toegye's Community Compact Articles in the Posan Compact Format, and the Postscript to the Posan Compact; after a gap of five lines come the Newly Added Articles and the Articles for Servants. At the end is the Community Compact of the Four Southern Districts of Namchon, written by Yi Jae-seong in an Imsin year, thought to correspond to 1692, the 18th year of King Sukjong. The value of the Jeungson Hyangyak (Augmented Community Compact) lies in the way it drew together the many community compacts handed down in Korea and China up to that time, while also expanding and revising them to suit the particular circumstances of the Sangju region so that they could actually be put into practice. The ultimate purpose of a community compact was for its signatories to help one another and to oversee and correct local customs, so as to foster honest and simple ways among the people; such good customs remain necessary today.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sangju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산