Gusangdeok Seungchongmyeongnok

The Seungchongmyeongnok, held in the house of Gu Seok-chan, is a diary written by Wolbong Gu Sang-deok (1706–1761), recording every single day without a break for 37 years, from 1725, when he turned 20, until his death in 1761 at the age of 56. The value of the Seungchongmyeongnok lies in the vivid, concrete picture it gives of rural society in the 18th century and how it changed. Centred on his home region of Goseong, it sets down without filtering the full range of events of everyday life: the sowing and transplanting times for rice and barley, the hardships of the spring famine, rising prices, theft, epidemics, famine, the education of children, village coming-of-age, wedding, funeral and ancestral rites, dealings with the local government office, and all manner of strange tales and rumours. This diary is therefore judged an important historical source, usable from many angles in future research into the agricultural, folk, social, economic and educational history of the late Joseon period. Of particular note is that the travel diaries he kept while journeying to and from Seongju, Uiryeong, Jinju and other places to sit the state examinations, which he attempted several times, give a concrete picture of the way of life of the local gentry of the time; and that he also left detailed records of how the gentry of Goseong and neighbouring counties responded when the Musin Rebellion broke out in 1728, the fourth year of King Yeongjo. For reference, the Changwon Gu clan originally used the surname '仇', one of the native surnames of Uichang County. However, after King Jeongjo ordered the surname changed to '具', the family's descendants have used that surname ever since (see the royal edict granting the new surname to the Changwon Gu clan, in the Changwon Gu Clan Genealogy, Jeongsa edition, 1797, and the entry for the sixth month of the twenty-second year of King Jeongjo's reign, volume 48, in the Veritable Records of King Jeongjo). The five volumes of the Seungchongmyeongnok cover the following periods: Volume 1, 29 July 1725, the first year of King Yeongjo, to 1731, the seventh year of King Yeongjo; Volume 2, 1732, the eighth year of King Yeongjo, to 1737, the thirteenth year; Volume 3, 1738, the fourteenth year, to 1749, the twenty-fifth year; Volume 4, 1750, the twenty-sixth year, to 1755, the thirty-first year; Volume 5, 1756, the thirty-second year, to 1761, the thirty-seventh year. Many diaries of various kinds — official government-office diaries, records of official service, travel diaries and diaries of daily life — have been brought to light over the years, some dating back as far as the early Joseon period. Yet none has been found that shows the concrete, everyday life of a local community as vividly as the Seungchongmyeongnok. This material contains a great deal that allows the changes not only in the Goseong region but across the whole country to be inferred.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Goseong, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산