Materials related to Sunheung An Clan Dongan, Changwon

The materials examined for this designation total nineteen bound volumes (the item numbers are not assigned in sequence): ten volumes of Dongan (also called Donggye), one volume of Toechon Donggye, four volumes of Hyangyakan, one volume of Seomun (Preface), one volume of Hoesan Hyangyakgyean, one volume of Namyeon Bominjo Jeolmok, and one volume of Wanmun. When a hyangyak — a Confucian-based compact for village self-governance and mutual aid — was carried out not across a whole county but only within part of it, it was called a dongyak or donggye. A dongan is the register recording the roster of members (jamok) who took part in such a body, together with its regulations (wanui, jomok and the like) and its history. It is not entirely clear over what area the surviving ten volumes were implemented; judging from the administrative divisions of the time, the compact appears to have covered at least Namyeon Dosang-illun, an area that, besides Toechon-ri where the materials are kept, also encompassed Jigwi-ri, Bongnim-ri and Bansong-ri — four dong in all. (According to the section on villages and hamlets in the Changwon-bu eupji, part of the Gyeongsangdo eupji, Changwon was divided into sixteen areas: Bunaemyeon Illun and Iun; Dongmyeon Illun, Iun and Samun; Bukmyeon Illun, Iun and Samun; Seomyeon Illun, Iun and Samun; Namyeon Doha Illun and Iun; and Namyeon Dosang Illun, Iun and Samun — illun, iun and samun being numbered sub-districts within a myeon, or township.) The Dongan appears originally to have comprised eleven volumes. The first, made earliest, no longer survives, but the compact's founding appears to date to the intercalary fifth month of the third year of the Tianqi era of the Ming dynasty (1623). The preface to Volume 11, written by An Du-ok, records: “Since the disturbances of the Dragon-and-Snake years [the Japanese invasions of 1592–93], proper order between ranks collapsed and discipline grew lax; every village became a scene of suffering, and everyone became like people of a lawless age. My eighth-generation ancestor, Ho-gun-gong (personal name Myeong-gap), took it upon himself to worry over the ignorance of the common people, and together with the elders of each household, joined hearts and deepened bonds of friendship in order to establish discipline and correct customs; thus this compact was formed, in the intercalary fifth month of the third year of the Tianqi era of the Ming dynasty (1623, a Gyehae year). Its statutes were thorough and its scope far-reaching; worthy men have carried it on, generation after generation, down to the present, a span now of some three hundred years — how admirable indeed! On examining the register volumes, [the numbering] runs from the first to the tenth.” The Dongan appears to have two copies of Volume 7, but one of these (item no. 0091) actually corresponds to Volume 9; it seems that when the volume was rebound, “Volume 7” was mistakenly written on the new cover. Some volumes have no number on the cover at all, apparently because it was omitted when a worn cover was replaced. It is notable that this Dongan enrolled both yangban and non-yangban members, including jungin (middle-status persons) and commoners, together. In the 1682 volume, entries were divided and recorded separately as Sanggye (for those who had held licentiate or official rank), Junggye (military-examination candidates) and Hagye (ordinary commoners); in the 1697 volume, the earlier part records only established yangban by period, while the later part records non-yangban figures by period; in the remaining periods, however, all members continued to be recorded together consistently. Change can also be seen in the Dongan's wanui, or agreed regulations: the punitive clauses of the hyangyak were recorded consistently regardless of period, but provisions for mutual aid at weddings and funerals were gradually given greater emphasis and reinforced. Finally, the separate Seomun at first appears to be an independent item whose covers have been lost, but its content suggests it originally stood at the head of Dongan Volume 9 before being separated from it, and should properly be regarded as part of that volume. The contents of the Dongan and Seomun, and the periods in which their rosters were entered, are as follows. Volume 2 (item no. 0085) contains only a roster, entered in 1636, 1642 and 1643. Volume 3 (item no. 0086) likewise contains only a roster, entered in 1648, 1654 and 1659. Item no. 0094, corresponding to Volume 4, contains village regulations (centred on hyangyak clauses and wedding/funeral mutual aid) and a roster entered in 1667, 1673, 1677 and 1681. Item no. 0093, corresponding to Volume 5, contains regulations in which communal items such as sunshades, mats and cushions newly appear, along with concerns over their management, and a roster now divided into Sanggye, Junggye and Hagye, entered in 1682 and 1686. Volume 6 (item no. 0087) contains Donggye regulations similar to the earlier ones and a roster whose first part (for yangban) was entered in 1697, 1708, 1711 and 1712, and whose second part was entered in 1697, 1708, 1712, 1748, 1757 and 1763. Volume 7 (item no. 0088) contains only a roster, entered across ten years between 1723 and 1740. Volume 8 (item no. 0089) contains a roster entered across twenty-three years between 1747 and 1806. The item catalogued as Volume 7 but actually corresponding to Volume 9 (item no. 0091) contains a roster entered across ten years between 1807 and 1826. Volume 10 (item no. 0090) contains a preface dated 1831 and a roster entered in 1831, 1841, 1843 and 1847. Volume 11 (item no. 0092) contains a preface dated 1870 by An Du-ok and a roster entered that year. The separate Seomun (item no. 0096) was composed in 1807 by Jeong Hwan; as noted, it appears originally to have stood at the head of Dongan Volume 9. It reads in part: “This compact of ours, from the third year of Tianqi [1623] down to the twelfth year of the Jiaqing era [1807], has been observed without lapse over so long a span and handed down to our descendants — is this not truly a fine and flourishing achievement?” The Toechon Donggye (item no. 0095) contains its own preface, a set of resolutions (wanuimun), detailed regulations (jeolmok), a membership roster, brief notes (sogi), a record of village contributions, a further brief note, and a record of land donations. The preface was written in 1804 by the magistrate Seong Jeong-jin, encouraging the implementation of the compact. The resolutions record the background to the establishment of the village rules with official permission, and the regulations resemble hyangyak articles in content but place unusual emphasis on the handling of corvée-labour matters, including the prohibition of drinking and gambling and the provision of firewood in spring and autumn. One brief note, written by Jeong Hwan in 1804, records that a compact was organised from 1735 to cope with the village's heavy corvée burden, collecting grain and using its interest to meet corvée obligations; it bears no title and has here been called a “sogi” for convenience. A further note on village contributions, also by Jeong Hwan, written in 1811, praises Kim Yun-o, Park Bong-seo and others who in 1805 raised substantial funds through donation and interest-earning, part of which purchased village utensils and part of which was donated to the village school to cover hospitality costs for its instructor. Another brief note, on the 1816 renovation of the funeral bier-shed, is attributed by its author's description as “an old man of seventy-nine” to Jeong Hwan as well. The record of land donations, also by Jeong Hwan, written in 1814, praises Kim Deok-hwa and others for donating land to help cover village expenses. The roster included bears no date but, from the order of the surrounding documents, appears to date to 1804. Comparing its names with those on the 1804 roster in Dongan Volume 8, some individuals appear in both, but most differ; notably, the Gyoha No clan, who together with the Sunheung An clan had taken a leading role in the Dongan, do not appear in the Toechon Donggye at all. It therefore appears that the Toechon Donggye applied only to Toechon-dong, while the Dongan covered the wider area of Namyeon Dosang or Dosang-illun — that is, the two compacts differed both in the body that carried them out and in character. In 1706, An Su and others organised a separate compact to reduce village residents' funeral costs, purchasing for this purpose a yujang — a woven willow-branch screen used to shield the funeral bier — and burial-aid goods, and drawing up rules for their use; the register of the names of those who took part is the Hyangyakan. A later note on its revision records: “During the Byeongsul year of King Sukjong's reign [1706], my paternal granduncle An Su, regretting that there was no hyangyak provision for this, organised a compact together with others: he paid a high price to purchase a yujang and burial-aid goods, and completed a set of regulations to put this into practice.” The original Hyangyakan no longer survives, and only items from 1760 onward remain. As time passed the regulations grew lax and new ones were drawn up, mainly concerning members' participation in funerals and the management of communally owned items. Comparing the Hyangyakan with the 1766 roster in Dongan Volume 8, some individuals appear in both, but most differ, and the Gyoha No clan do not appear at all, suggesting that this too applied only to Toechon-dong. Item no. 0082 contains only a roster, entered in 1760 and 1761. Item no. 0084 contains only a roster, entered in 1766. Item no. 0098 contains a revision record written in 1804 by Jeong Hwan, a set of articles, and a roster entered that year. Item no. 0099 contains a revision record written in 1835 by An Su-ui, a set of articles, and a roster entered in 1835 and 1858. Among the remaining materials, the Hoesan Hyangyakgyean (item no. 0097) is a hyangyak register drawn up in 1871, containing its own preface, articles, and a roster. Since the magistrate Yun Seok-o personally wrote the preface, since the officers — including a compact head, deputy head, and a head for each myeon — covered the whole county, and since the roster records the magistrate himself as compact head, it appears the magistrate led a county-wide implementation of the hyangyak. Given that the preface and articles stress the usefulness of the hyangyak in rejecting heterodoxy, the material reflects the strengthening of Confucian governing ideology that followed the Sinmiyangyo disturbance of 1871. The Namyeon Bominjo Jeolmok (item no. 0083) was drawn up in 1835 by the magistrate Heo Gye, and contains his preface of that year together with regulations. It revises and reinforces the rules so that the village relief granary — which Seo Yeong-bo, art name Jukseok (1759–1816), had established during his term as Changwon magistrate by allotting part of his monthly stipend to ease the people's hardships — could continue to function. The Wanmun (item no. 0010) was drawn up in 1870 by the granary head An Du-cheol, and contains an official directive and a set of agreed articles. After the village relief-loan system was implemented nationwide from 1867, An Du-cheol, elected granary head for the area (Namyeon, or Namyeon Dosang-illun) in 1868, distributed to each village the handling-fee funds allotted to him as granary head so that they could earn interest, drawing up articles urging that the proceeds be used to help cover granary-repair costs and relieve residents' hardships. The materials examined total nineteen volumes in all. The Sunheung An clan who hold them originally lived in Haman before moving to Toechon, Changwon, at the time of Ho-gun An Myeong-gap (1574–1651). Although the family had relocated to the neighbouring area, they could still act as a distinguished line of scholar-officials, since his father — sobriquet Mohyeon (1539–1592), enshrined at Duryeongsa Shrine — and his elder brother An Sin-gap (1564–1597) had died as martyrs leading righteous armies during the Japanese invasions. As the Dongan shows, An Myeong-gap was the figure who first organised the compact in 1623. As the Sunheung An settled for generations in Toechon-dong, they gradually formed a clan village and came to hold influence over the area. Although the earliest records of the Dongan and Hyangyakan are regrettably lost, what remains still covers some 320 years, from 1648 to 1870. Such long-spanning Dongan records are found almost nowhere else in the Gyeongnam region except the Dongan of Uiryeong and Namhae. The Dongan, the Toechon Donggye and the Hyangyakan show that compact organisations of differing character coexisted and overlapped within the same area, and they newly illuminate the changing registration of yangban and non-yangban members, an aspect of late-Joseon village society not previously well studied. The collection also includes materials of a different character — the Hoesan Hyangyakgyean, the Namyeon Bominjo Jeolmok and the Wanmun — which are nonetheless not unrelated to the materials above. The relationship between the individual documents calls for more systematic research, but in the meantime it is necessary to designate this collection together as Gyeongsangnam-do Tangible Cultural Heritage in order to protect it.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Changwon, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산