Uido Painting Yuamchongseo and Ungokjapjeo, Sinan

The Yuamchongseo and Ungokjapjeo are draft manuscripts of a collected works compiled by Yi Gang-hoe (1789–?) while he lived in seclusion on Uido Island, Sinan, bringing together his own writings with those of his teachers, the brothers Jeong Yak-jeon and Jeong Yak-yong. They contain Jeong Yak-jeon's writings Pyohaesimal (included in the Yuamchongseo) and Songjeongsaui (included in the first volume of the Ungokjapjeo), which cannot be found elsewhere, while Jeong Yak-yong's Baekeonsi, a work rendering Korean proverbs into Chinese, is of great value as the draft version of Idamsokchan, included in his Yeoyudangjeonseo (Complete Works of Yeoyudang). Pyohaesimal records the experiences of the Uido fisherman Mun Sun-deuk and his companions in Ryukyu (present-day Okinawa) and the Philippines, then under Spanish rule, as well as Macao, a Portuguese settlement at the time; it is the only known Korean castaway account concerning these regions. Its account of Yeosong (the Philippines) is especially detailed, and it is the only castaway narrative known to contain information on Yeosong. Mun Sun-deuk (1777–1847), the subject of Pyohaesimal, lived on Uido Island. He set sail in December 1801, the first year of King Sunjo, and on 18 January 1802, while returning from Taesado (near Heuksando Island) after buying skate, he was caught in a storm and drifted off course. On 29 January he reached Ryukyu (present-day Okinawa), where he stayed for eight months, then set out again in October, only to drift once more and arrive at Yeosong (present-day Philippines), where he remained for another eight months. He then travelled through Macao, Guangdong and Beijing in China, and Uiju, before reaching Hanyang, finally arriving back at his hometown of Uido in January 1805. Mun Sun-deuk related the course of his drift voyage, along with the customs, houses, language, clothing, ships and local products of Ryukyu and Yeosong, to Jeong Yak-jeon, who was then in exile on Uido; this account was recorded and later transcribed into the Yuamchongseo, the collected works of Jeong Yak-yong's disciple Yi Gang-hoe, through which it survives today. The Yuamchongseo and Ungokjapjeo are notable for containing numerous writings embodying Yi Gang-hoe's Silhak (Practical Learning) thought, which had until now been little known to scholars. In particular, the ideas found in Yi Gang-hoe's writings advocating the operation and construction of carts and ships provide new material for clarifying the development of the late Joseon school of Practical Learning concerned with the welfare of daily life (iyonghusaeng). They also demonstrate a case in which Silhak scholarship, which had mainly developed among scholars at the centre of academic circles, spread to the provinces through Jeong Yak-yong. The Yuamchongseo and Ungokjapjeo hold historical and scholarly value as works left behind, in the spirit of Silhak, by the provincial scholar Yi Gang-hoe, who was influenced by the Bukhak School through Dasan Jeong Yak-yong, and who, while residing on Uido Island, was able to draw on the advanced learning of an exiled scholar and encounter foreign cultures through castaways.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sinan, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료