Cross-Cultural Contacts during the period of Pax Mongolica

대동한문학 (Daedonghanmunhak), 2019

This study examines discussions of Tangun and Kija in the ancient history discourse of Chosŏn missions to Japan in written conversation collections during the 17th and 18th centuries. First, the study observed how written conversation collections from 1636 to 1764 raised the issue of Tangun and Kija. Since the Chinese texts mentioned that Kija introduced the Eight Prohibitions to Chosŏn, the Japanese literati also took this as historical fact. Thus, they referred to Chosŏn as Kisŏng (箕域), Kibang (箕邦), and Kiju (箕疇) in poetry exchanges, praising it as a country civilized by Kija and carrying on the customs of the Shang. Tangun’s existence was known in Japan through Comprehensive Mirror of the Eastern Kingdom (Tongguk t’onggam) and was recognized along with Kija as the progenitor of Chosŏn. Tangun and Kija were frequently mentioned in poetry exchanges and written conversations from early Chosŏn-Japan exchange until the 1764 mission. Throughout the missions, the Japanese literati generally had no qualms accepting the existence of Tangun and Kija. However, Hayashi Hōkō raised doubts to Yi Hyŏn about whether Tangun lived 1,048 years and which text stated that Kija brought 5,000 Shang people with him in a 1711 written conversation. This question, though, was the repeating of questions already raised by Hayashi Razan in a letter to a Chosŏn envoy in 1643. Although it is presumed that Razan read Comprehensive Mirror and raised these doubts, he presents these questions as if they were his own. Although Razan’s questions were over the evidence and credibility of the ancient texts, this attitude is not taken by Japanese literati in later conversations. This study presents examples of the attitude Japanese scholars of the Edo period took regarding Tangun and Kija in written conversations before taking a modern approach to such myths. The author will attempt to refine this analysis by examining discussions of mythical Japanese figures such as Susanoo-no-Mikoto and Wang In in the ancient history discourse of Chosŏn-Japan exchange.

Journal of Koreanology, 2020

This study examines the perception and attitudes of Japanese literati towards Chosŏn dress in 17th-18th century written conversations. The first written conversation to mention such dress appears in a conversation between Hayashi Razan and Mun Hongchŏk on shenyi (深衣). The first mention of dress in poetry exchanges can be seen in the written conversation collection of 1655, which appears again in a poetry exchange during the 1682 mission. The admiration of Chosŏn dress originated from the veneration of Chinese culture, an attitude prominent among Kinoshita Jun'an and his disciples and their ilk. On the other hand, Hitomi Yugen and others verified the historical accuracy of the dress. Mentions of Chosŏn dress grew more frequent with the proliferation of written conversations during the 1711 mission. Such mentions occurred as follows: First, frequent praise of the solemnity of Chosŏn dress in poetry exchanges and written conversations. Second, research on the names and making of Chosŏn dress expanded as a result of developments in Japanese Confucianism per a deepened understanding of Chinese culture, which was also influenced by the trend of encyclopedic studies in Japanese scholarship. Third, Chosŏn was regarded as the sole preserver of Chinese culture after the fall of the Ming dynasty, with Arai Hakuseki arguing that Chosŏn dress was evidence of subordination to China. Hakuseki also advanced the theory that the Japanese emperor’s court preserved ancient Chinese culture. This view, which corresponded with that of the Sorai school, appears in written conversations since the 1748 mission.

KOREA NEOLITHIC RESEARCH SOCIETY, 2021

The purpose of this paper is to study the external factors of Neolithic social changes, especially the influence and acceptance between groups. This paper compares the data of northwest Korea and Liaodong peninsula of China with the data of central-western region. The relationship between the information circulation and material culture change in the same stylistic group and the acceptance pattern of external factors is investigated. The results showed that the intra-region interactions within the same stylistic group was peaked at the 2nd phase of Gungshan style, and the 3th phase was weakened. The inter-region interaction between different stylistic groups was also the most active in the second phase, which was later considered to be weakened. In order to extract the generality and particularity of the case, the cases in the surrounding areas are examined. As a result, the material culture changes of certain societies with acceptance of external cultural factors are divided into as follows: ① the change of subsistence, ② the change of ceramic assemblage, ③ the combination of the two. The processes of acceptance can be divided into Ⓐ migration and Ⓑ the selective acceptance of information. According to different regions and periods, there were only ① or ②, and there also be a combination of them(③). The case ③ is mainly carried out through the Ⓐ process, and the case ① is through the Ⓑ. Case ② is possible through both Ⓐ and Ⓑ. Among these models, the cultural changes in the central-western region confirmed that the main contents and process of Gungshan phase 2 are ① + Ⓑ ; ② + Ⓑ after Gongshan phase 3.

Kugyol Studies, 2019

ALTAI HAKPO, 2011

This paper presents a contrastive hierarchy (Dresher 2009) analysis of the microvariation between Oroqen (a Tungusic language) and Khalkha Mongolian (a Mongolic language) vowel harmony. Although these two languages have the same type of vowel harmony processes, namely tongue root harmony and labial harmony, there is a minimal contrast between the two with respect to the phonological behavior of the vowel /i/: Tungusic /i/ is opaque whereas Mongolic /i/ is transparent to labial harmony (van der Hulst & Smith 1988). This microvariation can be modeled as the minimal difference in the language-specific contrastive hierarchy: Tungusic [low] > [coronal] > [labial] > [RTR] (Zhang 1996) vs. Mongolic [coronal] > [low] > [labial] > [RTR] (Ko 2011). These minimally distinct hierarchies assign different output specifications for /i/, i.e., [−low, +cor] for Tungusic /i/ and simply [+cor] for Mongolic /i/, which explains the transparency of Mongolic /i/ to labial harmony assuming labial harmony in Tungusic and Mongolic as a 'height-stratified' harmony (Mester 1986).

The Research of the Korean Classic, 2022

This study aims to review the brush talks and poetry exchanges included in the 18th century travel journals produced by the T’ongsinsa (通信使, the Chosŏn envoy to Tokugawa Japan) of 1711 and 1719. First, the brush talks from the T’ongsinsa travel journals of each era were examined. The T’ongsinsa of 1711 produced three different records. Cho Tae’ŏk’s Tongsarok includes exchanged poetry—95 verses under 74 titles. Im Sukwan’s Tongsailgi contains an independent account of brush talk titled Kangguanp’iltam, while Kim Hyŏnmun’s Tongsarok only documented significant episodes from the brush talks and poetry exchanges. Regarding the T’ongsinsa of 1719, the letters exchanged while negotiating diplomatic procedures were included in Haesaillok by Hong Ch’ijung. Chung Hukyo‘s Pusanggihaeng, in its diary portion, provided summarized accounts of the brush talks and poetry exchanges that took place in each era, and then provided 74 verses of exchanged poetry and 11 verses of original rhymes written by the Japanese. Sin Yuhan’s Haeyurok contains nearly 70 entries in diary, and Munkyŏnjapnok provides 36 accounts of brush talks and poetry exchange, showing a clear difference from the records produced in the previous era. Three aspects of the inclusion of the brush talk in these travel journals—produced by the T’ongsinsa of 1711 and 1719—are noteworthy. First, the T’ongsinsa travel journals of this period include more accounts of brush talks, as more such talks were held then. Second, people were becoming more open to the idea of leaving records of the brush talks. The term “brush talk” (筆談) appears frequently in the travel journals of this era, implying its increased recognition as a mode of communication that could be distinguished from the spoken word. Such notion led to a greater focus on “what was being said” in the brush talks than the mere fact that they occurred. The third aspect relates to the characteristics of narrative style. There are two stylistic characteristics apparent in 18th century brush talks in T’ongsinsa travel journals: recapitulation and reproduction of conversation. The former was widely used in T’ongsinsa travel journals of this era, while the latter was partly employed in Pusanggihaeng, and openly utilized in Haeyurok. Haeyurok in particular strategically employed the records of the brush talks in relations to the purpose of writing his travel journal—an important characteristic succeeded by the travel journals of later eras, including Wŏn Chunggŏ’s Sŭingsarok. The most crucial trait of the records of brush talks in 18th century T’ongsinsa travel journals is that an active consciousness formed regarding the utility of “brush talks” as a means of communication, and that its end product came to be employed as an object “worth documenting.” These findings may well be given consideration when examining the accounts of brush talks from Chosŏn envoys’ travel journals produced in later periods.

Korean Studies Quarterly, 2015

The purpose of this paper is to understand the forms and functions of hangeul manuscripts that were produced for royal banquets in the late Joseon period, focusing on the wine offering rite held by Crown Prince Hyomyeong for the King Sunjo and Queen Sunwon on September 10, 1827. When Royal Protocol for the Court Feast at Hall of the Mother’s Good Fortune was compiled to record the wine offering rite, not only Chinese manuscripts but also hangeul manuscripts were produced. And potable record of ritual protocols for the rite written in hangeul are extant. In order to understand the production background of these hangeul manuscripts, this paper examined first the aspects of use of hanguel in royal household by means of review and classification on the procedures and all concerned of the ritual. In the following, this paper took a closer look at the form, content, function as well as the production background of each hangeul manuscript such as praise, lyric, explanation of the ritual, potable record of ritual protocol, and royal protocol. All of these manuscripts were made for women of royal household, and more specifically, manuscripts for Queen Sunwon and Crown Princess were praise, lyric, explanation of the ritual, and royal protocol; manuscripts for housewives of royal families were praise, lyric, and portable ceremony procedure. Even though the contents were equal, according to the user’s status materials, forms as well as the function were different according to the user’s status.

Han'gug jong'gyo, 2023

Korean Historical Linguistics, 2021

This paper studies the Early Mandarin loanwords in Hunmong Jahoe (訓蒙字會, 1527). Hunmong Jahoe is a Chinese character Textbook written during the Joseon Dynasty. Each Chinese character is introduced together with its pronunciation (音) and meaning (訓) written in the Korean alphabet Hunmin Jeongeum (訓民正音). The meaning part was analysed one by one using four criteria that were mainly based on phonological clues. The result showed that there are 47 words that can be categorised as Early Mandarin loanwords. 8 loanwords that were not mentioned in previous studies have been newly added to the list and each of them was proven by an etymological explanation. However, there are 8 words that were mentioned as Early Mandarin loanwords in other research, but are excluded from our list of loanwords due to lack of phonological evidence. Keywords: loanwords, etymology, Early Mandarin, Sino-Korean, historical linguistics

KOREA NEOLITHIC RESEARCH SOCIETY

This paper examined the structures of interregional information network between prehistoric groups focusing on northern part of east Asia. For this purpose, pottery data of the 2nd half of Neolithic period, especially raised line attatched pottery(돌대일주구연 토기) and double lip pottery(이중구연토기), surveyed. Examined archaeological cultures or pottery styles are Haishengbulang(海生不浪), Hungshan(紅山), Xiaoheyan(小河沿), Haminmanghe(哈民忙哈), Nanbaoligaotu(南寶力皐吐), Pianbu(偏堡), Shinamri(신암리), Shihuichang lower layer(石灰場下 層), Zaisanovka and Seopohang upper layer(서포항 상층). Analysis reveals that similarities and differences of material cultures derived from the degree of network density, distance etc. Examined areas can be categorized as ordinary contact area and intermittence contact area in terms of differences of network structures. And, it is obvious that existence of hub area of groups are crucial for information flow.