By Mark Peterson
Last time I wrote about the conference I attended in Andong on "naebang kasa" and the desire of the participants to apply for UNESCO Memory of the World recognition. At the conference, quite unexpectedly, I ran into the head of the Gyeongju Choe lineage, a man who lives in Gyeongju. Although Gyeongju and Andong are quite far apart, they are both in conservative, most-Confucian North Gyeongsang Province. And the programs at the Academy for the Advancement of Korean Studies attracts people from all over the province. Still, I was surprised to see Mr. Choe there.
He came up to me during the break and said he was attending the conference, not because he was particularly interested in naebang kasa, but that he was interested in seeing me! He said he had an idea to discuss with me: Should we begin to pursue UNESCO Memory of the World recognition for Korean jokbo?
His proposal took my breath away. I hadn't thought of the idea, but immediately I thought, yes, yes, yes! That's exactly what we should do!
Korea, arguably ― and I think we can prove this statistically ― has the greatest collection of printed genealogies in the world. It might have the greatest total volumes in print, but it certainly has the highest number of printed genealogies on a per capita basis of any country in the world.
China might have more total volumes. But Korea has more on a per person basis, and Korean interest in jokbo has not declined over the years ― rather, I think it has increased.
I would suppose there would be a need to select some specific examples and that would have to include the oldest jokbo we know, the Andong Kwon-ssi genealogy of 1476. This is the oldest for non-royalty. The archive of the Joseon royal family, the Changseogak, now held inside the Academy of Korean Studies, has volumes documenting the royal family's pedigree dating back to the beginning of the dynasty in 1392.
There would have to be a designated archive or two or more. The Central National Library has some of the best jokbo, and the Royal Archive (changseogak) at the Academy of Korean Studies, and the Joseon government archive (gyujanggak) now housed at Seoul National University could all be designated sites holding important representative cases of jokbo.
I understand there is a good collection on display at the largest publisher of jokbo in Daejeon. Like the designation of ancient megaliths, the dolmen, there are many scattered throughout the countryside with two or three main sites listed in the World Heritage Site. This approach might work for jokbo as a Memory of the World site as well.
The Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo is a marvelous document. Published in the first century of the Joseon Kingdom, it includes family connections from the late Goryeo as well as the early Joseon periods. It is perhaps the best window into the society of the time, and that society was very different from later Joseon society that became heavily influenced by Confucian thought and practice. For example, and the most striking example, is that the posterity of the daughters was recorded as fully as was the posterity of the sons. Later jokbo, of course, only list the sons' lines ― the daughters are mentioned only for whom they married and their descendants are not listed.
The Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo, as a window on the society of the time, also lists children in each family in birth order. Later jokbo list all the sons first and then the daughters. Again, this is a window on the times ― early Joseon was more balanced in its approach to gender. Still, however, the daughters were listed not by their own names, but by the names of their husbands. Is this a form of dishonor? Or is this honoring women by keeping their names out of the public eye? Both arguments are possible.
Another feature of the Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo is the recording of second marriages of women. A second marriage of a man is a common feature ― but it is only possible if the first wife dies. A "multiple marriage," having two wives at the same time, was prohibited. A man could have a "cheop" (secondary wife or concubine ― always a commoner or slave) but never two wives of full yangban status. But in the Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo we see 10 cases of women remarrying ― two husbands are listed. This is shocking to traditional-minded Koreans, for the ideal for a woman is to remain a chaste widow if something happened to her first husband. But not so in early Joseon.
So, I wish Mr. Choe good luck in his quest to get Korean genealogies recognized on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Certainly genealogical documents are valuable as a memory of the way Korea was at different points of its history.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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He came up to me during the break and said he was attending the conference, not because he was particularly interested in naebang kasa, but that he was interested in seeing me! He said he had an idea to discuss with me: Should we begin to pursue UNESCO Memory of the World recognition for Korean jokbo?
His proposal took my breath away. I hadn't thought of the idea, but immediately I thought, yes, yes, yes! That's exactly what we should do!
Korea, arguably ― and I think we can prove this statistically ― has the greatest collection of printed genealogies in the world. It might have the greatest total volumes in print, but it certainly has the highest number of printed genealogies on a per capita basis of any country in the world.
China might have more total volumes. But Korea has more on a per person basis, and Korean interest in jokbo has not declined over the years ― rather, I think it has increased.
I would suppose there would be a need to select some specific examples and that would have to include the oldest jokbo we know, the Andong Kwon-ssi genealogy of 1476. This is the oldest for non-royalty. The archive of the Joseon royal family, the Changseogak, now held inside the Academy of Korean Studies, has volumes documenting the royal family's pedigree dating back to the beginning of the dynasty in 1392.
There would have to be a designated archive or two or more. The Central National Library has some of the best jokbo, and the Royal Archive (changseogak) at the Academy of Korean Studies, and the Joseon government archive (gyujanggak) now housed at Seoul National University could all be designated sites holding important representative cases of jokbo.
I understand there is a good collection on display at the largest publisher of jokbo in Daejeon. Like the designation of ancient megaliths, the dolmen, there are many scattered throughout the countryside with two or three main sites listed in the World Heritage Site. This approach might work for jokbo as a Memory of the World site as well.
The Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo is a marvelous document. Published in the first century of the Joseon Kingdom, it includes family connections from the late Goryeo as well as the early Joseon periods. It is perhaps the best window into the society of the time, and that society was very different from later Joseon society that became heavily influenced by Confucian thought and practice. For example, and the most striking example, is that the posterity of the daughters was recorded as fully as was the posterity of the sons. Later jokbo, of course, only list the sons' lines ― the daughters are mentioned only for whom they married and their descendants are not listed.
The Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo, as a window on the society of the time, also lists children in each family in birth order. Later jokbo list all the sons first and then the daughters. Again, this is a window on the times ― early Joseon was more balanced in its approach to gender. Still, however, the daughters were listed not by their own names, but by the names of their husbands. Is this a form of dishonor? Or is this honoring women by keeping their names out of the public eye? Both arguments are possible.
Another feature of the Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo is the recording of second marriages of women. A second marriage of a man is a common feature ― but it is only possible if the first wife dies. A "multiple marriage," having two wives at the same time, was prohibited. A man could have a "cheop" (secondary wife or concubine ― always a commoner or slave) but never two wives of full yangban status. But in the Andong Kwon-ssi jokbo we see 10 cases of women remarrying ― two husbands are listed. This is shocking to traditional-minded Koreans, for the ideal for a woman is to remain a chaste widow if something happened to her first husband. But not so in early Joseon.
So, I wish Mr. Choe good luck in his quest to get Korean genealogies recognized on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Certainly genealogical documents are valuable as a memory of the way Korea was at different points of its history.
Mark Peterson (markpeterson@byu.edu) is professor emeritus of Korean, Asian and Near Eastern languages at Brigham Young University in Utah.
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