� Koreana | Autumn 2008

JoseonwangjosillokAnnals of the Joseon Dynasty

The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) has been aptly referred to as the dynasty of records. In particular, this is centered around the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty (Joseonwangjosillok), a comprehensive compilation of the dynasty’s history. The Joseon Dynasty sought to maintain an independent and organized system of records for the documentation and preservation of history without distortion. The Annals recorded Korea’s history over a period of 472 years, from 1392 to 1863, which included 25 rulers, from King Taejo (r. 1392-1398) to King Cheoljong (r. 1849-1863). Even today, these records continue to provide valuable insight into the contemporary affairs of the Korean Peninsula.

The cover and a page of the Annals of King Sejong, which documents the reign of King Sejong (r. 1418-1450), the fourth ruler of the Joseon Dynasty. The records include the king’s every word and action throughout his entire reign. King Sejong the Great is best known for his instrumental role in the creation of Hangeul, the Korean alphabet.

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The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty are a true masterpiece of historical records that documented the rule of 25 kings over a period of 472 years, which have been maintained in their original form.

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Masterpiece of Historical RecordsThe Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, which recorded an almost 500-year period of Korea’s history in painstaking detail, served as a reference guide for the proper leadership of kings and encouraged their self-reflection, in regard to the judgment of future generations.

Park Hong Gab Chief of Research and Compilation Division, National Institute of Korean History

Masterpiece of Historical Records

T he Annals of the Joseon Dynasty were compiled to document:

“the political achievements and all other matters during the reign of a ruler.” Moreover, it was intended to be a “record of things as they were,” to the extent possible. Although annals are today often regarded as the chronicles of an organization or individual, in the past, they mainly referred to the records of individual rulers and the history of countries.

History of the AnnalsIn East Asia, annals originated

in China, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties period (420-581), when Zhou Xingsi compiled two vol-umes of annals to record the reigns of emperors of the Liang Dynasty (502-557). Thereafter, annals were compiled for each ruler of the Sui Dy-nasty (581-618) and the Tang Dynasty (618-906). The compilation of an-nals became a tradition of successive Chinese dynasties, and also served as a model for Korea, which maintained annals of its rulers from the time of the Goryeo period (918-1392). Unfortu-nately, the annals of Goryeo are forever lost, due to a whirlwind of national cri-ses caused by foreign invarions.

The Joseon Dynasty era included 27 rulers, starting with King Taejo (r. 1392-1398) and ending with King Sun-jong (r. 1907-1910), for which the an-nals of each king’s reign were published after his death. In large part, the Annals were consistently prepared in accor-dance with formal procedures, except

for the reigns of Gojong, the 26th ruler, and his successor Sunjong, the final Jo-seon king. This was because the previous Office of Records (Chunchugwan) had not been maintained during the period of Japan’s colonial rule (1910-1945), so the annals for Gojong and Sunjong could not be properly prepared in ac-cordance with established practices. Moreover, the Japanese authorities seriously distorted the facts of relevant matters, thereby undermining their value as historical records. As such, the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty often re-fers to the annals of the 472-year period, from Taejo to Cheoljong, the 25th ruler, while excluding the reigns of Gojong and Sunjong.

UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register

The Annals has been designated as Korea’s National Treasure No. 151 and a world documentary heritage by UNESCO. To supplement its designa-tion of cultural sites and attractions, in 1997, UNESCO initiated a “Memory of the World” Program to recognize documentary treasures, such as archive holdings and library collections. Of note, the Annals, along with the Hun-minjeongeum manuscript, the docu-ment that promulgated Korea’s Hangeul writing system, were among the first documentary treasures to be registered by UNESCO under this program.

There are numerous reasons for the Annals to have been designated as one of the first Memory of the World heritages by UNESCO. Above all, the

Annals are noteworthy for covering the history of the world’s longest continu-ous dynasty (472 years), providing ob-jective accounts of the political affairs and everyday life during the time of each ruler, having the original content fully preserved, and there being four cop-ies produced with movable metal type, in addition to serving as an invaluable reference resource for research of the history and relationships of the various nations of East Asia.

All Confucian nations compiled an-nals. However, there are several factors that distinguish the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty from those of other countries. Although the annals of China’s Ming and Qing dynasties have been preserved, comprising some 2,909 volumes and 3,000 volumes, respectively, in terms of the length of their historical coverage they are not even half as long as the 472 years of the Annals of the Joseon Dy-nasty. In addition, the Ming and Qing annals only recorded matters related to political affairs, while the Annals, along with the coverage of political matters, included a wealth of information on Joseon’s society, culture, the economy, military affairs, and diplomacy.

As for Japan, it compiled Veritable Records of Emperor Montoku and Veritable Records of Three Reigns of Japan during the late ninth century and early tenth century. And although these records are notable in terms of volume and content, the original copies have been lost.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is also known to have compiled annals in the 18th

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A Draft of the Record of the Royal Secretariat, in which a staff of historiographers was on hand to record the every word and action of the king. Upon the king’s death, these records and related materials would be incorporated into the texts of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty.

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The 1,893 volumes of the 888 books of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty record the reigns of Joseon kings from the dynasty’s first ruler, King Taejo, to its twenty-fifth, King Cheoljong. Along with documenting political affairs, the records also provide an abundance of information about the political circumstances, diplomacy, society, culture, and economy of Korea’s past.

1~2 A historiographer would always be at the king’s side, so as to record in detail his words and actions, including any time when the king left the palace, for official business or pleasure.

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century. The most prominent is the Veritable Records of Dai Nam, which includes 85 volumes of biographies of individuals from each historical period. But the contents are rather brief, since they primarily focus on the political af-fairs of the royal court.

The details and volumes of the An-nals of the Joseon Dynasty are truly extraordinary, which even include com-mentary on a variety of events and in-dividuals by the historiographers. The Annals well deserve to be placed on the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, as a documentary treasure, in recognition of its social, cultural, and philosophical value.

Why Were the Annals Compiled?Humankind has sought to keep re-

cords even before the invention of paper and writing systems, as is evident in the efforts of early man to record basic pat-terns and images of animal creatures in ancient cave paintings and rock carv-ings. It is clear that people developed a keen interest in maintaining records that were depicted through symbolic expressions.

Korea’s culture of record keep-ing also developed at a very early date. Moreover, interest in history was espe-cially high among nations that promot-ed Confucian principles, since it was believed that the past served as a mirror of the present and future. In fact, early historical records would often include references to mirror in the titles of writings.

The practice of maintaining objec-

tive records that detailed the achieve-ments of a king, without embellishment or deletion, served as a means to check the absolute power of a monarchial rul-er. In China and Korea, historiographers and royal advisors were responsible for curbing any excesses of royal authority. Whereas advisors sought to monitor royal power during a monarch’s reign, historiographers evaluated a king after his death and determined his legacy; failing to pass the latter test was often a far more fearsome prospect. Even Yeonsangun (r. 1494-1506), the infa-mous tyrant of the Joseon Dynasty, was known to say: “The thing I fear most is the judgment of history.”

The historical consciousness of East Asia was dominated by Confucianism. With this Confucian appreciation of his-tory, rulers were ever sensitive to the fact that their actions would be judged by future generations. Thus, even though Confucianism lacked a deity figure, the piety of this historical consciousness served to constrain the ruler’s absolute authority, along with being a primary motivation behind the compilation of annals. In addition, the Confucian respect for precedence over ideologi-cal principle was another reason for the compilation of comprehensive annals based on objective accounts.

The Annals were not planned and compiled by a specified group of per-sons at a certain time; instead, they in-volved an accumulation of the records compiled from the time that a new king took the throne. Despite this lengthy period of 472 years, the Annals included

records of the events of every single day, without exception, because of the aforementioned Confucian conscious-ness of history. And it was this same attitude that motivated the historiogra-phers to stake their lives on assuring the objectivity and accuracy of the various records.

Compilation ProceduresIn 1409, the year after Joseon Dy-

nasty founder King Taejo died, his suc-cessor, King Taejong (r. 1400-1418), instructed his court officials to compile Taejo’s annals. Various officials called for a delay in the compilation process, since King Taejo had not been dead for long and all the key figures of his reign were still alive. However, at Taejong’s insis-tence, the annals of Taejo were compiled and finalized, thereby establishing the Joseon Dynasty’s tradition of maintain-ing annals.

The basic materials of the compila-tion efforts included the daily accounts recorded by court historiographers about any and all matters related to the king. During the Joseon period, the court retained eight full-time histori-ographers who would be alternately assigned to record in detail the com-ings and goings of the king. Upon the death of a king, the daily accounts were submitted to the Archives Office (Sillok-cheong). In addition, the journals main-tained by various government offices were used as reference materials during the compilation process.

The Office for Annals Compilation, which would be established upon a

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king’s death for the sole purpose of overseeing the compilation of his an-nals, was staffed by senior-ranking officials along with various support personnel. Formal regulations were established in regard to the format and content of the annals as well as op-erational procedures. The regulations provided guidelines on such matters as the scope of reference materials to be used for compiling the relevant content, recording the royal orders and admin-istrative documents issued during the king’s reign, information about notable retainers who had died in the interval, dates and weather, information about court personnel, reports and proposals submitted to the king, tributes from the provinces, and private affairs, including controversial matters. Of note, the con-tent included the subjective commen-

tary of historio-graphers on particular events and individuals.

In accordance with the regulations, the office’s organizational structure in-cluded a chief compiler who supervised various departments and working-level staff. Each department prepared a draft of the annals content for a specified pe-riod of the king’s reign, which would be reviewed and revised before being final-ized. This three-step process was help-ful for minimizing clerical errors and omissions; however, it was primarily intended to assure the objectivity of the annals content.

Of note, the activities of the Office for Annals Compilation were carefully recorded and maintained in the Manu-als of the Office for Annals Compila-tion. At the conclusion of the compila-tion process, the draft documents and

revisions would be erased by rinsing the papers in water. In doing so, hard evidence of the compilation process was eliminated, while the paper would be reusable as well.

The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty generally adhere to the following struc-ture and form:• One volume generally consisted of a

year’s worth of content, but at times the content was organized into vol-umes covering a period of one or two months or six months. For the Annals of King Seongjong, each volume in-cluded one month’s worth of content, without regard to length.

• The annals of each ruler began with biographical information about the king, including his name, names of his parents, date of birth, details about his early years and education, process

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by which he was installed as Crown Prince, and, in the case of adopted sons, the names of his birth parents and information about his adoption. Appendices are often included at the end of the annals, which would cus-tomarily provide information about the king as a private individual.

• The annals are primarily compiled in chronological order, but at times the limitation of this format re-quired supplements. The Annals of King Sejong and the Annals of King Sejo included supplements, while the Annals of King Danjong con-tains an appendix with details about the restoration of his reign.

• Dates were written in the order of the year of the king’s reign, the

season, the month, and the day. Citations in early annals included the season and the month, but later records omitted the season.

• A “○” mark was inserted into the text to indicate that the records re-lated to a different day or subject. A majority of the content was written without spacing, but a space would be placed before the name of the king or previous kings. For sections that required special explanation, notes were included in smaller characters.

As compared to the early years of the Joseon period, as time went on, the annals content showed a lack of diversity, while increasingly emphasizing political matters, thus limiting the scope of the information.

Although it has been said that this resulted from efforts to ensure the objectivity of the content or a narrow focus on the ruling class, this develop-ment was the product of a dynastic society of a particular period and does not necessarily detract from the over-all value of the Annals.

Above all, the significant point is that the compilation of annals re-flects a 1,000-year tradition, from the Goryeo period through the Joseon period, and the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty have been preserved intact. Indeed, the Annals of the Joseon Dy-nasty are unprecedented among docu-mentary treasures, in terms of breadth and detail, and without a doubt a most precious cultural heritage.

1 An original copy of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty experienced the misfortune of being hauled off to Japan in 1913, during the Japanese colonial period. As a result of numerous calls for their return, a significant number of the expropriated materials were returned to Korea in 2006, after a 93-year absence. Here, history scholars carefully inspect the returned texts.

2~3 A formal ritual was conducted at Woljeongsa Temple on Mt. Odaesan, in Pyeongchang-gun, Gangwon-do Province (August 11, 2006), to commemorate the return of a copy of the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty from Japan. ©

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