 The Seungjeongwon, the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty, was responsible
for keeping Seungjeongwon Ilgi, the Diaries of the Royal Secretariat, a detailed
record of the daily events and official schedules of the court, from the Joseon
Dynasty's first king, Taejo, to its 27th and last, Sunjong. But through the
vicissitudes of time, only 3,243 diaries are extant.The extant diaries have
detailed information on 288 years of the Joseon Dynasty, from March 12, 1623
(the 1st year of the 16th king, Injo) to August 29, 1910 (the 4th year of the
27th king, Sunjong).
Seungjeongwon Ilgi has the largest amount of
authentic historic recordings and state secrets of the Joseon Dynasty. Also, it
had served as the primary source to Annals of Joseon Dynasty, thus, its historic
value is even greater than that of the Annals of Joseon Dynasty. It was
designated as National Treasure No. 303 in April, 1999 and registered as Memory
of the World in September 2001. Its content contains the entire picture of
Seungjeongwon, a pivotal office in a royal court, taking care of not only
important national events but also simple routines as well. The king's
appointments including gyeongyeon, or discussions with scholars on the Confucian
and other Chinese classics, meetings with court functionaries, administrative
acts, and affairs in the queen's inner palace were listed in the preface to a
monthly diary. The names of the royal secretaries and of the scribes are
recorded in every day's diary. Underneath the list are recorded the names of
daily deputy officials and their attendance or absence.
The details of
the main text are written in the order of the daily tasks of the Seungjeongwon,
daily regards to the king and his queen, the king's gyeongyeon, the
Seungjeongwon's personnel affairs, reports from different ministries, and the
king's commands.On general principle, the daily records were supposed to be
compiled into one diary every month. But most diaries recording the earlier
period of a king were rather roughly written, so that two to five months were
compiled into one diary. Later in a reign the content tended to increase, so
that two diaries might be needed for one month.
The keeping of diaries
began in the founding year of the Joseon Dynasty, but those of the kings before
King Injo were burned to ashes during the Japanese invasions of Korea and by
palace fires. Thus, the extant 3,243 diaries are preserved. Seungjeongwon Ilgi
vividly represents an Eastern monarchial sovereign system, politics, policy
making, and power structure, while at the same time containing an invaluable
legacy of documentary culture. The size of Seungjeongwon Ilgi is unprecedented
in the world: about 242.5 million characters in 3,243 diaries.
(Comparative data: Annals of the Joseon Dynasty contains 54 million
characters in 888 volumes; Ershiwushi, the Compendium of Chinese History Books,
40 million characters in 3,386 volumes)
Seungjeongwon Ilgi, recorded by
royal secretaries and scribes, provides etymological data, as well as changes in
Korean and Chinese writing, the co-use of Chinese and Korean in state documents
around the time of the opening of the nation's ports, the influx of foreign
civilization i ncluding the Japanese language and government system, and other
diverse sources of information (social and cultural value).
It covers
288 years of weather observation from the 17th to 21st centuries. It also makes
possible the accurate comparison of the lunar and the solar date (scientific and
statistical value).
It shows how Catholicism started to take root under
the time-honored Confucian society and the reaction of the authorities
(religious value). Diaries written after the Political Reform of 1894, the 31st
year of King Gojong, record Japan's intervention in domestic affairs. They
include the compulsory agreement requested of the Joseon king and other
behind-the-scene history in the court, making them primary historic sources for
the study of modern times of the Far East.
For the preservation of the
original copies of Seungjeongwon Ilgi, housed in the Gyujanggak Library of Seoul
National University, public viewing is not allowed. But the 141 photocopies
compiled by the National History Compilation Committee (1961-1977) from the
original Seungjeongwon Ilgi are available for public reference. Moreover, the
Academy of Korean Studies has scanned and provides through the Internet the
hand-written copies by the Annals Compilation Committee of the Yi Royal
Household Office of the Seungjeongwon Ilgi that cover from the 2nd year (1851)
of King Cheoljong to the 4th year (1910) of King Sunjong.
The National
History Compilation Committee plans to digitize the photocopies of all the
diaries and provide them through the Internet in the near future.
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