Things Seen and Heard in Ordinary Neighborhoods: Ihyang kyŏnmun nok by Yu Chaegŏn

Chosŏn Korea’s historiography and literature were primarily concerned with an exclusive minority centered around Seoul. Yet, as in any country or era, the workings of rulers and elites cannot be understood without considering the vast majority of the ruled, whose activities make bureaucracy possible and whose taxes and labor provide the surplus that funds the court. The ruled also engaged in creative activities, and Yu Chaegŏn (1793–1880) was determined to preserve their achievements. Under his pen name, Kyŏmsan, Yu actively participated in the poetry societies of non-aristocrats in the capital and was involved in the publication of a number of anthologies. One of these, Ihyang kyŏnmun nok (Things Seen and Heard in Ordinary Neighborhoods), completed in 1862, is a historical and literary work that faithfully compiled and recorded the accomplishments of near elites and non-elites,from palace interpreters and clerks to unfree laborers called nobi.

This annotated translation includes 175 of the 287 of the individual biographies compiled by Yu, providing a representative selection from all ten chapters of his work. The first anthologizes the lives of classicists and ritual specialists, the second explores exemplary filial and loyal subjects, the third those who had shown extraordinary administrative abilities or engaged in daring acts. Stories of virtuous women, poets and literary figures, painters and calligraphers, and medical doctors and other talented individuals follow. The volume ends with noteworthy practitioners of alternate religious systems, including Daoism and Buddhism. Together they provide a lively image of late Chosŏn society.

• Adam Bohnet, Translated with commentary

  Adam Bohnet is associate professor of history at King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario, in London, Canada.

• Robert E. Buswell, Jr., Series Editor

  Robert E. Buswell Jr. is the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Humanities, Emeritus, and Distinguished Research Professor of Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

• Jennifer Jung-Kim, Series Editor