Imjin namhaeng illok (Daily Record of a Journey South in 1592) O Hŭimun ( 1539–1613), Michael C. E. Finch Acta Koreana, Volume 22, Number 2, December 2019, pp. 369-398 (Article) Published by Keimyung University, Academia Koreana For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/756395 [ Access provided at 25 Sep 2021 17:10 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] ACTA KOREANA Vol. 22, No. 2, December 2019: 369–398 Imjin namhaeng illok 壬辰南行日錄 (Daily Record of a Journey South in 1592) By O HŬIMUN (吳希文 1539–1613) Translated, annotated, and introduced by MICHAEL C. E. FINCH O Hŭimun (吳希文 1539–1613), the author of “Daily Record of a Journey South in 1592” (Imjin namhaeng illok 壬辰南行日錄), was a scion of the Haeju O ssi (descent group) and his gravesite can be found today at Osan-li, Mohyŏn-myŏn, Yongin, Kyŏnggi Province. Although O Hŭimun never rose to political prominence or even passed the civil service examination, he was the father of O Yun’gyŏm (吳允謙 1559–1636), who acted as Korea’s “communication envoy” (t’ongsinsa 通信使) to Japan in 1617 some twenty years after the conclusion of the Japanese invasions of Korea at the end of the sixteenth century. O Yun’gyŏm eventually rose to the position of chief state councilor (yŏngŭijŏng 領議政) in the reign of King Injo (r. 1623–1649). O Hŭimun was also the grandfather of O Talche (吳達濟1609–1637), who as one of the “three learned gentlemen” (samhaksa 三學士) was executed at the age of twenty-eight for his opposition to Chosŏn’s peace negotiations with the invading Manchu forces in 1636 (Pyŏngja horan 丙子胡亂).1 Although finally attaining the junior ninth rank post of supervisor in the office of carpentry and works (sŏn’gonggam kamyŏk 繕工監監役) through the influence of his son O Yun’gyŏm at court, O Hŭimun has earned his place in the history of the Chosŏn era as one of the pre-eminent diarists of the Imjin War (1592–1598) period. His diary Swaemirok (瑣尾錄 Record of a refugee), which was registered as Treasure No. 1096 by the government of the Republic of Korea in 1991, provides a vivid first-hand account of the experience of a civilian and his family during the war, thus complementing the better known Nanjung ilgi (亂中日記 War diary), a record of the naval campaigns of Yi Sunsin (舜臣 1545–1598) and Chingbirok (懲毖 錄 Book of corrections), political reflections on the same period by the chief state councilor Yu Sŏngnyong (柳成龍 1542–1607).2 MICHAEL C. E. FINCH ([email protected]) is a professor in the Department of Korean Studies, Keimyung University, Korea. 1 For a genealogy for O Hŭimun see Appendix A at the end of this translation. 2 English translations of these works are Yi Sunsin, Nanjung ilgi (The War Diaries of Admiral Yi), translated by Ha Tae-hung (Seoul: Yonsei University Press, 1977); Yu Sŏngnyong, The Book of Corrections: Reflections on the National Crisis during the Japanese Invasion of Korea: 1592–1598, translated by Choi Byonghyon (Berkeley: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 2002). A recent valuable addition to these translations of materials relating to the Imjin War is JaHyun Kim Haboush and Kenneth R. Robinson eds. and trans., A Korean 370 Acta Koreana, Vol. 22, No. 2, December 2019 O Hŭimun began writing his diary several months before the onset of the Japanese invasion of 1592 (Imjin waeran) on the twenty-seventh day of the second lunar month of 1591 (Sinmyo) and continued until the twenty-seventh day of the second lunar month of 1601 (Sinch’uk). The diary comprises a total of seven books. The first book (121 pages) contains the “Imjin namhaeng illok” (Daily record of a journey south in 1592), which is translated in full here, and the “Imjin illok” (Daily record of the year 1592). The second and third books (113 and 121 pages) cover the lunar years 1593 (Kyesa) and 1594 (Kabo) respectively. The fourth book (194 pages) contains the records of the lunar years 1595 (Ŭlmi), 1596 (Pyŏngsa) and the first lunar month of 1597 (Chŏngyu). The fifth book (63 pages) covers the second month to the eighth lunar month of 1597, and the sixth book (86 pages) contains the records for the ninth to twelfth lunar month of 1597 and the lunar year 1598 (Musul). The seventh and final book (117 pages) contains the records for the lunar years 1599 (Kihae), 1600 (Kyŏngja), and from the first day of the first lunar month until the twenty-seventh day of the second lunar month of 1601 (Sinch’uk) when O Hŭimun and his family finally returned to their home in Seoul. The title O Hŭimun gave to the complete work Swaemirok 瑣尾錄 is a literary reference to a line from the ode “Mao qiu” (K. Mogu: Banner Hill) in the Classic of Poetry (Shijing 詩 經), which is described by the translator James Legge as a “complaint of the ministers of Le against those of Wei for not assisting them.”3 The relevant line in the poem is “Fragments and a remnant, / Children of dispersion [are we].” (C. Suoxi weixi liuli zhi zi; K. Swaehye mihye yuri chi cha). “Swae” (C. suo 瑣) meaning “fragment” and “mi” (C. wei 尾) meaning “remnant” are combined to form “Swaemirok” (literally “Fragment, remnant record”), which I have translated based on its original context in the Classic of Poetry, as “Record of a refugee.” The first section of Swaemirok translated here is titled, “Imjin namhaeng illok” (Daily record of a journey south in 1592) and comprises a record of O Hŭimun’s journey from his home in Seoul southwards through Kyŏnggi, Ch’ungch’ŏng and Chŏlla Provinces and describes his experiences travelling, sightseeing, and visiting relatives, including his younger married sister’s family at Hwanggye on the south coast of Chŏlla Province and his brother- in-law Yi Pin in Changsu north of Namwŏn in the same province. It is during these travels that on the sixteenth day of the fourth lunar month of 1592 O Hŭimun first hears of the Japanese invasion force that had landed at Pusan three days earlier on the thirteenth day of the fourth lunar month. His leisurely travel itinerary is thrown into confusion as he receives news of the Japanese forces’ rapid progress northwards to Seoul and Pyŏngyang, making the usual routes of travel impassable.4 As a consequence, O Hŭimun is War Captive in Japan, 1597–1600: The Writings of Kang Hang (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013). Kang Hang (1567–1618), like O Hŭimun, was a non-combatant in the war, but he was less fortunate insofar as he was captured by the Japanese during the second invasion of 1597 and held captive in Japan until 1600. For the best overall account of the Imjin War in English, see Samuel Hawley, The Imjin War: Japan’s Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China (Seoul: RAS-KB and IEAS University of California Berkeley, 2005). 3 See “Maou-k‘ew” (Mao qiu 旄丘) (Legge 1871, 59–60). 4 For a complete list of the places that O Hŭimun visited during his travels recorded in the “Imjin namhaeng illok,” see Appendix B at the end of this translation. Finch: Imjin namhaeng illok 371 separated from his elderly mother, wife and children, who he had left behind in Seoul, and is forced to stay at Changsu in Chŏlla Province under the protection of the local magistrate, his brother-in-law, Yi Pin, and later to flee to the nearby Mt. Yŏngch’wi 靈( 鷲山) as the Japanese forces encroach into the region. As a “diary of situation” “Imjin namhaeng illok” provides an invaluable insight into a civilian’s response to the onset of the Japanese invasion of 1592.5 O Hŭimun recounts his daily concerns for the safety of his own family and even for that of the memorial tablets of his ancestors. Due to his closeness to the local administration because of his family ties to the local magistrate Yi Pin, O Hŭimun is also relatively well-informed about the progress of the war. He records his feelings of indignation and humiliation at the news of the collapse of Chosŏn’s land forces in the face of the Japanese assaults, which were exacerbated by the ignominious flight of King Sŏnjo (宣祖 1552–1608) from Seoul to P’yŏngyang and then to Ŭiju on the southern bank of the Yalu River. He was somewhat assuaged, however, by reports of the naval victories of Yi Sunsin and the exploits of the righteous armies (ŭibyŏng 義兵). The diary is not primarily a political commentary on the progress of the war but rather is filled with intimate details of O’s personal life and interpersonal relations, especially his interactions with members of his own yangban (gentry) class. Throughout the diary we can clearly see the importance of the mutual support system of this class in Chosŏn, which became a vital means of survival in a time of crisis. This translation of the first section of the diary “Imjin namhaeng illok” is based on the printed version of the original text in classical Chinese that has been made available on-line by the Jangseogak Royal Archives at the Academy of Korean Studies.6 In carrying out this translation, I have been greatly assisted by the Korean translation of Swaemirok undertaken by Yi Minsu and published in two volumes by the Ch’ut’an kongp’a chongch’inhoe in 1990.7 Daily Record of a Journey South in 1592 At dawn on the twenty-seventh day of the eleventh lunar month (chiwŏl 至月) of 1591, I departed from the capital (Seoul) and spent the night at the village school (sŏdang 書堂) of Yi Kyŏngyŏ (李敬輿).8 On the following day I arrived at a farming village (nongch’on 農村) in Yangsan (陽山) in order to prepare provisions for the journey.