Chapter II.
Tan-jong becomes king.... “The Tiger”.... conspiracy.... king’s uncle virtual ruler.... sericulture encouraged.... king abdicates.... people mourn.... king banished.... a royal captive’s song.... king strangled.... the usurper’s dream.... character of the new king.... reforms.... trouble with the emperor.... policy in the north.... more reforms[reforms].... official history of the land.... medicine.... hostility to Buddhism.... king’s concern for the people.... army cared for.... literary work.... a standing Buddha.... a voluminous work.... dangerous rebellion in the north.... emperor pleased.... king retires.... Great Bell hung.... The Pyo-sin.... a new king.... foreign relations.... Buddhists driven from Seoul.... examinations.... convents broken up.... war against Buddhism.... a termagant.... a prosperous land.... law against the marriage of widows.... military operations in the north.... celebrated history written.... king reproved.... a foe to Buddhism.... reform in music.
It was in 1452 that king Mun-jong died and his little son Hong-wi ascended the throne. The title of the latter is Tan-jong Kong-eui Tă-wang, and of all the kings of Korea, whether of this dynasty or of any other, his fate is the most calculated to excite the pity of the reader.
His uncle, Prince Su-yang, was a bold, unscrupulous man with whom natural affection did not affect the balance by a feather weight. He was at the head of a powerful faction and it was only the jealous vigilance of the Prime Minister, Kim Chong-so, that the boy ever came to the throne at all. The people said that “The Tiger” must be killed before the boy could come to his rights. Prince Su-yang saw that the people were with the young prince to a man and he knew that he must brush from his path these powerful friends of the young king before he ever could come to the throne himself. To this end he conspired with Kwŭn Nam, Han Myong-whe and some thirty others. The Prime Minister was the first object of attack for he was the most strenuous supporter of the king. Prince Su-yang, in company with one Im Un, armed with iron bludgeons, went to the house of the Prime Minister and there the former feigned to have lost one of the wings from his palace hat and asked the Minister to lend him one for the day. The Minister could not refuse and sent his little son to bring one, but ere the lad returned the father was laid dead by a blow from the bludgeon in the hands of Im Un. The prince then hastened to the palace and told the boy-king that the Prime Minister had been conspiring against the government and so it had been necessary to put him to death. Boy though he was, King Tan-jong saw straight through this falsehood and his first words were, “I beg of you to spare my life.” From that moment all power slipped from the hands of the king and the Prince Uncle was virtual ruler of the land. Placing heavy guards at the palace gates, he sent messengers summoning the king’s best friends, and as soon as they appeared they were cut down. In this manner Whang Po-in, Cho Keuk-gwan, Yi Yang, Yun Cho-gong and Min Si were killed. Besides these many others were banished, so that soon the court was deprived of almost every supporter of the king except the aged Sŭng Sam-mun who was such a venerable man and held in such esteem by the whole nation that even this bold prince did not dare to lay hands on him. This done, Prince Su-yang began to center in himself all the high offices of the realm and became an autocrat, dispensing offices and regulating the affairs of the country according to his own ideas. Yi Cheung-ok, the governor of Ham-gyŭng Province, was a strong supporter of the king and so, though far from the scene of this intrigue, emissaries were sent who murdered him in cold blood.
The only important act of this short and unfortunate reign was the encouragement given to sericulture. The young king sent large numbers of silk worms to various districts and rewarded those who did well with them and punished those who made a failure of it.
All the time the wily prince had been urging upon the king the necessity of abdicating in his favor. We know not what threats and cajolery were used, but true it is that early in 1456, after all the other uncles of the king had been banished to distant parts to get them away from the person of the king, that unhappy boy, as yet but fifteen years old, bereft of every friend he had ever known, hedged in by the threats of his unnatural uncle, finally called the officials to a council and repeated the lesson he had been undoubtedly taught. “I am too young to govern the realm rightly and I desire to put the reins of government into the hands of my uncle, Prince Su-yang.” As in duty bound they all went through the formality of demurring at this but the king was firm and ordered the seals to be handed to the prince. Among these officials there were two who looked with disfavor upon this. They were Pak P‘ăng-yŭn and Sŭng Sam-mun. The former stepped forward as if to give the seals to the prince, but when they were once in his hands he made a dash for the door and tried to throw himself into a lotus pond. Sŭng Sam-mun caught him by the garments and whispered in his ear, “Wait, all this will be righted, but we must live to see it done.” So the young king Tan-jong stepped down from the throne. The usurper is known by his posthumous title Se-jo Hye-jang Tă-wang.
After King Tan-jong had abdicated he was held under strict surveillance in the palace and was practically a prisoner. It is said the people congregated at the Great Bell in the center of the city and wailed over this fulfillment of their worst fears.
But the dethroned king was not left entirely without help. Six of the officials conspired to assassinate the usurper at a dinner given to a Chinese envoy, but someone betrayed them to him and they were seized, tortured with red-hot irons, decapitated and dismembered. These six men were Pak P‘ăng-yŭn, Sŭng Sam-mun, Yi Gă, Ha Wi-ji, Yu Sŭng-wŭn and Yu Eung-bu. Their wives, parents and children perished with them.
Chöng In-ji, one of the new king’s creatures, memorialized the throne as follows:—“All this difficulty arose about the ex-king. He should therefore be put to death.” This was rather more than the king dared to do but the unfortunate boy was banished to Yong-wŭl in Kang-wŭn Province. His brother Yu was also banished at the same time. The banished king lived beside a mountain stream and is said to have sung this plaintive song to it:
A long, long road, a long good-bye.
I know not which way to turn.
I sit beside the stream and its waters, like me, mourn.
And together we weep without ceasing.
At last when the time seemed ripe, another of Tan-jong’s uncles memorialized the throne urging that the banished boy be put to death so that there might be no more cause for conspiracy on the part of any of the officials. With apparent reluctance the king gave orders that Gen. Wang Pang-yŭn be detailed to go and administer poison to the boy. When that official arrived at the place of banishment his hardihood failed him and instead of giving the boy the poison he prostrated himself before him. The ex-king exclaimed, “What brings you here?” but before answer could be given a man named Kong Sang came up behind the banished king and strangled him with a cord. The story runs that as the murderer turned to leave the room blood burst from his ears, eyes, nose and mouth and that he fell dead beside the body of his victim.
The few palace women who remained in the suite of the banished king threw themselves into the stream and perished. The body of the young king would have remained unburied had not a man named Om Heung-do taken pity on the murdered boy and buried him in Tong-eul-ji. The night the boy was murdered the usurper dreamed that the dead mother of his victim came from the grave, and, standing beside his couch, pronounced the following malediction: “You have stolen the throne and killed my son. Your’s too shall die.” It is said that when he awoke he found that the prophecy had already been fulfilled. He therefore dug up the bones of this prophetess of evil and scattered them upon the water of the river.
Tradition says that the next seven magistrates who were appointed to the district where this foul murder was perpetrated died on the very night of their arrival. The eighth made it his first duty to go to the grave of the murdered king and sacrifice before it and write an elegy upon him. From that time there was no more trouble.
In spite of the way in which King Se-jo obtained the throne he is not held in ill repute among the people of Korea. The unpardonable crime which attended his usurpation of the throne augured ill for the reign, but the truth is there have been few kings of the dynasty who have done so much for the advancement of the interests of the people as this same Se-jo. Tradition says that when a boy he was looked upon with wonder because of his skill with the bow, and he used to climb the mountains blindfold where others dared not follow with open eyes. One story tells how once, when he went to China with the embassy, eight elephants that stood before the palace gate knelt as he approached, thus foretelling his future greatness. He was a temperate man and hated luxury and effeminacy. He would not use gold upon his table and when his little son asked for a silver cup it was refused him.
He took up the policy of reform at the very point where his father, King Se-jong, had laid it down five years before. He established pleasant relations with the people of the Liu Kiu islands and of the wild northern tribes, by treating their envoys with special attention. Those who were obstinately unfriendly he crushed with a heavy hand. Among the latter was an able chieftain, Yi man-su, who had formerly lived in Seoul and had married a Korean woman but later had fled back to the Yŭ-in tribes and raised the standard of revolt. The Korean generals were in some trepidation on this account but Gen. Sin Suk-ju marched against him and soon drove him back to his retreat.
By giving rank to a man of the Keum-ju tribe in Manchuria without the previous permission of the Emperor the king came near getting into serious trouble with his suzerain, but as it was a first offense it was overlooked. The Emperor sent word however that a repetition of the offense would bring down upon the king serious trouble.
The power of the central government was but weakly felt along the northern border and so the king paid special attention to that portion of the country, founding prefectures all along the north-eastern border. It was doubtless because of this active policy that the Yŭ-jin tribe came the following year and swore allegiance to Cho-sŭn. Among the reforms which were effected during the early part of this reign the following suffice to show the energy and wisdom of this king Se-jo. Fruit trees were planted in the palace enclosure so that the people might not be burdened with the duty of providing the king’s table with fruit. Mulberry trees were planted in all available places in the grounds of the different government offices, and even in the palace, where the queen engaged in weaving, together with the palace women. Dress reform was carried on to the extent of shortening the skirts of women’s dresses so that they could be more easily distinguished from men in the street. A school was founded for the study of the Chinese vernacular. The criminal court was ordered to present the king each month with a written account of its proceedings. The king saw in person every official who came up to Seoul from the country on business. A hospital was founded for the dispensing of medicine for indigestion.
These were but the beginning of his reforms. He punished at one time over a hundred prefects who had been oppressing the people. The palace inclosure was sown with grain when there was prospect of scarcity. In this reign we find the first reference to the Kuk-cho Po-gam or the official annals of the dynasty. The great bell which hangs in the center of the city of Seoul today was cast in his reign and hung at first outside the South Gate. A medical government bureau was founded and medical works were published. The king was actively interested in military matters and called together all the soldiers who could wield a bow of 120 pounds weight. This was with a view to the invasion of the territory of the troublesome wild tribes of the north. A census of the people was taken for the purpose of making army estimates, and during the whole reign the soldiers were practiced in sham fights both in the palace enclosure and outside the city walls. His attitude toward Buddhism was one of distinct hostility. One of his earliest edicts was that no monk should attend or pray at a funeral. He invented the use of the split bamboo as a sign between himself and the general upon the field. He kept half and the general kept the other half and if it was necessary to send a messenger he would take the piece of wood, which, if it fitted the piece in the hands of the receiver of the message, showed that the messenger was properly accredited. He seems to have been much concerned for the welfare of the people for we find that in the fourth year of his reign he caused the publication of a book on weaving and had it extensively distributed among the people, together with another on military matters and another still on women’s manners.
King Se-jo was the first of the descendants of the great T‘ă-jo[T‘ă-jo] to observe carefully the precept laid down by the founder of the dynasty—namely, to take good care of the army; this is evinced by the fact that at one time[time] he distributed large quantities of medicine among the soldiers on the northern[northern] border and made generous gifts of land to the troops, thus fostering the military spirit among the people. As a result we see them successful on every side. The tribe of Ol-yang-hap was destroyed, the tribes of I-man-ju, Ol-jok-heup and Yan-ba-a-gan came and swore allegiance.
In his fifth year[year] he codified the laws and published them. He also extended his medical work and published a book on veterinary surgery, and he published works on astronomy, geology, music, writing, the signs of the times, agriculture, live-stock, foreign relations and arithmetic. In other words this versatile man was actively interested in military, political, social, scientific and artistic matters and caused books to be written about these subjects for the enlightenment of the people.
It is said that in 1465 he caused the erection of a monastery in Seoul but he made the Buddha a standing one rather than a sitting one. Evidently he had little faith in the inanity of the sleepy sitting Buddha, who with folded hands let the years slip by unheeded. He wanted something more lifelike. So he set the Buddha on his legs. This image was carried through the streets at periodic intervals accompanied by a crowd of musicians and monks. A Japanese envoy was horrified at what he called sacrilege and foretold that it could not endure. He was right, not because the Buddha had gotten on its feet but because the people of Korea had begun to cast off the shackles of Buddhism and, following in the wake of the court, were learning to take advantage of their emancipation. This making of a standing Buddha and the occasional festivals seem to have been more by way of sport than through any serious intentions on the king and this in itself accounts for the speedy downfall of the custom. Its novelty, which was all it had to recommend it, soon wore off.
In 1467 he ordered the two monks Sin Mi and Chuk Hŭn to cut wooden blocks for a book to be called the Tă-jang-gyŭng. The love of exaggeration in the Korean temperament finds play in the statement that this book contained 8,888,900 pages. The historian evidently did not have his abacus at hand, for he continues by saying that each of the fifty volumes contained 7,078 pages, while the above figure would require 167,778 pages to the volume.
The last year of King Se-jo’s reign, 1468, witnessed a serious disturbance in Ham-gyŭng Province. A man named Yi Si-ă gathered about him a strong body of soldiers and sent word to Seoul that it was simply with a view to defending his district from the incursions of the northern barbarians. The provincial general went in person to investigate, but he was murdered by the followers of Yi Si-ă who were aided by a courtezan who occupied the general’s room with him and who at dead of night opened the window and gave ingress to the revolutionists. A messenger, Sŭl Kyŭng-sin was then sent to Seoul to say that the general had been killed because he had been conspiring against the king. At the same time the king was asked to make Yi Si-ă the general of the northeast. This man told the king that the three Prime Ministers were implicated in the plot against him. The king was suspicious but did not dare to let matters progress without investigation. He put the Prime Ministers in prison and at the same time raised a large army to go and oppose the too ambitious Yi. Generals Yi Chun, Cho Sŭk-mun and Hŭ Chŭng were put in charge. The last of these three was one of the great soldiers of Korea. Tradition says that he was of gigantic stature, that he ate a bag of rice a day and drank wine by the bucketful. A doughty man indeed, at least by the trencher. But his feats on the battlefield were commensurate with his gastronomic prowess for we are told that the sight of his face struck fear into the stoutest enemy.
This army found the enemy before Ham-heung whose governor they had killed. The royal forces soon had the enemy on the run and at last brought them to bay on Man-nyang Mountain which projects into the sea and is impregnable from the land side. The royal forces took boat and stormed it from the sea while part of the force engaged the enemy from the landward side. The head of Yi Si-ă was taken and forwarded to Seoul. In this fight it is said that Gen. Hŭ Chŭng found his sword too small, so throwing it aside he tore up by the roots a pine tree twelve inches in girth (?) and swept all before him with this titanic weapon. Of course the king then set free the three Prime Ministers and confessed his mistake.
The emperor called upon Korea to help in the castigation of the Keum-ju tribe beyond the Ya-lu, so the king sent a large force and accomplished it without the help of Chinese arms. Having destroyed the tribe the Korean general cut a broad space on the side of a great pine and there inscribed the fact of the victory. The emperor was highly pleased and sent handsome presents to the generals engaged.
This same year the king resigned in favor of his son and retired to a separate palace to prosecute a line of study in which he was greatly interested, namely the art of estimating distances by the eye, a subject of importance to all military engineers and one in which Napoleon Bonaparte is said to have been an adept. But before the end of the year he died.
His successor, Prince Hă-yang, is known by his posthumous title Ye-jong Yang-do Tă-wang. He was so young at the time that his mother acted as regent. During the single year 1469 that this king reigned the Great Bell was brought into the city and hung at the central spot called Chong-no or “Bell Street.” He also made the law that the palace gates should never be opened at night unless the one so ordering showed the royal signet or token, called the su-gŭl. This was a round piece of ivory half an inch thick and three inches in diameter with the word sun-jun on one side and the king’s private mark on the other. To it are appended straps of deer skin and it is used when the king wishes to accredit a man to a certain work. The mere showing of this is accepted as the royal command. It is commonly called also the pyo-sin “The Sign to be Believed.”
This reign saw the division of the city into north, east, south, west and central districts. It also saw the promulgation of the Kyŭng-guk Tă-jŭn or “The Great Laws for Governing the Country.” The system had been inaugurated at the beginning of the dynasty but now for the first time it was definitely[definitely] adopted and written out in full for the guidance of the official classes. It dealt with the minute divisions of communities, each having an overseer.
This same year 1469 the young king died and his mother calling the Ministers together, nominated to the throne Prince Cha-san[Prince Cha-san] the cousin of the deceased king. As he was only thirteen years old the Queen Mother acted as regent during the first years of his reign. His[His] posthumous title is Sŭng-jong Kang-jŭng Tă-wang.
Under the regency of the Queen Mother the first act was the abrogation of the law requiring the people to wear the ho-pă or wooden identification tag, which King T‘ă-jong had promulgated. It had become a mere matter of form and was found quite useless for the purpose intended, namely a preventative against the evasion of the taxes.
This reign was marked by increased activity in the field of foreign relations. First an envoy came from Quelpart with a gift of pearls. Another came from the town of Ku-ju Si-so in the province of Kwan-sŭ (Japan) and still another, Chöng Sŭng-hong from the town of Wŭn-jung on the islands of Tsushima. One embassy from the Liu Kiu Islands came with a gift of monkeys. The Japanese on the island of Sal-ma sent an envoy who presented gifts of red pepper, incense and white silk. He asked for Buddhist books but was refused. Envoys came also from the northern tribes swearing allegiance to Cho-săn[Cho-săn].
In 1472 all the sorceresses, fortune-tellers and Buddhist monks were driven from Seoul and[and] forbidden to enter it again. In the following year an envoy arrived from Japan saying “When Se-jo was king I painted his portrait and carried it to Japan, but at night a great light would stream from the picture’s face. So I brought it back and have left it at Che-p‘o in Chŭl-la Province.” The king immediately sent word to the governor to build an altar and burn the picture thereon, as it had been defiled by being carried to Japan.
Special attention was given by King Sŭng-jong to the matter of government examinations. He sent to the provinces and commanded the governors to hold preliminary examinations and to send the successful men up to Seoul to attend the grand examinations held on the third day of the third moon and the ninth of the ninth moon. Three men were to be sent up from each of the provinces except Kyŭng-sang, Chŭl-la and Ch‘ung-ch‘ŭng Provinces from which five each were allowed to come. This shows that then as today the largest part of the population of Korea was in the south.
An important change was effected in the matter of criminal procedure. The king commanded that all men of scholarly rank who offended against the laws should be arraigned not before the common tribunal of justice but before the college of scholars. Thus another barrier was built up between the common people and the nobility. King Sŭng-jong was also a patron of letters, for besides publishing a work called Che-wang Myŭng-gan or “The King’s clear Mirror,” and the O-ye-eui or “Five Rules of Conduct,” he[Conduct,” he] also built a library and collected in it all the different books that could be found. He was the determined foe of Buddhism and, having driven out the monks, he now proceeded against the Buddhist convents in Seoul. He broke them up and made them remove to the country. There were twenty-three of these convents in Seoul at the time.
The Queen Mother retired from the regency in 1477 and the king, assuming his full authority, continued the work of demolishing Buddhistic influence. He sequestered a monastery at Yong-san and made a school of it, after throwing out the image of Buddha. He seems to have been also a moral reformer, for he made a law against dancing-girls and commanded that boys be taught to dance and to take the place of those unfortunate women. It had been the custom on the king’s birth-day to have prayers offered in Buddhist temples for the safety and peace of the kingdom, but now this was abrogated, for the king said, “What does Buddha know? It is a worthless custom and must be stopped.” More than this, he compelled the monks in the country to refund to a man large sums of money which had been paid for prayers which were intended to ward off harm from the man’s son. The boy died and the father sued the monks for breach of contract, and the king upheld the claim.
In 1478 the queen died and a concubine named Yun was raised to the position of royal consort. This was destined to bring dire disaster to the realm. She was a woman of jealous disposition and violent temper and her hatred of the other concubines led her into trouble. On one occasion her passions overcame her and in an angry altercation with the king she scratched his face severely. The king desired to treat her offense leniently but he was overruled by the officials and the woman was driven from the palace. She had one son who is commonly known by his posthumous title Prince Yŭn-san. When the disgraced woman was dying she charged this son to avenge her disgrace, when he should come to the throne; for he was the heir apparent.
The reign saw many reforms of a social character. It was decreed that grave-plots must not be allowed to interfere with the making of fields. This indicates that during the years of prosperity the population had been rapidly increasing and that it was found necessary to increase the area of arable land in like proportion. The people were reaping the reward of many years of peace and good government. Nothing could show more plainly the relation between King Sŭng-jong and the people than the custom he inaugurated of helping those to marry who were too poor to do so.
The only books he caused to be published were four; on marriage, funerals, ancestor worship and “On Reaching Manhood.” He seems to have been an ardent Confucianist for among other things he ordered that widows should not be allowed to re-marry. This striking feature of Korean life dates from the days of this king. Before this there had been a certain amount of sentiment against the practice but it had been common even among ladies of the higher classes up to this time. His refusal to give books to the Japanese envoys would also lead us to believe that he was an active Confucianist.
All these years we hear of no dealings with China on the part of Cho-sŭn, but at this point we are told that the wild tribe of Yŭ-jin was harrassing[harrassing] the people of northern China and the Emperor sent a message to Korea calling upon her to combine with China in an attack upon this obnoxious tribe. The military policy of his predecessors now stood the King in good stead, for he was able to put a strong army in the field immediately and the tribe of Yŭ-jin was speedily chastised. The Emperor was highly pleased and sent the King a present of silk, gold thread and cotton cloth.
In the latter years of his reign the King had the Kuk-cho Po-gam written up to date, and he successfully withstood an invasion of the wild tribes of the north. One of his last acts was to order that all impurity and obscenity should be dropped from the songs and poems.
In 1482 the King built two forts on the Ya-lu near the town of Kang-gye because of threatened outbreaks of tribes living on the further side. In 1484 he built the Ch‘ang-gyŭng Palace east of what is now known as the “Old Palace.” In this same year the great historical work called the Tong-guk T‘ong-gam or “Complete Mirror of the Eastern Kingdom,” probably the most celebrated of Korean histories, was published. It brought the annals of the peninsula down to the beginning of the present dynasty. Its author was Sŭ Sa-ga, better known by his pseudonym Sŭ Ko-gan. He was a thorough master of Korean history.
A little glimpse of this King’s disposition is given in a memorial addressed to him in 1486 when, after a certain royal tomb had been struck by lightning he, in terror, asked his officials to mention his faults that he might mend them and so ward off the judgment of Heaven. One official brought four charges against him. (1) Love of money; (2) The selling of offices; (3) Cruel beating of criminals; (4) Unwillingness to be reproved. Two years later he ordered a remeasurement of the fields in Ham-gyŭng Province as he believed there was much taxable property there that was yielding no revenue.
The year 1489 was marked by a terrible scourge of cholera and one of the officials advised that the King pray to Buddha to stop it. The King promptly banished him. This man apparently thought that because the King’s mother was an ardent Buddhist this advice would not meet with punishment. But in this case even filial duty did not stand in the way of stern opposition to Buddhism. Soon a still more striking example was given. The Queen Mother had a Buddha made and placed in a monastery outside the East Gate, called Chöng-ok-wŭn. A man named Yi Pyŭk, passing by, asked what they were doing with the image and when he learned that the Queen Mother had ordered it set up he struck it and broke it in pieces. He finished the good work by burning the fragments. It can be imagined how angry the Queen Mother was and how she urged the King to destroy the contumacious subject, but in reply the King said “Instead of death he deserves a gift”, and there the matter dropped.
In 1490 one Kwŭn Chu memorialized the throne declaring that the musical instruments in use were those made by the corrupt Sin-don and that they were destructive of good manners. At his advice the instruments were destroyed and others were made. The style of music also was changed and it became purer and more serious. At this time the instrument of war called the so-ni, a kind of catapult, was invented.
The years 1491 and 1492 were occupied in border wars in Ham-gyung province, Gen. Hŭ Chŭng at last succeeding in clearing the northern borders of the enemy. The King died in 1494.