Things I don’t know about Korea, part 1 of many
Now that I’m teaching my Korean History course I am, of course, running into questions I cannot answer. I’m going to post them here periodically:
- Though the Choson-era Korean Army (in its various commanderies and provincial forms) was conscripted from peasantry (and officered, it appears, by military Yangban), where did the Navy get its personnel? You can’t just conscript a peasant and put him on a ship and expect him to be useful: did they recruit from fishing communities, or was there a training process?
- What’s the numerical breakdown of Choson society? I’ve seen suggestions that as much as 20-30% were in the unfree categories at the bottom of the social scale, but I can’t seem to get a handle on the Yangban and Chungnin classes, either in total population or (as one of my students asked) rate of shedding members to lower classes.
- Who was the aged, deeply bearded gentleman depicted on the Japanese colonial-era Korean bills? (See below)
Hi Jonathan,
I checked a few sources and it seems that the bearded gentleman on the Bank of Chosen notes is probably the legendary Japanese hero-statesman 武内宿禰, who had earlier been depicted on Japanese yen-notes.
Perhaps. You’re right that the face looks similar. Still, it seems odd that they’d put a figure “significant in supporting Emperor Chūai and Empress Jingū during the Punitive Campaign against the Three Korean Kingdoms” on the Korean notes. Seems a bit tasteless, but perhaps they just figured he was someone who’d been in both countries.
…that’s exactly the explanation Tatai Yoshio gives in his 朝鮮銀行：ある円通貨圏の興亡.
OK, I can buy that. Thanks!
The social class system of Choson was not inflexible as many people(both foreigners and Koreans) think.
When Choson was established, there were only two classes, which are the lyangmin(ì민) and the cheonmin(ì²ë¯¼), but as time passed, yangban class was differentiated, and this was mainly due to economic reason. Of course, there were real ‘yangbans’ who were actually scholars and were eager to become prominent, but many yangbans lived as self-satisfied landlords in country. About this time(mid-15th century), the percentage of yangban in the entire population was less than 10%. (at first, it was less than 3%) However, the Imjin war was the point where the system collapsed. The post-war government was in desperate need of money, so it was allowed for commoners to have honorary titles and become yangban only if they donate money to the government. Also, since 17th century, forgery of jokbo became very prevalent, so any commoners could become yangban if they had enough wealth. As a result, about late-18th century, the percentage of yangban was about 30%; right before the socieal hierarchy was abolished, it was almost 70%(!)
And about the navy, well, it was never considered as a significant part of army(even during the Imjin war!) by officials. Of course, this does not belittles the feats of Choson navy, but that is the truth. Most of the navy consisted of recruits from fishing communities, as you guessed. However, service in navy was very infamous as a difficult one, so most people tried to avoid it. However, as far as I know, there were some elite soldiers in Navy, too. These guys were the gunners and officers, and they were paid quite well for their service.
There was no special training protocol provided by the government. However, the commanders of jins(or naval bases) were expected to perform training in any way.
It does seem like the “there are too many Yangban” screeds start around 1600, certainly. Thanks!