• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.62
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• pp.263-289
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• 2016

Confucius, whose life coincided with the Warring States period of China, is one of the most respected sages in world history whose teachings and life produced countless disciples in China, Korea, and Japan. There are innumerable pictures, sculptures, and other artworks that portray memorable deeds of Confucius and interesting anecdotes that involve his pupils. One of the most popular subjects for these Confucian portrayals is the anecdote in which Confucius and his pupil, Zhi Ru, discover a tilting vessel at an ancestral shrine in the Lu dynasty and use it to understand the doctrine of the mean. The vessel becomes the basis for the famous Chinese expression, "the cautionary vessel beside one's seat," which is nowadays used to denote one's motto for life. Portraits of these tilting vessels can be divided between those showing the vessels only and others that show Confucius observing the vessels. The former serve as visual reminders, for rulers and policy makers, of the doctrine of the mean that is necessary to fair and righteous governance. The latter form part of the pictorial biography of Confucius with educational content and messages. Interestingly, portraits of Confucius observing or studying tilting vessels have been famous among members of the royal court and the literati, circulated either as single artworks or included in the folding screens of human portraits. Portrayals of other Confucian anecdotes are mostly found in albums that visualize the genealogy of the Way; in contrast, the portraits of Confucius and the tilting vessels were included in folding screens that were popular among the literati that enjoyed stylish works of art and antiques. The portraits of tilting vessels thus highlight the diverse functions and symbolic value of human portraits. This study classifies the portraits of tilting vessels into various forms, and analyzes the period-and objective-dependent changes and characteristics in these portraits. With its exploration of the diverse functions and aspects of portraits of Confucian anecdotes, this study will shed new light on how ancient artists reanimated the lives of great sages and how these artworks differ in their expressions and styles.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.35
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• pp.471-498
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• 2009

The aim of this study is to see how bamboo paintings developed and what is the iconographical meaning of them through bamboo Ti-hua-shi(poems on paintings) found in Sheng-Hua-Ji, a leading compilation of Ti-hua-shi(poems on paintings) of Song Dynasty. Bamboo paintings give shapes in a simpler and more direct way in drawing, which means bamboo paintings reveal concretely more characteristics of Ti-hua-shi (poems on paintings). Bamboo paintings, which flourished during Northern Song Dynasty, often had the image of the dragon, specially a lying dragon or a winding dragon, which suggests a great man in obscurity. Snow-laden bamboos were also a symbol of a great man, very wise man in Confucian tradition. This shows Confucian ideal examples were embodied through bamboo paintings. Another aspect of bamboo paintings is that bamboo paintings were regarded as a means of self-expression, which identified Confucian sadaebu (scholar-officials) who advocated simplicity and austerity in their life. Contrary to professional painters, who added color and decoration to their paintings, Confucian scholars of Song Dynasty reduced color and embellishment in their bamboo paintings in black-and-white to reveal their own identity, focusing on spirituality rather than the image itself. Therefore, drawing and appreciating bamboo paintings were highly respectable pastime among the literati of Song Dynasty. In short, Bamboo paintings in Song Dynasty were not only a Confucian symbol of a wise and virtuous man but also reflected the taste of Song sadaebu class who thought of bamboo as a symbol for moral and cultural responsibility of Confucian society.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.15-29
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• 2022

The Byungsan Neo-Confucian Academy, a 17th-century World Heritage Site in Korea, is being praised as a manifestation of naturalness or non-artificiality of the traditional Korean borrowed scenery technique (借景, chagyeong). This study, however, aims to reinterpret the chagyeong of the Byungsan Academy (hereafter the Academy) as a device of illusion evoking an idealized vision of nature. In the process of interpretation, 'picture and frame'-a widely accepted expression that represents the chagyeong of the Academy-will be foregrounded as the pivotal concept mediating the change of perspectives from naturalistic to ideological. This study consists of the following three parts. First, it shows that 'picture and frame' represent a modern way of seeing the Academy as an architectural heritage in harmony with nature; it denotes pristine nature and the empty architectural frame that safely circumscribes the innate beauty of the natural landscape. Second, departing from the naturalistic perspective, this study argues that the architectural framework of the Academy composes scenography enticing the viewer to imagine the idealized, Confucian image of nature that compares to the landscape imagery found in the landscape poetry and paintings that were produced and appreciated by the 17th-century Confucian literati. Lastly, based on the above interpretation, this study stresses that the 'picture' one encountered at the Academy in the 17th century was not the framed scene of a natural landscape but the illusion it caused; the architectural 'frame' worked not as a symbol of naturalness but as an institutional apparatus of vision manipulating the way one sees-and therefore imagines-the landscape.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.31
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• pp.321-346
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• 2011

This is a preliminary study in order to deal intensively with the overall characteristics of Korean military science in the future days. First off, the history of military science of China based on the precedent studies was recapitulated, and a comparative study on the acceptance process of the books on military art and science, as well as on understanding patterns of literati on the subject through literature searches, ranging from the Three Kingdoms Period to the Goryeo Dynasty in Korean peninsula, was conducted. In case of Korea, the Chinese books on military strategy, including Sun Tzu's the Art of War, had already been passed down during the Three Kingdoms Period, and broadly read by scholarly people. They had utilized diverse methods based on their knowledge of Confucianism. In the reference materials, the authors of Korean military strategy books had greatly relied upon the Chinese books on military strategies, however, they had made the military principles run in their own way. At the end of Goryeo Dynasty, 'Military Science' had been well established as a subject in academia, and this curriculum had been taught not only at the National Confucian Academy, Seonggyun-gwan, in the capital but also at the country public school ("Hyanggyo") in the province together with Confucianism. Because of the limits of reference materials, however, it was difficult to confirm whether or not such strategic experiences were actually led to the publication of the books on military art and science, or how many books on military strategies and tactics had been published up until the end of Goryeo Dynasty. But, the facts that there were not many publications of the books on military strategies during the era of Three Kingdoms and of Goryeo Dynasty don't mean that Korean military science had entirely relied upon the Chinese military art and science. For instance, such strategies, tactics and leaderships as exhibited in the process of the Great Victory at Salsu River ("Salsu Daecheop") achieved by General Eulji Mun-deok, as well as the Great Victory at Gwiju ("Gwiju Daecheop") achieved by General Kang Gam-chan could never happen by chance.

• (The)Study of the Eastern Classic
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• no.48
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• pp.91-116
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• 2012

Writing is a process and work of expressing one's own feelings and thoughts that are not contained in rigid forms; however, the literary trend and environment during the Late Joseon was not so tolerant. A revivalist approach to writing was dominant during this period, which was summarized in the expression that "Prose must be written in the style of Qin and Han; and Poetry in that of High Tang. "Hence, it was practically a taboo to express one's raw emotions and disregard the custom and regulations of writing. Nevertheless, literati, who got tired of the dogmatic rule of Neo-Confucianism at the time that refused to see the changing world and the pseudo-archaic writing that merely imitated the outside and was empty inside, attempted new styles of writing to escape from the model or example and what was familiar. Lee Yong-hyu, who was in the middle of such transformations, learned the trends of Late Ming and Early Qing through the newly imported Chinese books and created his own style that reflected his personality. His writings refused the Neo-Confucian system of thoughts, which was a dominant ideology of the time, paid attention to the human nature and emphasized the restoration of the self. His writing could be described as being anti-pseudo-archaic and criticized the pretentious trend of the time. He argued that in order to restore the true self, one must recover the innocent mind that was bestowed on human by heaven/nature (cheon-li, 天理), and for this purpose, one must straighten out one's mind (sim, 心). His argument is similar to that of "Yangming School of Mind," which could be represented by the phrase, "Mind is the Principle (心卽理)." Yangming School claimed that moral principle existed within one's mind; and this was in stark contrast with the Neo-Confucian idea that "principle (li)"was external and transcendent, and was spoken by the great Confucian masters and written down in Confucian Classics. By denying the externality of the principle and underscoring its immanence, the idea that centralized Confucian Classics and canons was dismantled. Lee Yong-hyu's writing styles that denied the model and emphasized the restoration of the self was influenced by such thoughts. However, one must neither hastily judge that he is an advocate of Yangming School of Mind, nor determine the anti-pseudo-archaic writers' ideological basis as the philosophy of Yangming School. Once it is rigidly defined, be it Zhu Xi's philosophy or Wang Yangming's philosophy, it becomes another model that one must abide by, and again the self disappears. Thus, Lee Yong-hyu defied any kind of model that claimed authenticity or precedence and wished that people would live independently as oneself, and left such claims and wishes in writing. That is the reason, after more than two hundred years later, we still read his writings.

• Journal of the Korea Fashion and Costume Design Association
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.35-49
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• 2016

Dopo was the clothing of the Joseon period, which had a strong value of Confucianism. Apart from the kings and princes, government officers and Confucian literati wore Dopo as their official clothing and the uniform. The basic form of Dopo had the straight collar similar to Jikryeong. The difference is the shape of a Mu, which was fixed inside or on the back section along the side line of the front section and made two flaps on the back section. The clothing found in the tombs of Bae Cheonjo (1532~?) are from the mid-16th century to the early 17th century with the clothing style of the early Joseon period. The outer collar of all clothing was the shawl collar except for the Sibok and the inner collar was sewn to this. Two items had square tray collars, which were folded in half and sewn inside in half. The sleeve had a straight inseam from the armhole and its end around the wrist was round and wide. The carp-shaped inseam of the sleeve and wide sleeve indicated a change of sleeve shape. The shapes of the collars and the wide overlapped section of the dual collars demonstrated the shapes of the initial outer robes. The man's outer coats with wide sleeves were mostly cotton-quilted clothing. As described above, this paper examines the basic shapes of outer robes including Sibok, Jikryeong and man's outer coats on the basis of the clothing and artifacts from the tomb of Bae Cheonjo (1532~?) and examined the shapes, composition and features of Dopo. This paper aims to improve awareness of the wisdom and spirit of ancestors in life hidden in the sewing of the three Dopo items and on the importance of historical research.

• The Journal of Korean Philosophical History
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• no.29
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• pp.89-123
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• 2010

As above, as theoretical basis of critiques against School of Mohism, the researcher summarized the positions of the elder Confucian scholars including Meng Zi. In the body of text, taking it as promises, the researcher examined the critiques against Mo Tzu and School of Mohism as well focusing on the aspects and development of the theory of rejecting heterodoxy which had been introduced and strongly argued from the end of Goryeo kingdom to the late Joseon period. The summary of the body of this text is as follows: In the old literatures prior to Goryeo Kingdom, the researcher couldn't find any cases that either the School of Mohism or Mo Tzu including the Hundred Schools of Thought had been rejected explicitly. Having reached the end of Goryeo and the beginning of Joseon period, Meng Zi's viewpoints on the theory of rejecting heterodoxy had begun to emerge and come into play with the progress of accepting Neo-Confucianism, and, these critiques against Yang Zhu and Mo Tzu being given, the scholar-literati circle had started rejecting Buddhism and Lao Tzu. Basically the contents of the critiques against the School of Mohism in the early period of Joseon were in succession to Meng Zi's theory of rejecting heterodoxy and the views and thoughts of the elder Confucian scholars including Han Yu rather than any specific critiques against Mo Tzu' ideology itself. Until entering the middle of Joseon period, the critiques against the School of Mohism had been used as a tool to promote Confucianism in an affirmative manner, while arguing strongly against the viewpoint of Han Yu in the first place. Particularly, not only the original text of the Mo Tzu's writings were directly quoted, although it was partial, but also the contents of the critiques against the School of Mohism had been developed and stretched to the extent of their entire ideological system. Having approached to the late period of Joseon, the critiques against the School of Mohism had begun to be linked to those critiques against the study of state examination or of sentence patterns including Catholic Church, furthermore the critics raised their harsh tones against the irregularities of the society at large like the issue of corruptions of the government officials of those days instead, although they still had firmly stood on the ground of the theory of rejecting heterodoxy. Those scholars that belonged to the School of Practical Learning, in particular, said in justification of the School of Mohism arguing that the major ideologies of Mo Zi had usefulness in the real world, also they even evaluated that Meng Zi ' critiques against the School of Mohism were immoderate. To sum up, characteristics of scholars in the Joseon period to understand and critique the School of Mohism are that ideologies of Mo Tzu were mostly used as a tool for the sake of critiques against heresies in other sectors of society based mainly on Meng Zi's theory of rejecting heterodoxy, rather than opposing views against the ideologies or philosophies of the School of Mohism itself. Meanwhile, however, on the plus side, the critics praised Mo Tzu's individual efforts in order to put his ideology of peace into practice apart from the ideological system of the School of Mohism. Also, having reached the late period of Joseon, the researcher was able to have discovered the fact that the writings of Mo Tzu had been used as historical materials in order to ascertain historical truths of Confucian Scriptures, rather not having it regarded as an ideology text.