• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.143-153
• /
• 2011

The sundials produced in King Sejong era had the functions of accurate observation instruments and were fabricated in various forms such as Angbuilgu (hemispherical sundial). In this study, we investigated the literature, structural characteristics and principles of Hyeonjuilgu, Cheonpyeongilgu and Jeongnamilgu that were developed in Joseon to have the unique structures. Additionally, the sundials were reviewed in the perspective of technical history by comparing them with the sundials of China. For the restoration of the sundials, we identified the principle in which the light spots and shade of the sun were used, and drew the variations of the altitude and azimuth by the yearly motion of the sun on the Siban on the hemispheric and flat surfaces. Based on these results, we completed the design drawings of the three sundials and proposed the restoration models.

• Publications of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.9-19
• /
• 2018

We investigate the life of Lee Cheon (1376-1451) who was closely connected with astronomy during the reign of King Sejong of the Joseon dynasty. Lee Cheon is widely regarded as one of the outstanding scientists of King Sejong's period. However, his contributions to the development of the astronomy during the period have not been enlightened. Based on the historical records on the life and achievements of Lee Cheon, mainly referring to the Joseonwangjosillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), we address three important points. First, Lee Cheon was a distinguished administrator who filled various government posts. Second, he was a supervising engineer in public works and metal smelting during his position in military. Third, he was a scientific technician and manufactured precision equipment such as the metal movable type sets. By virtue of these aspects, Lee Cheon was taken into confidence by King Sejong on the Ganui-dae project (i.e., manufacture various astronomical instruments and construct their platform in order to make a calendar suitable for Joseon). During the period of this project, Lee Cheon not only supervised the construction of the Ganui (simplified armillary sphere) and Ganui-dae (platform for astronomical instruments) but also participated in the production of the astronomical instruments such as Gyupyo (Gnomon) and Honcheonui (Armillary Sphere). In conclusion, we regard Lee Cheon as one of the astronomers who led a great advance in astronomy during King Sejong's era.

• CELLMED
• /
• v.14 no.2
• /
• pp.2.1-2.10
• /
• 2024

Through big data analysis of the 'Joseonwangjosilok', this study examines the perception of ginseng among the ruling class and its utilization during the Joseon era. It aims to provide foundational data for the development of ginseng into a high-value cultural commodity. The focus of this research, the Joseonwangjosilok, comprises 1,968 volumes in 948 books, spanning a record of 518 years. Data was collected through web crawling on the website of the National Institute of Korean History, followed by frequency analysis of significant words. To assess the interest in ginseng across the reigns of 27 kings during the Joseon era, ginseng frequency records were adjusted based on years in power and the number of articles, creating an interest index for comparative rankings across reigns. Analysis revealed higher interest in ginseng during the reigns of King Jeongjo and King Yeongjo in the 18th century, King Sunjo in the 19th century, King Sejong in the 15th century, King Sukjong in the 17th century, and King Gojong in the 19th century. Examining the temporal emergence and changes in ginseng during the Joseon era, general ginseng types like insam and sansam had the highest frequency in the 15th century. It appears that Korea adeptly utilized ceremonial goods in diplomatic relations with China and Japan, meeting the demand for ginseng from their royal and aristocratic societies. Processed ginseng varieties such as hongsam and posam, along with traded and taxed ginseng, showed peak frequency in the 18th century. This coincided with increased cultivation, allowing a higher supply and fostering the development of ginseng processing technologies like hongsam.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
• /
• 1996.11a
• /
• pp.702-706
• /
• 1996

The King Sejong's Striking water-clock was named for its distictive day and night time announcing system. Its time announcing system generates acoustic and visual signals for the twelve double hour, and combinations of two different acoustic signals for the five night watches, The mechanism of this signal generation system is triggered by a copper ball which is mechanically digitized time keeping signal, and is generated from the water clock. The time announcing system consisted four parts: 1) the mechanical amplifier which changes small copper to heavy steel ball, 2) day time announcing system, 3) night time announcing system, 4) sounding mechanism. The time announcing system of King Seong's Striking Clepsidra is remotely related to the Arabic clock system, however, it does have world-widely distictive mechanisms of its era, such as mechanical amplifier, self-weight rachet mechanism, and resetable mechanical computer etc.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.289-302
• /
• 2006

For a reconstruct draft of the Gyupyo (Gnomon) in King Sejong Era, we collected a lot of documents of the Chosen Dynasty. With the result we made a reduced model by 1/10 and drawing set for the Gnomon in Sejong Era. It is composed of the Gyu, Yongpyo, Hoengryang (a beam), Yeongbu and granitic prop. You can read the scale where the shadow of vertically-standing stick touches the horizontal Gyu. A Shadow-Define. (Yeongbu) was used to focus the shadow cast by the sun's center, measuring the (gnomon) shadow length precisely. A Yeongbu is made of a leaf of copper in the middle of which is pierced a pin-hole for the tiny optical image of the sun which tilted to face the incident sunlight, used the principle of the a pin-hole camera and Scheimplug principle.

• Journal of architectural history
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.155-170
• /
• 2012

The purpose of this study is to understand the architectural space of Donggung(東宮), the Prince's Palace, and Dongjo(東朝), the King's Mother and Queen's living space, in the early Joseon Dynasty. The Royal palace can be divided into three parts, political space for king, living space for king and his family and government office. So first, we should to understand the characteristics of each space in the Royal Palace. Up to now we have looked at the architectural space of Donggung(東宮) and Dongjo(東朝) in Gyeongbokgung(景福宮), one of the Royal Palace, the result of this study is as followings. Donggung which was living space for Prince consisted of Jaseondang(資善堂), Seunwhadang(承華堂) and Kyejodang(繼照堂) in the era of King Sejong Kyejodang was demolished and Seunwhadang was destroyed by fire in King Jungjong era and was not rebuilded. This buildings The buildings consisted of Jeondang, Whudang, main gate, hapmun(閤門) and corridor or fence Donggung and Dongjo was separated wall Dong consisted of many buildings for Queen dowager, Queen and many royal concubines The arrangement of Donggung and Dongjo was assumed like as the Fig2.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
• /
• v.35 no.1
• /
• pp.59-67
• /
• 2022

The medical text books used during the Joseon Dynasty can be seen to change over time by examining various records. These records show that the list of medical textbooks suddenly changed a lot between the era of King Sejong and Sejo in the Joseon Dynasty. However, since there are not many studies on this topic yet, this study was conducted and the following causes of these changes were identified: The first reason is the compilation project of Euibangyoochui (醫類聚聚) because the date of compilation of Euibangyoochui is clearly related to the period of change to the list of medical textbooks. The second reason is the difficulty of the medical examination during the Joseon Dynasty. Medical tests in the Joseon Dynasty were very difficult. Therefore, it was too unrealistic to keep 25 or 26 textbooks. Third, there was the problem of supply and demand of medical textbooks. Because the prices of these books were very high at that time, owning 25 or 26 medical books for an individual was a significant financial hardship. This study was able to confirm this through various forms of circumstantial evidence. However, more historical materials should be discovered in the future and research should be conducted to more accurately grasp the situation of the time.

• Strategy21
• /
• s.44
• /
• pp.177-212
• /
• 2018

The purpose of this article is to examine the 'Discussion of maritime defense' which began to be discussed from the late Goryeo dynasty to the early Joseon dynasty and the process of establishing a maritime defense system. Also it can identify changes in the aspects of the naval ship operation and their strategic tactics during the reign of King Sejong. Japanese raiders began a full-scale invasion from 1350 at the late Goryeo Dynasty, So the government realized the need to raise the 'Sea power' and to organize the maritime defense system for defending enemy invasion. for example, the reinforcement of naval forces, construction of warships, develoment of weapon systems and so on. which have achieved remarkable growth while continuing, have also been used to carry out a three-time 'Conquest of Daemado' in 1389, 1396, 1419. Until then, however, it is difficult to interpret that the naval forces had a systematic and organizational combat operation system. According to fighting patterns on combat reports before the early days of King Sejong's reign, Our naval forces had no advantage over the Japanese raiders in terms of their capabilities and tactics. Then, the period of King Sejong marked a watershed in maritime defense history. Based on accumulated experience of naval battles and force Projections, The paradigm shift of the naval strategic tactics for maritime defense has occurred. First, the capability of the naval vessels has improved. for example, ship speed, durability, and weather resistance. Through these efforts, navy forces were able to pursue and attack, destroy enemy's ships by taking advantage of the 'Ship speed superiority'. This has led to tactical shifts from defensive to offensive. Second, purpose to support offensive tactics, the government put a strategic plan into practice that is the forward depolyment of naval bases from the inland to the coast, considering the 'sea environment' and 'threat'. By doing so, Joseon dynasty was able to secure 'the command of the sea'. This may be a little different from the perception of the so-called 'peace period' that King Sejong's era. We need to remember that Joseon dynasty was working hard for its defense. When studying history of maritime defense, these strategic and tactical elements must be fully considered. Only then we can have a coherent understanding of the many naval battles in the past, including the Imjin War(1592-1598).

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.63.1-63.1
• /
• 2016

일성정시의는 표준시보장치인 보루각루의 시각을 교정하는 천문시계로 알려져 있다. "세종실록"에 기록된 김돈(金墩,1385~1440)의 일성정시의(日星定時儀)의 서(序)와 명(銘)에는 기기의 상세한 구조와 치수, 그리고 사용법을 소개하고 있다. 우리는 실록의 기록을 분석하여 세 종류의 일성정시의로 구분하였다. 또한 Needham et al. (1986)의 연구와 비교하여 일구백각환, 성구백각환, 주천도분환, 계형 등의 사용법을 분석하였다. 우리는 이러한 분석을 통해 해시계와 별시계로써의 일성정시의의 시간 측정 정밀도를 제시하였다.

• Journal of architectural history
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.61-70
• /
• 2015

This is a study on the construction of the Heungcheon-Temple. The results are follows. 1) The Heungcheon-Temple was anticipated to be the Jeongneung. However, when completed, the Heungcheon-Temple was symbolized Buddhism; moreover, there was a stupa enshrined sarira. The stupa was a land mark in Hanyang. While king Sejong repaired the stupa, it disappeared during the regin of King Jungjong. Before it disappeared the stupa signified a Buddhist event and a rite of good fortune. 2) The stupa was constructed using a double-frame, and there was a stone-stupa in an octagonal multi-layer temple. This single location consisted of a sarira space and a worship space. 3) Buddhist Relic(Sarira) worship was to witness holiness and therefore reics could be moved according to need. It appeared as though Buddhist Relic worship occurred in Southeast Asia. 4) The Heungcheon-Temple stupa was considered a new and superior architectural-symbol to comfort people and recognize the new order of Ming and neo-Confucianism. Therefore, the stupa was a good alternative to politics, religion, and external relations during the early Joseon era.