The Story of Hong Gildong (17 page)

77
.
The governor:
Gildong's half brother, Inhyeon, is now referred to as the governor (
gamsa
, see note
32
).

78
.
Gyeongsa:
Another name for the capital city.

79
.
cangues:
(
hangswae jokswae
) Implements for restraining dangerous or serious criminals.
Hangswae
denotes a large cangue, which consisted of two long wooden planks that were locked together around a prisoner's neck (with a hole large enough to fit around the neck but not wide enough to put one's head through). Because of its considerable size and weight it was extremely difficult to move around with. It was somewhat like the pillory, except that it was not fixed to a stationary base.
Jokswae
denotes a smaller version of the cangue, used to restrain the prisoner by the ankles.

80
.
Office of the Royal Secretariat:
(
jeongwon
, short for
seungjeongwon
) A government office that dealt with sending commands from the king to the six ministries and receiving petitions from the ministries to the king. The royal secretaries of the office organized, formalized, composed, and advised the king on communications with the ministries.

81
.
minister of war:
(
byeongjo panseo
) The head of one of the six central ministries of the government.

82
.
disaster from falling upon three generations of your family:
Another reference to the penalty for treason.

83
.
Military Training Agency:
(
dogam
, short for
hullyeon dogam
) In
1593
, in the midst of the great crisis of the Japanese invasion (
1592
–
98
), this military institution was created as the defense force of the capital city. With a standing army of professional
soldiers, the agency was responsible not only for guarding the capital but also for training soldiers and developing new weapons (including improved firearms) and equipment. It functioned as the main defensive force of the central government until it was disbanded by King Gojong in
1882
.

84
.
Minister Hong:
Reference to Gildong himself, now that he has been made minister of war by the king.

85
.
Namgyeong:
Korean name for the Chinese city Nanjing.

86
.
Yul:
A fictional island.

87
.
Yangcheon:
Name of a town outside the capital city, upstream on the Han River.

88
.
Seogang:
Literally “West River,” an area of the capital city on the northwestern side of the Han River. In today's Seoul, it falls under Mapo District.

89
.
unhulled rice:
(
jeongjo
) Rice with its husk intact. Unhulled rice can be kept for a longer period before being eaten or planted. Gildong asks specifically for it because he needs to transport it all the way to his new home.

90
.
eunuchs:
Eunuchs served as both the king's personal secretaries and servants in the Joseon dynasty. Employing eunuchs assured that no sexual activity would occur between them and the women living and working in the royal palace.

91
.
the
Six
Teachings
and the
Three Summaries
:
See note
28
.

92
.
the
Four Books
, the
Five Classics
:
The essential ancient Chinese texts that every educated man was expected to familiarize himself with (crucial for the literary civil service examinations). The
Four Books
are the four canonical works of Confucian philosophy—the three texts of Kongzi's sayings (
The
Analects
, the
Great Learning
, the
Doctrine of the Mean
) and the text of Mengzi's sayings. The
Five Classics
, edited by Kongzi himself, were essential educational works of philosophy, literature, magic, and history: the
Classic of Poetry
, the
Classic of History
, the
Classic of Rites
, the
Classic of Changes
(
Zhouyi
, or
I Ching
), and the
Spring and Autumn Annals
.

93
.
Office of Special Councilors:
(
okdang
) Informal name for
hongmungwan
. A government office responsible for advancing the study of Confucian philosophy, maintaining the Royal Library, and advising the king on matters pertaining to proper and righteous policies in governing. The three high ministers of the State Council (see note
4
) oversaw the operation of the office as its highest-ranking members, so this was one of the most prestigious state institutions an official could work in.

94
.
Yong Bong and Bigan:
Korean names for Long Feng and Bigan, two ancient Chinese historical figures who were renowned for their righteous service to their sovereigns. Guan Long Feng was chief councilor to King Jie (
1728
–
1675
BCE), the cruel and dissolute ruler of the Xia dynasty, which fell under his mismanagement. Long Feng warned his monarch that his misrule would bring about the destruction of the country and was executed for his honesty. Bigan (a.k.a. Cai Shen) was the uncle of Emperor Di Xin (r.
1075
–
1046
BCE), also a cruel and dissolute ruler who brought about the fall of the Shang dynasty. Like Long Feng, Bigan warned his nephew of the consequences of his misrule and was executed for it. It is interesting that of all the historical figures famous for their righteous loyalty, Gildong names two who served under tyrannical, dynasty-losing monarchs and who were killed after courageously admonishing their sovereigns for their misbehavior.

95
.
Your Majesty might take fright:
Because the king might also see the qualities of a monarch in Hong Gildong's eyes that the physiognomist saw.

96
.
Office for Dispensing Benevolence:
(
seonhyecheong
) After the disaster of the Japanese invasion of
1592
–
98
, the Daedong (“great unified”) Law was promulgated in
1608
to bring relief to the still suffering populace. It was a uniform tax code that replaced the previous indirect tribute system, which was easily and often abused by corrupt landlords and tax collectors who took arbitrary amounts from the common people. As part of the implementation of the new law, the Office for Dispensing Benevolence was established as the primary tax-collecting agency. Taxes could be paid with money or items like rice, cloth, and artisanal products. The office, therefore, was in possession of hoards of goods in its warehouses, including a great many sacks of rice.

97
.
Lord Neunghyeon:
Literally “a capable and intelligent lord,” a fake princely title.

98
.
Jae:
A fictional island.

99
.
Mangdang Mountain:
Mountain in Fujian Province, China (Mangdangshan).

100
.
a drug to use on an arrowhead:
Poison to make the arrow a more deadly weapon.

101
.
Nakcheon:
Korean name for Luochuan, a county in China.

102
.
the
Classic of Poetry
, the
Classic of History
:
Two of the
Five Classics
—ancient texts, edited by Kongzi, that educated people were expected to familiarize themselves with. (See note
92
.)

103
.
Du Mokji and . . . Yi Jeokseon:
Korean names for the Chinese poets Du Muzhi and Li Zhexian. The Tang dynasty literary figures were mentioned before (see note
22
) in reference to Gildong's talents and noble bearing. Here, they are referred to by their honorific titles. Muzhi is Du Mu's courtesy name (given to men of respectable families upon reaching adulthood), and Zhexian is one of Li Bai's many honorific titles, meaning “immortal in exile” (i.e., “an immortal spirit who is temporarily dwelling in the world of humans”).

104
.
phoenix:
(
bonghwang
) One of the symbolic significances of the mythological bird (Chinese:
fenghuang
) was the coming together of the sexes, so the “union of the phoenix” denoted marital bliss, including the sexual relationship between husband and wife. The creature figures prominently in traditional Chinese and Korean wedding decorations.

105
.
Hwa Ta and Pyeon Jak:
Korean names for the ancient Chinese physicians Hua Tuo and Bian Que. Hua Tuo (c.
145
–
208
) was famous as a surgeon and is reputed to be the first to use anesthesia in his operations. The even more ancient and probably legendary Bian Que (c.
700
BCE) is the earliest recorded physician in Chinese history.

106
.
Lady Bek:
Bek
sojeo
, Gildong's wife, daughter of Bek Yong.

107
.
ja
:
A unit for measuring length, same as
cheok
(see note
36
).

108
.
assistant section chief:
The last time Gildong's half brother, Inhyeon, appeared in the story, he was a third minister (
chamui
—rank of senior third grade) and then appointed as the governor of Gyeongsang Province by the king. Here he is referred to as an assistant section chief (
jwarang
—rank of senior sixth grade) again, which was his position when Gildong first left the Hong household. So either this is a mistake in the text or it means that he was demoted six grades since Gildong's departure from Joseon—perhaps as punishment for his relationship to Gildong.

109
.
the Land of Yellow Spring:
(
hwangcheon
) A name for the land of the afterlife.

110
.
mourning period:
The
yangban
families of the Joseon dynasty adhered to strict rules of mourning based on Neo-Confucian principles. When a man died, his son had to enter into a mourning period of three years (in actuality twenty-seven months with technical adjustment of the lunar calendar), during which he had to withdraw completely from social life (including relations with his wife and the company of other women), living simply in a
small hut built next to the gravesite and wearing coarse clothing. For detailed descriptions of mourning rites and their history, see Martina Deuchler,
The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study of Society and Ideology
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,
1992
),
179
–
96
, especially the useful chart on page
183
that shows different “mourning grades.”

111
.
monumental tablet:
(
yeongwi
) A wood panel with the name of the deceased written on it was displayed prominently during funerals. It was treated as if it contained the soul of the dead, so people mourned and paid their respects toward it. After the ceremony, it was taken home to be used during special occasions for the family to remember the deceased. Wealthy and respectable people living in a large household compound had a special room where monumental tablets were permanently displayed.

112
.
mourning son:
(
sangin
) During the mourning period, Minister Hong's older son is referred to as
sangin
since he is the organizer and leader of funeral rituals. Although every child of the deceased, including an illegitimate one like Gildong, was technically a
sangin
, secondary children were not allowed to lead funerals of their parents during most of the Joseon dynasty.

113
.
geomancy:
(
jiri
, short for
pungsu jiri
) By the time of the Joseon dynasty, the central task of this ancient art of geographical and environmental magic was locating auspicious lands (
myeongdang
: literally “radiant places”) for the burial of the deceased. It was thought that laying one's parents to rest in such a place brought fortune to the living members of the family, while placing them in an inauspicious place brought misfortune. Geomantic treatises gave instructions on how to identify such locales. For more information on Korean geomancy see Deuchler,
The Confucian Transformation of Korea
,
197
–
202
; Hong-Key Yoon,
The Culture of Fengshui in Korea: An Exploration of East Asian Geomancy
(Lanham, MD: Lexington Books,
2006
); and Sun Joo Kim,
Marginality and Subversion in Korea: The Hong Ky
o
ngnae Rebellion of
1812
(Seattle: University of Washington Press,
2007
),
89
–
98
.