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Seungjeongwon Ilgi has the largest amount of authentic historical recordings and state secrets of the Joseon Dynasty. Also, it served as the primary source to Annals of Joseon Dynasty, thus, its historical value is even greater than that of the Annals of Joseon Dynasty. It was designated as National Treasure No. 303 in April, 1999 and registered as Memory of the World in September 2001. Its content contains the entire picture of Seungjeongwon, a pivotal office in a royal court, taking care of not only important national events, but also simple routines as well. The king's appointments including gyeongyeon, or discussions with scholars on the Confucian and other Chinese classics, meetings with court functionaries, administrative acts, and affairs in the queen's inner palace were listed in the preface to a monthly diary. The names of the royal secretaries and of the scribes are recorded in every day's diary. Recorded underneath the list are the names of daily deputy officials and their attendance or absence.
The details of the main text are written in the order of the daily tasks of the Seungjeongwon, daily regards to the king and his queen, the king's gyeongyeon, the Seungjeongwon's personnel affairs, reports from different ministries, and the king's commands. On general principle, the daily records were supposed to be compiled into one diary every month. But most diaries recording the earlier period of a king were rather roughly written, so that two to five months were compiled into one diary. Later in a reign the content tended to increase, so that two diaries might be needed for one month.
The keeping of diaries began in the founding year of the Joseon Dynasty, but those of the kings before King Injo were burned to ashes during the Japanese invasions of Korea and by palace fires. Thus, the extant 3,243 diaries are preserved. Seungjeongwon Ilgi vividly represents an Eastern monarchial sovereign system, politics, policy making, and power structure, while at the same time containing an invaluable legacy of documentary culture. The size of Seungjeongwon Ilgi is unprecedented: about 242.5 million characters in 3,243 diaries.
(Comparative data: Annals of the Joseon Dynasty contains 54 million characters in 888 volumes; Ershiwushi, the Compendium of Chinese History Books, 40 million characters in 3,386 volumes)
Seungjeongwon Ilgi, recorded by royal secretaries and scribes, provides etymological data, as well as changes in Korean and Chinese writing, the co-use of Chinese and Korean in state documents around the time of the opening of the nation's ports, the influx of foreign civilization including the Japanese language and government system, and other diverse sources of information (social and cultural value).
It covers 288 years of weather observation from the 17th to 21st centuries. It also makes possible accurate comparison of the lunar and the solar dates (scientific and statistical value).
It shows how Catholicism started to take root under the time-honored Confucian society and the reaction of the authorities (religious value). Diaries written after the Political Reform of 1894, the 31st year of King Gojong, recorded Japan's intervention in domestic affairs. They include the compulsory agreement requested of the Joseon king and other behind-the-scenes history in the court, making them primary historical sources for the study of modern times of the Far East.
For the preservation of the original copies of Seungjeongwon Ilgi, housed in the Gyujanggak Library of Seoul National University, public viewing is not allowed. But the 141 photocopies compiled by the National History Compilation Committee (1961-1977) from the original Seungjeongwon Ilgi are available for public reference. Moreover, the Academy of Korean Studies has scanned and provides through the internet the hand-written copies by the Annals Compilation Committee of the Yi Royal Household Office of the Seungjeongwon Ilgi that cover the 2nd year (1851) of King Cheoljong to the 4th year (1910) of King Sunjong.
The National History Compilation Committee plans to digitize the photocopies of all the diaries and provide them through the internet in the near future.
<Last updated on August 31, 2015>
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