by Translated
35. He then unleashed his sorcery: Gildong uses the magical Eight Trigrams found in the Juyeok (Chinese Zhouyi) to alter the directional orientation of the room, which confuses the intruder and subjects him to hallucinations.
36. cheok: A unit for measuring length. As with jang, its value changed over time, but a cheok is a tenth of a jang, and so was a little bit over twenty centimeters (approximately 0.65 feet) through most of the Joseon dynasty period.
37. Supreme King of Cho: Cho Paewang, Korean name for the Chinese ruler Chu Bawang, or Xichu Bawang (the Supreme King of Western Chu, the royal title of Xiang Yu, 232–202 BCE). O River is the Korean name for the Wu River in China, where Xichu Bawang committed suicide after most of his troops deserted him.
38. Hyeong Gyeong: Korean name for the Chinese scholar-warrior Jing Ke (unknown–227 BCE), who is famous for his failed attempt to assassinate King Zheng of the state of Qin (the future First Emperor of the Qin dynasty—Qin Shi Huang).
39. The Silver River: (eunhasu) Korean name for the Milky Way.
40. ri: A unit for measuring distance. Through most of the Joseon dynasty, a ri measured a little under 450 meters (just over a quarter of a mile).
41. there must be a temple nearby: Outside of cities, Buddhist temples tended to be built in remote areas to facilitate the monks’ withdrawal from the world in environments conducive to meditation. Many of them were located in high mountains and could be reached only after an arduous climb up rugged paths.
42. Taesobaek Mountain: A fictional mountain that combines the names of two actual mountain ranges in southern Korea, the Taebaek in North Gyeongsang Province and the Sobaek that splits off from the Taebaek to the southwest to stretch out between Gyeongsang and Jeolla Provinces.
43. Gyeongseong: One of several names for the capital city of Joseon (see note 2).
44. geun: A unit for measuring weight. One geun is about six hundred grams or 1.3 pounds.
45. Haein Temple in Hapcheon County: The most famous Buddhist temple in Korea, located in South Gyeongsang Province on Gaya Mountain. Built in the ninth century, it is one of the most important cultural sites in the country (designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1995). It houses the Tripitaka Koreana, the complete Buddhist scriptures carved into over eighty thousand individual wooden printing blocks.
46. eum and yang: Korean for the Chinese yin and yang, the two fundamental forces of the universe that represent the dark, the female, the low, and the cold on the one hand (yin), and the light, the male, the high, and the hot on the other (yang). To have studied and mastered the ways of yin and yang means to have gained an understanding of the essential workings of nature, possibly to the extent of knowing how to manipulate it at will. Hong Gildong possesses such a power of elemental magic.
47. Sonja and Oja: Korean names for the Chinese military theorists Sunzi (traditional dates, 544–496 BCE) and Wuzi (440–381 BCE). The former’s treatise, better known in the West by the incorrectly translated title The Art of War (a better rendering of Bing Fa is “Military Rules”), is one of the major classics of Chinese military strategy. For English translations of the treatises of Sunzi and Wuzi, see Sawyer, trans., The Seven Military Classics of Ancient China, 157–86 and 206–24.
48. three armies: (samgun) A term meaning the entire military force of the country. After Yi Seonggye founded the Joseon dynasty in 1392, he formed the Three Armies Office (uiheung samgunbu, literally “Office of the Righteous and Flourishing Three Armies”), composed of his most loyal officers and soldiers, as the central military command of the kingdom. It played an important role in the stabilization of the new dynasty until it was reorganized under a different name in the mid-fifteenth century.
49. Girin House: See note 15.
50. come to study: Young men of yangban families often went to out-of-the-way places like Buddhist temples to concentrate on their studies before taking the civil service examinations. Even today many temples in isolated locales have facilities available for students studying for college entrance or other types of examinations.
51. qualifying examination: (gyeongsi) The first part of the civil examination one had to pass before one could move on to higher stages of the grueling literary examinations (mungwa).
52. seok: A unit for measuring volume. Traditionally, one seok was about 180 liters (around forty gallons).
53. official announcement of the gift: The announcement is sent to the government office in Hapcheon County to make the generous gift known to the public as a demonstration of noblesse oblige.
54. name of Hwalbindang: Hwalbindang is the famous name of Hong Gildong’s group of bandits. In this text, the name is written in two alternative sets of Chinese characters, which give it slightly different meanings. The first two characters, hwal and bin, mean, respectively, “save” and “poor,” and together they can mean “help the impoverished.” The last character, dang, is signified in this instance by the character 堂, which denotes a location, a home, or a resting place. A few paragraphs down, however, dang is signified by the character 黨, which denotes an organized group of people, as in a faction or a league. So Hwalbindang could alternatively be understood as the name of the bandits’ hidden village with the literal meaning of “the home of those who help the impoverished,” or the name of the bandit group itself with the meaning of “a league of those who help the impoverished.”
55. eight provinces of Joseon: Joseon was divided into eight provinces, each with an administrative center overseen by a governor who was appointed by the central government. The provinces were Pyeongan, Hamgyeong, and Hwanghae in the north; Gangwon and Gyeonggi (which contained the capital) in the center; and Chungcheong, Jeolla, and Gyeongsang in the south.
56. money and grain being collected by the government: Hong Gildong does not want to interrupt the regular and legitimate collection and dispersal of tax money and goods that are essential to the functioning of the kingdom.
57. all members of Hwalbindang: In this passage, Hwalbindang denotes “a league of men who dedicate themselves to helping the impoverished.” (See note 54.)
58. Hamgyeong Province: Province in the northeastern part of the Korean peninsula.
59. third watch: (gyeong, see note 34) Roughly between eleven o’clock at night and one o’clock in the morning.
60. royal tomb: The administrative center of Hamgyeong Province was in the city of Hamheung, which was the hometown of Yi Seonggye, who founded the Joseon dynasty in 1392. The royal tomb is a reference to the gravesite of his ancestors, which was elevated to the status of a royal burial site after Yi’s ascendance to the throne. Since one of the most important duties of the governor of Hamgyeong was to take care of the place, the idea of the site going up in flames would terrify him.
61. “I will reward whoever catches Hong Gildong”: The sentence in the original translates literally as “I will reward whoever fails to catch Hong Gildong,” which makes no sense, so it must be a textual error.
62. gift treasures: (bongsong) Gifts that provincial officials sent to influential people in the capital to curry favor with them. The sending of bongsong was regarded as part of an official’s duty, but they often functioned as bribes paid for appointments to higher positions in the government, so Gildong sees them as legitimate targets.
63. Supreme King of Cho: The Chinese ruler Xichu Bawang (the Supreme King of Western Chu, the royal title of Xiang Yu, 232–202 BCE). When Hong Gildong mentioned him previously (see note 37), he alluded to the king’s tragic end, committing suicide on the shore of Wu River. Here, however, the reference is to the figure’s renowned martial prowess and to the magnificence of his army.
64. Jegal Gongmyeong: Korean name for the legendary statesman, scholar, and military strategist Zhuge Kongming (Zhuge Liang, 181–234) of the Shu Han state. He is famous as the greatest military genius of his time and appears as a major character in the epic nove
l The Three Kingdoms.
65. Palace of the Ten Kings: In the Chinese Buddhist view of the afterlife (an amalgam of beliefs that developed from the seventh to the ninth centuries from Indian Buddhism and traditional Chinese mythology), the souls of the dead were taken to the Palace of the Ten Kings, where they were judged and punished for the acts of their lifetime by ten supernatural monarchs, before being sent on to be reincarnated in the living world. For details on the history and theology of the afterlife in Chinese Buddhism, see Stephen F. Teiser, The Scripture on the Ten Kings and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1994).
66. the Mansion of the Underworld, the Palace of the Ten Kings, and the House of Darkness: (jibu, sipjeon, and myeongbu) Alternative names for the underworld of the afterlife.
67. Bugak Mountain: Mountain just north of the capital city. In today’s Seoul, it is at the north end of the city center, above Gyeongbok Palace, the residence of the first Joseon dynasty kings.
68. one-wheeled cart: (choheon) A rickshaw on one wheel that held a high seat for a single rider. It was carried by four servants, two on either end, and was an official mode of transportation reserved for high-ranking government officials of junior second grade or above.
69. two-horse litter: (ssanggyo) A litter carried by two horses, one at the front and the other at the back. It was also reserved for people of high status.
70. government inspector: (eosa) Government inspectors were regularly dispatched to the provinces, where they sometimes traveled incognito to observe the implementation of state policy or to investigate corruption and incompetence on the part of local officials. In popular culture, they are often portrayed as heroic champions of justice, appearing deus ex machina at the end of a story to punish the wicked and to relieve the oppressed. The best example of this can be found in the ending of The Story of Chunhyang.
71. state councilor of the right: (usang, short for u uijeong) The third-highest position in the government below the king, a high minister position of senior first rank. (See note 4.)
72. currently the third minister: (chamui) A government position of senior third rank. Within an individual ministry, chamui was the third highest position, below that of minister (panseo) and deputy minister (champan). Since the time Gildong left home, his half brother, Inhyeon, has been promoted three grades (pum), or six ranks.
73. Office for the Deliberation of Forbidden Affairs: (geumbu, short for uigeumbu) A government office, directly overseen by the king, which investigated and meted out punishment for the most serious crimes, including treason.
74. Injeong Hall: The throne room at Changdeok Palace, which was built in 1412 as the second royal residence, after Gyeongbok Palace, in the newly established capital of the Joseon dynasty. Both palaces were destroyed during the Japanese invasion of 1592–98, but Changdeok Palace was rebuilt in 1609, becoming the primary royal residence and governing center of the kingdom until 1872, when Gyeongbok Palace was rebuilt by order of the regent Lord Daewon.
75. granted the third minister: Hong Gildong’s older brother, Hong Inhyeon, is now referred to as the third minister (chamui), his newly acquired position in the government.
76. five relationships: (oryun) One of the central concepts of Confucian philosophy, it refers to the five essential and sacred relationships that bind a society together. They were enumerated by the philosopher Mengzi—“love between father and son, duty between ruler and subject, distinction between husband and wife, precedence of the old over the young, and faith between friends” (Book III, Part A, 4). Mencius, trans. D. C. Lau (New York: Penguin Classics, 2005), 60.
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”).