The Story of Hong Gildong

by Translated

  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 Kyongnae Rebellion of 1812 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007), 89–98.

  114. radiant mountain: (myeongsan) A geomantically auspicious mountain.

  115. feast for Father’s monumental tablet: In a respectable household, a deceased parent was regularly honored with a feast presented before the monumental tablet.

  116. great wife: (daebuin) Honorific title given to the widow of an important personage.

  117. ceremonial litter: (yoyeo) A litter is a platform that is carried by people, usually with a sedan chair for a highborn person to ride on, but a yoyeo is a specific type of litter that carries the monumental tablet of the deceased for a ceremonial purpose.

  118. wild geese: The coordinated movement of wild geese in flight was used as a metaphor for the harmonious relationship of siblings.

  119. fealty to a greater country: Korea paid fealty to various Chinese dynasties throughout its history. When Joseon was founded in 1392, it agreed to an “older brother–younger brother” relationship with Ming dynasty China. With the rise of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty in the mid-seventeenth century, Joseon, in the reign of King Injo, first resisted but finally capitulated to the new rulers of China in 1636. After Qing’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894–95) and its loss of influence in Korea, King Gojong declared an end to Joseon’s tributary relationship with China by proclaiming the Empire of Korea (Daehan Jaeguk) in 1897.

  120. Year of the Blue Rat: (gapja) In premodern Korea, years were reckoned through a sixty-cycle (sexagenary) system, the terms of which were created by matching one of five stems represented by the five basic elements and their associated colors—wood (blue), fire (red), earth (yellow), metal (white), and water (black)—to one of twelve branches denoted by the twelve astrological animals of rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, fowl, dog, and pig, for a total of sixty possible terms. The year of gapja is the first of the sixty-year cycle.

  121. Ju Abu: Korean name for the Chinese historical figure Zhou Yafu (mid-second century BCE), a famed general of the Han dynasty (the text wrongly associates him with the state of Chu) renowned for the military discipline of his army. His greatest achievement was putting down the Rebellion of the Seven States (154 BCE) on behalf of the Han emperor.

  122. Seong Tang brought down Geol, and King Mu brought down Ju: Reference to two Chinese rulers who established new dynasties by destroying previous ones. Gildong is telling the King of Yul that the rise and fall of these dynasties were natural to the flow of history, so he should resign himself to his inevitable fall and surrender to him. Seong Tang is the Korean name for the Chinese ruler Shang Tang (King Cheng Tang, the founder of the Shang dynasty, r. 1673–1646 BCE), and Geol is the Korean name for Jie, the tyrannical last monarch of the Xia dynasty (see note 94). King Mu is the Korean name for King Wu (the founder of the Zhou dynasty, r. 1046–1043 BCE), and Ju is the Korean name for Zhou, the posthumous name of Di Xin, the tyrannical last monarch of the Shang dynasty. It is interesting that Gildong previously told the King of Joseon that he would have liked to have served him with the loyalty of Yong Bong (Long Feng) and Bigan, who were the subjects of the doomed kings Jie and Zhou mentioned here. So Gildong, who once aspired to the ideal of a loyal and courageous servant of his sovereign, has now taken on the role of a ruler who brings down a king and his dynasty.

  123. the burning of jade and rock alike: An expression signifying the destruction of every person, high or low, righteous or wicked.

  124. the King of Yul and his son: There was no previous mention of a son of the King of Yul who died, so there is probably a passage missing in this version of the story. The gyeongpan 30 text does tell of the crown prince and the Queen of Yul Island who followed the monarch in committing suicide after his defeat in battle.

  125. Annam: Annam literally means “peaceful south,” so “the Country of Annam” (Annamguk) could be rendered as “Peaceful Country of the South.” Annam was also the southernmost province of China, which encompassed the northern part of Vietnam until the tenth century, and Vietnam as a whole was commonly referred to as Annam for much of the country’s premodern history. In the imagination of the people of North Asia, however, the name evoked a legendary place in the gen
eral area of the exotic far south, so it should not be identified with any specific locale.

  126. Hyeondeok: A royal title that literally means “manifestation of virtue.” Dynastic founders posthumously granted such royal titles to their fathers.

  127. Queen Hyeondeok: Technically, “queen to King Hyeondeok.”

  128. consort chungryeol of the left and consort chungryeol of the right: Chungryeol literally means “ardent fidelity.” Two courtly positions of near-equal rank were differentiated by the terms “left” (jwa) and “right” (u), with the left higher than the right. So Jeong is made a consort of more senior status than Jo.

  129. grand lord: (buwongun) The highest noble title granted to a meritorious subject, including the king’s father-in-law.

  130. Yo and Sun: Korean names for the legendary ancient Chinese rulers Yao (traditionally c. 24th–23rd centuries BCE) and Shun (traditionally c. 23rd–22nd centuries BCE), two of the semimythical Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of the earliest period of Chinese history, who were revered by Kongzi and countless others throughout the centuries as ideal monarchs under whose rule their realms enjoyed perfect peace and harmony. In The Analects, Kongzi says, “Sublime was the way Shun and Yu held possession of the empire” (Book 8, 18) and “Great was Yao as a ruler!” (Book 8, 19). Confucius, The Analects, 125–26.

  131. royal secretary: (hanrim haksa) A special honorific title given to meritorious secretaries of the royal court.

  132. minister of personnel: Gildong’s half brother, Inhyeon, has attained the position of minister of personnel, a rank of senior second grade.

  133. royal envoy of consolation and counsel: (wiyusa) This title for a royal envoy was usually given to a king’s representative who was sent out to organize and dispense aid and resources in disaster-stricken places. See Anders Karlsson, “Royal Compassion and Disaster Relief in Choso˘n Korea,” Seoul Journal of Korean Studies 20, 1 (June 2007): 71–98.

  134. loosened his hair: In normal times, both men and women of yangban families kept their hair meticulously organized to maintain a respectable appearance. The men let their hair grow out, tying it in a topknot and keeping everything in order with the aid of headbands made of horsehair. With the commencement of the mourning period, however, the hair was loosened and allowed to hang free as a sign of both grief and the mourner’s required withdrawal from society.

  135. Within three months: In traditional funeral arrangements, careful consideration had to be given to the time of burial, as interring the body on an inauspicious date could bring misfortune to the descendants of the deceased. Due to the complex rules of ritualistic taboo, determining a good day for the burial could be a difficult task that took some time. During most of the Joseon dynasty period, high-status people were given up to three months for the purpose. See Deuchler, The Confucian Transformation of Korea, 198–99.

  136. Year of the Red Snake: (jeongsa, see note 120) The significance of the year is unclear since it makes no sense when taken literally. The Red Snake year comes fifty-three years after the Blue Rat year, which is when Gildong invaded Yul Island. If his mother dies in the Red Snake year at the age of seventy, then she was seventeen when her son set off on the invasion. But she was nineteen when Gildong was conceived. Such references to years were probably made to mimic historical writings.

  137. follow the way of holy men: A common theme in the legends of Daoist holy men is their withdrawal from society to isolate themselves in remote locales (usually high mountains) to meditate. Once they reach an essential understanding of the way of the universe, they transcend themselves to a state in which they become immortal, supernaturally powerful, and supremely indifferent to the concerns of the world.

  138. Angi Saeng and Jeok Songja: Korean names for the mythic Chinese holy men Anqi Sheng and Chi Songzi. They are two famous examples of Daoist immortals (xin) who attained everlasting life and supernatural power through the attainment of ultimate wisdom. When Gildong says that he wants to become friends with them, he means that he would also like to go into isolation to study the way of the universe, in the hope of attaining spiritual transcendence.

  139. gan: A unit for measuring area. A gan is a little over 3.3 square meters or thirty-five square feet.

  Looking for more?

  Visit Penguin.com for more about this author and a complete list of their books.

  Discover your next great read!