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Kang Hang was a Korean scholar-official taken prisoner in 1597 by an invading Japanese army during the Imjin War of 1592--1598. While in captivity in Japan, Kang recorded his thoughts on human civilization, war, and the enemy's culture and society, acting in effect as a spy for his king. Arranged and printed in the seventeenth century as Kanyangnok, or Records of a Shepherd, Kang's writings were valuable to his government. Offering new information about a society few Koreans had seen for one hundred and fifty years, these writings provided new information on Japanese politics, culture, and military organization. In this complete, annotated translation of Kanyangnok, readers encounter Kang's rich commentary on human behavior and the nature of loyalty during a time of war. A neo-Confucianist with a deep knowledge of Chinese philosophy and history, Kang drew a distinct line between the Confucian values of his world, which distinguished self, family, king, and country, and a foreign culture that practiced invasion and capture, and, in his view, was largely incapable of civilization.
Relating the experiences of a former official playing an exceptional role in wartime, and the rare voice of a Korean speaking plainly and insightfully on war and captivity, this volume enables a deeper appreciation of the phenomenon of war at home and abroad.
Sommario
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Encounters with the Adversities of War2. An Exhortation to Koreans Still Held Prisoner in Japan3. A Report to the Royal Secretariat on Japanese Social Practices4. A Memorial Sent from CaptivityAppendix 1. Japanese Daimyo in the Invasion of Chos?n and Other InformationAppendix 2. Suggestions for Military Reform and War StrategiesAppendix 3. Japanese Generals Who Participated in the Imjin and Ch?ngyu Invasions5. PostscriptAppendix 1. The Eight Circuits and Sixty-six Provinces of JapanAppendix 2. Japanese Government OfficesNotesBibliographyIndex
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JaHyun Kim Haboush (1941--2011) was King Sejong Professor of Korean Studies at Columbia University. Her publications included Epistolary Korea: Letters in the Communicative Space of the Choson, 1392--1910, and The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong. Kenneth R. Robinson is a historian of Korean-Japanese relations in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries.
Riassunto
A Korean scholar-official taken prisoner in 1597 by an invading Japanese army ruminates on human behavior and the nature of loyalty during a time of war.
