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Annals of Joseon Dynasty

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The Annals of Joseon Dynasty (known also as The true record of the Joseon Dynasty) are the annual records of the Joseon Dynasty, who ruled Korea, and were written from 1413 (year 13 of the reign of Taejong) to 1865 (year 2 of the reign of Gojong). The annals comprise 1,893 volumes. The thick extensive set of records is considered to deal with the longest period of a single dynasty in the world.

When a king died, the annals of his reign were started after the coronation of his successor by the Sillokcheong, the Office for Annals Compilation.

Nobody was allowed to read the Draft History, not even the king, and any historiographer who disclosed its contents was severely punished. These strict regulations lend great credibility to these records. The Joseon Dynasty's Annals of the first three reigns, those of King Taejo (r.1392∼1398), Jeongjong (r.1399∼1400), and Taejong (r. 1401∼1418), were in manuscript form in excellent calligraphy. But later annals, from the Annals of King Sejong (r. 1418∼1450), were printed with movable metal and wooden type, which was unprecedented in the making of annals in Japan and China. Movable-type printing of these massive works required elaborate skill. It should also be noted that the Annals of Emperor Sunjong and Gojong are noted for its bias, as the Annals were at that time written with the influence of Japanese officials.

Joseon established four separate repositories to store copies of the Annals: Chunchugwan (in Seoul), Chungju County, Jeonju County and Seongju County. All three except the repository in Jeonju were burned down in the Japanese invasions of 1592 to 1598 (more widely known in Korea as the Imjin Waeran). Joseon printed five more copies after that war and stored them in Chunchugwan and the mountains Myohyang-san, Taebaeksan, Odaesan, and Mani-san. The Chunchugwan copy was lost in 1624, due to the treason of Yi Gwal. Part of the Mari-san copy was lost during the Manchu invasion (1636), and the surviving volumes moved to Jeongjok-san in 1678. The Myohyang-san copy was moved to Jeokseong-san in 1633.

The copies of the Annals were preserved to the end of Joseon Dynasty. In Japanese Colonial Period, the Japanese moved the Odae-san copy to Tokyo University, but most of the copy was soon lost in the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923. 47 books have remained, and in July 2006, the copy returned to South Korea.

The Annals are written in Classical Chinese; it was translated into modern Korean in the 1980s in North Korea and in 1994 in South Korea. Parts of the Annals of Joseon Dynasty have been scanned by Seoul National University and are available online.

The Annals are the 151st Korean national treasure and an entry in UNESCO's Memory of the World.

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Last updated on Wednesday March 19, 2008 at 02:51:59 PDT (GMT -0700)
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