뉴스레터

“Hanwon: Translation with Footnotes,” published recently by the Foundation, is the 6th to 7th century version of the “Dong-i-chon.” This book was written by Jang Cho Geum and annotated by Yong Gongrui in 660, the fifth year of King Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty. It originally consisted of 30 books but now “Beonibu,” regarded as the last book of “Hanwon,” is kept in Dazaifu Tenmangu, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. 

Since its existence became known to the world, “Hanwon” has been recognized as important data for studying Korea’s ancient history. This is because records related to Korea’s ancient history, which no longer exist, are contained in “Hanwon.” “Goryeogi,” which had allegedly been left by Jin Daedeok of Tang after he had spied on Goguryeo in 641, is also recorded in this document. Nonetheless, our academia’s research into “Hanwon” was not sufficient. The remaining part of “Hanwon” is a handwritten copy with many typos and clichés, thus there must be prior understanding about corrections of the original text and its structure and composition in order to use it as historical data. However, our academics wanted only to exploit data without having performed basic research.

Understanding that there must be a basic review of data, the Foundation selected the translation of “Hanwon” with footnotes as a research project and pushed for joint studies. “Hanwon: Translation with Footnotes” was completed after extremely difficult work such as reviewing letters of the handwritten copy one by one, dividing sentences with periods, and putting in accurate interpretations and explanations. We take pride in ensuring that this book will provide academia with highly reliable data from this primary source, given that the text was interpreted after comparing versions translated in China and Japan. 

“Beonibu” in “Hanwon” contains 15 parts, each of which is devoted to a force that had surrounded Tang including Goguryeo, Baekje, Shilla and Japan. The main text is composed of the content of each force, beginning with the Huns. The main text is written in a Byeonryeomun style, with the use of large characters, and two lines of quoted sentences. The main text shows short sentences with 4.4 or 4.6 rhyming couplets and is comprised of implicative verses, unlike the narrative sentences found in history books. The quoted sentences contain contents about documents used as references for the main text. For example, the quoted sentences about the Goryeo Dynasty contain data showing Goguryeo’s institutions and society from that time, like “Goryeogi.” This is why academic circles have shown much interest in this type of quoted sentences.

Given the gravity of the data, researchers thought that it would be necessary to figure out how these resources were extracted and what their characteristics were. Based on this judgment, researchers annotated “Beonibu” entirely. Through this process, it was possible to confirm that sections devoted to Goguryeo, Baekje, and Shilla had large quantities of data from around 660, when “Hanwon” was published.

It was the latest information on the three kingdoms, “Goryeogi,” “Gwaljiji,” and “Sudongbeonpungsokgi.” “Hanwon” was certainly published to provide practical information on these kingdoms in relation to Tang’s invasion of the East. It is not an overstatement to say that “Hanwon” contains rare data. 

“Hanwon: Translation with Footnotes” also offers a clear expression of the close relationship between the main text and quoted sentences. For example, “波騰碧㶑, 騖天險以浮刀 (The waves roared into the deep-blue tide, pounding against the natural stronghold of a small boat)” is the expression used to describe the shape of Yalu River implicitly. However, it is impossible to know the meaning of “刀” in “浮刀” (here do “刀” means a small boat). It is possible to understand its meaning only with the accompaniment of the original text, thus one can speculate that the main text and quoted sentences were written simultaneously. This enabled us to identify errors in existing research that had interpreted the main text and quoted sentences differently. These corrections became the basis for interpreting these sentences correctly. 

A translated version with footnotes was made after countless of readings, but researchers familiar with the narrative style featured in history books found it difficult to interpret the main text of verses. In the end, we reached the stage of proofreading, but the interpretation of each main text was not up to par. After all, it was on me, the writer, to compare the 165 main texts with quoted sentences one by one and correct the interpretations by scrutinizing the context of rhyming couplets. There was not one easy passage, but the passage, “焉骨巉巖, 竦二峯而功漢,” which described the steepness of Gorguryeo’s Bonghwangsanseong Fortress, is especially memorable. I could not, for the life of me, find a clue as to what “han (漢)” really meant in this context. Meanwhile, it came to me in a dream that “han” may have been the place where “Hyeongmun and the Three Gorges (rugged gorges on the boundary between China’s Sichuan Province and Hubei Province), and I managed to confirm it as Hansu (漢水: river flowing in China’s Hua Jung area). Thus, I interpreted it as follows: “And the mountains are steep and rugged, and created like han (Hyeongmun and the Three Gorges) with two rising peaks.” It was a very difficult time up until the book was published but my sense of accomplishment that I felt seems to stay fresh in my memory.

<Footnotes>

1. “著翰苑三十卷, 紳誡三卷, 並傳於時” is seen at the Jangchogeum Story of “Old Tang Writing”; Yuseoryu of “New Tang Writing” Yemunji mentions “7-book Hanwon” and Chongjipryu mentions “30-book Hanwon.” It appears that there are two kinds of Hanwon (Yuseo and Chongjip) and there are differences in the number of books, but we could confirm that Hanwon was a 30-book series through records in “日本國見在書目錄” written by Fujiwara Noskeyo in 891.

2. “Beonibu” was discovered in the treasure investigation of Dazaifu Tenmangu in 1917 and was designated as one of Japan’s national treasures in 1954.