Even in the so-called Chinese cultural sphere, the Korean Peninsula (Joseon Peninsula) has occupied a unique position. Although Korea underwent division after the formation of the nation in ancient times, it formed a common culture and independent civilization in competition with China and Japan. In this process, Chinese characters and Classical Chinese played a very important role in the lives of the people. Since its invention, the function of Han’gŭl has expanded. Still, it was long used in a limited way for letters, translations of royal protocols, women’s diaries, and novels. Historically, Korean intellectuals cultivated their literary, historical, and academic traditions by engaging with and reinterpreting Chinese classical works. Classical Chinese served as the medium for disseminating these discourses and shared knowledge.

When examining the long-term changes in customs related to Chinese characters and Classical Chinese in Korean history from the 4th to the 20th centuries, the periods can be divided as follows: formation, expansion, transformation/diversification, and disappearance. In pre-modern Korea, state power firmly maintained the hierarchy of literary genres, while popular and non-political literary hierarchies resisted and developed against it. The rich tradition of writing in Classical Chinese was achieved through the antagonism and negotiation of these opposing hierarchies. In addition, the various layers of literature 文 include fiction that expresses the thoughts and emotions of a nation or reflects reality, records of historical facts, academic essays, and uniquely rhetorical documents on diplomatic relations based on the principle of “serve the strong and be neighborly” or public or private relationships.

From ancient times to the first half of the 15th century, the royal court was central in promoting poetry and prose 詞章 in Korea. The country sought to embody the ideals of literary works focused on glorifying the state 華國文章 and literary works focused on supporting the successful governance of the dynasty 經國文章 in creating official diplomatic documents 詞命文, engaging in poetic letters and responses 唱和 with Chinese envoys, and commissioning literary works produced by royal decree 應製. Korean intellectuals used verse forms that followed the rhyme structure of Classical Chinese grammar to record public facts and produce official documents, as well as to develop their reasoning and express their emotions. Mid-level intellectuals used the state examination as an important gateway to entering the civil service. The writing style required by the examination and used in politics was komun 古文 (classical prose) in Classical Chinese grammar. However, public administration, criminal policy, land documents, and living documents used the vocabulary of expressions that borrowed sound or meaning from Chinese words, based on the order of the words in the spoken language, and used the idu 吏讀 (clerical reading) script for grammatical segmentation, in what is called idu-style Classical Chinese. The central government supervised literature and letters, which took multifaceted forms. Meanwhile, the upper classes mastered and appropriated the principles of tonal prosody 平仄 and rhyme 押韻. It was not until the late Joseon period that lower-level intellectuals began to develop their aesthetic world using non-rhyming literature or variations of examination poems 科詩.

According to archaeological excavations, East Asia began using Chinese characters as a common writing system before the common era. The northern Korean Peninsula probably interacted with China from 300 BCE during the Bronze Age, leading to the adoption of Chinese characters. The excavation of knife-money 明刀錢, spade-money 方足布, and Qin spheres 秦戈 from North P’yŏngan province on the Korean Peninsula, along with the use of the appellation of king 王 for the Kojosŏn 古朝鮮 (trad. 2333 BCE-108 BCE) leader, the use of official titles like “grand master” 大夫 and “erudite” 博士, and the adoption of the Chinese-style name Ye 禮 all indicate a connection between the northern Korean Peninsula and Chinese civilization during the Warring States period.² Koguryŏ 高句麗 (37 BCE-668 CE) received imperial edicts 詔 from China from 122 CE and sent memorials 書表 to China from 233. In 372, Koguryŏ established T’aehak 太學 (State Academy) to educate the children of aristocrats and recognized the interpretation of the Confucian Five Classics 五經 as advanced knowledge. At the same time, Koguryŏ developed its Buddhist culture by importing Buddhist books in Classical Chinese from China. By the fourth century, the ruling elite would have shared the view that Chinese characters and Classical Chinese were essential for literacy.

Each ancient regional state developed its own school system. Even Silla 新羅 (57 BCE-935 CE), which had the latest state system among the so-called Three Kingdoms, established Kukhak 國學 (National Academy) in 682 and a system of reading examinations in three grades in 788. We can infer from this school system that the upper class was composed of literati with a knowledge of Chinese literature. According to the epigraph materials, hybrid Korean-style Chinese 變格漢文(i.e., idu-style Classical Chinese) using the indigenous grammar and t’o 吐 (abbreviated characters) were widely used at first. Still, the custom of writing the epitaph with transformation texts 變文 was gradually established. When the civil service examinations were implemented in the mid-Koryŏ 高麗 (918-1392) period, the komun style was recognized as the written format of Standard Classical Chinese 正格漢文. However, official documents utilized idu-style Classical chinese, and under the Yuan 元 dynasty’s (1271-1368) influence, imun 吏文 (clerical writing) was also adopted.

The relationship between the language and sentence structure of Korea and the stylistic forms of Classical Chinese can be summarized as shown in Table 1.³

Ancient Korea was in contact with Chinese civilization and adopted Classical Chinese, including its grammar. “Epitaph of the Tumulus in Tŏkhŭngni” 德興里古墳墓誌銘 (408) and the “Stele of Great King Kwanggaet’o” 國岡上廣開土境平安好太王碑 (414) are written entirely in Classical Chinese. The latter straightforwardly described the achievements and royal edicts 敎命 of King Kwanggaet’o in Classical Chinese with Classical grammar but did not include a memorial inscription with rhyming verses.

In 869, King Kyŏngmun (841-875) of Silla studied Wenxin diaolong 文心雕龍(Literary Mind and the Carving of the Dragon) with Monk Nanghye 郞慧⁴ (800-888). In the autumn of 881, when Emperor Xi Zong 僖宗 (862-888) of Tang dynasty (618-907) fled westward to escape the riots led by Huang Chao 黃巢 (835-884), King Hŏn’gang (861-886) sent Monk Nanghye as envoys and had those who had mastered the Six Forms of Poetry in the Shijing 六義 compose farewell songs. At this time, Royal Grandson Ŏgyŏng 嶷榮 led the chanting, and others composed poems to create a collection, with Pak Ong 朴邕, a scholar at Hanlin Academy 翰林院, who wrote a preface. After that, Kim Taemun 金大問 authored Records of the Hwarang 花郞世紀, Biographies of Eminent Monks 高僧傳, Treatise on Music 樂本, Records of Hansan 漢山記, and Miscellaneous Records of Gyerim 雞林雜傳. Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn 崔致遠(b. 857) returned from Tang in 885 and in the first month of 886 presented 28 volumes of poetry and prose, including Collection of Writings from the Garden of Cassia 桂苑筆耕集 and Collection of Toppled Baskets of Zhōngshān 中山覆簣集, and over 100 recent-style poems.

After the mid-11th century, Korean prose in Classical Chinese shifted its focus to classical prose, with the development of miscellaneous writings and biographical narratives. Pak Inryang 朴寅亮 (d. 1096) compiled Tales of the Unusual 殊異傳. Monk Gakhun 覺訓, in the early period of the military regime in Koryŏ, also compiled Biographies of Eminent Korean Monks 海東高僧傳. Yi Inro 李仁老 (1152-1220) compiled Breaking Boredom 破閑 in 1220, and Choe Ja 崔滋 (1188-1260) compiled the Continuation of Breaking Boredom 續破閑, also known as Bohan jip 補閑集, in 1254.

Classical Chinese with classical grammar had a wide range of applications. Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) compiled Tongmun Sŏn 東文選(Eastern Selections of Refined Literature) in three editions to proclaim the “flourishing of literary arts” 文運 under a stable royal authority. Its original edition, consisting of 133 volumes (including a three-volume index), was compiled in 1478 under the leadership of Sŏ Kŏjŏng 徐居正 (1420-1488), assembling poetry and prose from the Three Kingdoms, Koryŏ, and early Joseon periods. The supplementary edition, comprising 23 volumes (including a two-volume index), was compiled in 1518 by Sin Yonggae 申用漑 (1463-1519), selecting poetry and prose from the early Joseon period, and was combined with the original edition. A separate edition, consisting of 35 volumes (including a two-volume index), was compiled and published in 1713 by Song Sanggi 宋相琦 (1657-1723), selecting from the Tongmun Sŏn to send to the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) and selecting poetry and prose after the original and supplementary editions. The original edition, consisting of 133 volumes, comprises works by 496 authors and 76 anonymous writers, classifying 1,770 titles and 2,028 poems, as well as 2,534 prose pieces, into 58 literary styles. The supplementary edition, consisting of 21 volumes, classifies 770 titles and 980 poems, as well as 182 prose pieces, into 36 literary styles. The original, supplementary, and separate editions contain only poetry and prose written in Classical Chinese with classical grammar.

Although the literary styles of the Continuation of Tongmun sŏn 續東文選 were reduced to thirty-six categories, its selection of various styles, including transformation texts, prose, and verse, is almost identical to that of the original compilation.

Sok tongmun 01: 01. Lyric 辭, 02. Rhapsody 賦

Sok tongmun 02: 03. Five-syllable classical style poetry 五言古詩, 04: Seven-syllable classical style poetry 七言古詩, 05. Five-syllable regulated poem 五言律詩 06. Seven-syllable regulated poem 七言律詩, 07. Seven-syllable extended regulated poem 七言排律, 08: Five-syllable quatrain 五言絶句, 09: Seven-syllable quatrain 七言絶句, 10. Six-syllable quatrain 六言絶句, 11. Poems of mixed styles

Sok tongmun 03: 12. Book of posthumous title 諡冊, 13: Book of condolence 哀冊, 14. Lament 哀詞

Sok tongmun 04: 15. Inscription 銘, 16. Encomium 贊

Sok tongmun 05: 16. Memorandum 箋, 17. Memorial 表

Sok tongmun 06: 18. Memorial to the throne 上疏

Sok tongmun 07: 19. Proclamation 檄

Sok tongmun 08: 20. Policy inquiry 策題

Sok tongmun 09: 21. Record 記, 22. Preface 序, 23. Discourse 說, 24. Treatise 論, 25. Biography 傳, 26. Postface 跋

Sok tongmun 10: 27. Song 歌謠

Sok tongmun 11: 29. Miscellaneous writings 雜著

Sok tongmun 12: 30. Beam-raising blessing 上梁文

Sok tongmun 13: 31. Prayer text 祭文

(3) Most of the Joseon monarchs utilized Classical Chinese along with its grammar in their writings. For instance, King Chŏngjo 正祖 (1752-1800)’s poems and prose were compiled in three separate occasions: the 11th year of his reign (1787), the 19th year of his reign (1795), and the 23rd year of his reign (1799). In the 12th month of the year (1801) after King Chŏngjo’s death, the table of contents consisting of 184 volumes in 100 books was determined, and the Complete Works of Hongjae 弘齋全書 was confirmed. In the 14th year of King Sunjo 純祖 (1790-1834)’s reign (1814), it was published by the Kyujanggak 奎章閣 (Royal library) using the Chŏngnija 整理字 type as a metal type edition. In the same year, 40 volumes in 22 books of the Complete Works of Hongjae were included in Royal Writings of Successive Kings 列聖御製. Although King Yŏngjo 英祖 (1694-1776) was the first Joseon monarch to have his literary collection published,⁵ King Chŏngjo’s collection surpasses King Yŏngjo’s in both quantity and quality. Most of his literary style is Classical Chinese with its grammar, and his legal verdict 判 is written in idu-style.

Furthermore, the monarchs frequently requested literary responses 賡載 and compositions 製述 from their civil officials, both of which literary styles utilized Classical Chinese with its grammar. Furthermore, King Chŏngjo presented chomun 條問 (compositions) related to the classics and history to his officials and ordered them to submit chodae 條對 (replies) or had civil officials arrange question-and-answer sessions on the classics and history. Chomun and chodae were all compiled using Classical Chinese with its grammar.

(4) Before the modern era, states exercised their power through the civil service examination 科擧, the method of selecting talented indivIduals, and the performance evaluation 考課 and endorsement 署經, methods for managing human resources. During the reign of King Kwangjong 光宗 (925-975) of Koryŏ, with the implementation of the civil service examination system, poetry, rhapsodies, odes, and policy proposals 時務策 were assigned across three examination sessions. Upon the establishment of the Joseon Dynasty, classics licentiate examination 生員試 of minor cvil service examination 小科 required one essay on questions on the Four Books 四書疑 and one essay on questions on the Five Classics 五經義 (later, Spring and Autumn Annals 春秋 was excluded). The literary licentiate examination 進士科 required one rhapsody and one item of classical style poetry, inscriptions, or admonitions. The intermediate stage of the major civil service examination 文科中場 required a rhapsody. According to Regulations for Literary Officials’ Lectures and Compositions 文臣講製節目, promulgated in 1781, the compositions of selected civil officials were initially set to include treatise, policy question, memorial, regulated verse, preface, and record. However, soon after, a total of thirty literary forms were added, including regulated poem, proclamation 頒敎文, beam-raising blessing, royal reply, and instruction.⁶ The categories for the civil service examinations numbered around thirty, and the formats of exam literature spanned classical prose, transformation texts, and poetry. Monthly assessments 月課 and impromptu compositions 應製 of civil officials and Sŏnggyun’gwan students 泮儒 were similar. Although there were changes in the examination subjects, the official examination compositions 功令文 assigned in the examinations were all in Classical Chinese with its grammar.

In the Korean Peninsula, a form of Classical Chinese that does not follow classical grammar developed. Joseon officials used a narrative style centered on four-character phrases known as imun, alongside Korean-style Classical Chinese incorporating hyŏnt’o 懸吐 (reading glosses) and idu.

(1) Ulsan Ch’ŏnjŏn-ri Inscribed Rock 蔚州川前里刻石, presumed to be from the 6th century, and Oath Stone of the Imsin Year 壬申誓記石, excavated from the Kyŏngju area and presumed to be from the 7th–8th centuries, represent a form of Korean-style Classical Chinese that does not use idu, unlike that of later periods. Numerous idu-style Classical Chinese texts have also been discovered in mokkan木簡 (woodblocks) from the 6th to 8th centuries. Since the initial discovery of mokkan artifacts from Unified Silla (676-935) in August 1975 at Anapji Pond 雁鴨池 in Kyŏngju, a total of 346 pieces have been unearthed across 16 archaeological sites nationwide as of January 2006, with ink traces 墨痕 and ink writings 墨書 found in 252 of these pieces.⁷ On December 19, 2006, an additional 38 pieces were excavated from Sŏngsan Sansŏng in Haman. On July 19, 2007, 12 more pieces excavated from the Hyŏnnae-dŭl and Pukp’o sites in Ssangbuk-ni, Puyŏ, by the Chungcheong Cultural Heritage Research Institute were made public. In particular, data from the 149th mokkanfrom Wŏlseong Haeja 月城垓字 is written in hybrid Korean-style Chinese.⁸

In the Chronicles of Japan 日本書紀, volumes 9, 10, 14, 16, 17, and 19, annotations include three types of Paekche documents, including the Chronicles of Paekche 百濟記, which feature unique consonant kana. For example, the note in the fourth year of volume 16, Emperor Buretsu’s Records 武烈紀, quotes the phrase “In Kangna Sea 各羅海, there is Judo Island 主嶋, where the king was born” 今各羅海中有主嶋, 王所産嶋 from New Selections from Paekche 百濟新撰. Here, the character so 所 is used differently from standard Classical Chinese. The main text of the fourth year in Emperor Buretsu’s Records relies on the Paekche Sinch’an 百濟新撰, which is cited in the corresponding notes. At that time, “The people together removed [the previous king], King Muryŏng was enthroned, his taboo name was Shima” 國人共除, 武寧王立, 諱斯麻王 was corrected to “The people then removed [the previous king] and enthroned King Shima, who is King Muryeong” 國人遂除而立嶋王, 是爲武寧王.⁹ Considering the document quoted in the Chronicles of Japan, it seems that the Paekche Classical Chinese sentences retained ji 之 at the end. Furthermore, the 14th volume of the Chronicles of Japan, in the entry for the fourth month of the fifth year, includes the expression “my pregnant wife” 我之孕婦 in the utterance of Kaerowang 蓋鹵王 (r. 455-475).¹⁰

(2) In ancient times, a method developed to use the sound and meaning of Chinese characters to represent the native language. To understand Classical Chinese sentences and localize Chinese, kugyŏl 口訣 (recitation glosses) and idu were utilized. Kugyŏl retains the original order of the Classical Chinese while using Korean terms for grammatical relations or verbs to ease reading, which only required borrowing 20–30 characters. idu is a method of expressing Korean using the sounds and meanings of Chinese characters for special words such as relational words, verbs, and adverbs to localize Classical Chinese. Both idu and kugyŏl are collectively referred to as idu in a broad sense. Additionally, the broad sense of idu also includes hyangch’al 鄕札(local letters) used in hyangga 鄕歌 (local songs). For example, the ink-written paper fragments 墨書紙片 found during the 1966 Sŏkkat’ap 釋迦塔 pagoda excavation were separated into 110 individual pieces in 1997. Records of the Repair of the Pulguksa Mugu Chŏnggwangt’ap Pagoda 佛國寺无垢淨光塔重修記 (1024) which was written during the dismantling of the Sŏkkat’ap Pagoda, damaged by an earthquake in 1024, rendered the Chinese sentence “西邊石塔亦欲傾” as “西邊石塔亦傾墮如加賜乙.”¹¹ Direct Explanation of the Great Ming Code 大明律直解 is an idu translation of Great Ming Code 大明律, written by royal order by Liu Weiqian 劉惟謙.¹² The 1395 original edition is not extant, but the later reprints from the 16th century onwards reflect the original form of the 1395 edition.¹³ The writing of the direct explanation exhibit the following characteristics:

(a) The structure of Classical Chinese is rearranged to fit the word order of Korean, changing it to an object-verb structure and attaching idu.

(b) Additional characters are supplemented and substituted to clarify the meaning of Classical Chinese.

(3) Nouns or adjectives rooted in Korean culture or customs are often used even in standard Classical Chinese. Among the names for objects 物名 and measure words 單位詞, some derive from original Classical Chinese. In contrast, others are based on phonetic borrowing 音借 or semantic borrowing 訓借, and there are various combinations of phonetic and semantic borrowings. In the imun and confessions 供招 and various handbooks for royal rituals and ceremonies 儀軌 such as list of actually entered goods 實入秩 and list of returned or issued goods 還下秩, one can examine the names and units of the goods for royal court use. Furthermore, numerous unique terms are related to administration, such as the land system and taxation. For example, ŭphwang 邑況 (ŭpchŭng 邑徵 or kwanhwang 官況) refers to rice or money collected in addition to the land tax 田稅 under the pretext of various official expenses for the county.¹⁴ Even the yangban 兩班 class often used idu or borrowed-graphs 借字 for daily terms when in haste. In New Tales to Ward Off Sleep 禦睡新話, compiled by Chang Hanjong 張漢宗 (1768-1815), a painter by profession, there is a story called “Requesting to Borrow a Stepmother” 請借庶母 about a certain yangban who tried to borrow a sieve for sifting flour from someone he knew, but because he could not recall the Chinese characters, he sent a letter asking to borrow a stepmother 庶母, which led to him being ridiculed.¹⁵

(4) In the late Joseon period, the widely circulated manual for writing official documents, Essential Knowledge for Literati and Clerks 儒胥必知, identifies one of the three types of Classical Chinese used in Korea as the clerical style 吏胥體.¹⁶ This is called idu-style Classical Chinese, Joseon-style Classical Chinese, or hybrid Korean-style Chinese.

(a) literary styles 文章體 created by those engaged in prose studies, such as preface 序, record 記, postface 跋, and miscellaneous writing 雜著

(b) Official examination style 功令體 learned by those studying for civil service exams, such as poetry 詩, rhapsody 賦, memorandum 表, policy questions 策, critical questioning 疑, and classical interpretation 義

(c) clerical style 吏胥體 learned for document processing and administrative tasks

Essential Knowledge for Literati and Clerks contains a total of 61 forms of documents, including petitions 上言, oral petitions 擊錚原情, civil petitions 所志, briefs 單子, letter to a superior 告目, exchange agreements 明文 and six other types. Following civil petitions, various disposal inscriptions 題辭, the defendant’s confession statements 侤音, and clemency petitions 隻原情 were recorded separately. Following the letters to a superior 告目, the official head’s official responses 答牌 was recorded separately.

(5) Diary of the Kyujanggak Royal Library 內閣日曆, which records the daily activities of the royal academic institution Kyujanggak, includes an official document written in idu-style to authorize the absence report 懸頉 of the selected civil officials from Kyujanggak.

(6) Hybrid Korean-style Chinese was widely used in government documents, criminal judgments, civil petitions, sales contracts, inheritance documents, intra-household communications, and royal records (such as handbooks for royal rituals and ceremonies 儀軌 and transcribed records 謄錄). The Academy of Korean Studies has classified ancient documents based on their content as shown in the table below,¹⁷ with examples of idu-style hybrid Korean-style Chinese being 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 16 (partially), and 19 (very few).

(7) The State Tribunal 義禁府 and Police Bureau 捕盜廳 documents recording confessions 供招 and judgments 判決 are mostly written in idu-style Classical Chinese. The State Tribunal compiled records of criminals’ confessions and judgments on major crimes such as rebellions, robbery, treason, inauspicious memorials 凶疏, heterodox learning 邪學, seditious placards 掛書, impersonation of secret inspectors, and arson at the royal tombs. The Interrogation Reports and Records 1601-1892 推案及鞫案 are housed at Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies, Seoul National University.¹⁸ Records of the Police Bureau 捕盜廳謄錄, detailing cases handled by the Police Bureau from 1775 to 1890, provides detailed accounts of criminal interrogations.¹⁹ King Chŏngjo was involved in drafting judgments written in idu.²⁰

The characteristics of hybrid Korean-style Chinese that appear in the various materials above can be summarized as follows:

(a) In line writing, four-character parallel phrases with four characters 四言齊言 are frequently used without regard to the mixed use of prose and verse lines.

(b) Rather than using the verb-object structure of classical Chinese grammar, an object-verb structure similar to Korean word order is mainly used. Hybrid Korean-style Chinese maintains an S-O-V system, not an S-V-O system, and can hold lengthy object phrases in the middle. One characteristic of the Korean language is that auxiliary predicates, such as those indicating modality and sentence mood, are placed at the end of sentences. When combined with classical Chinese grammar, this characteristic gave rise to the usage of sentence-final auxiliary predicates.

(c) These texts do not pay attention to the principle of changing words to avoid duplication 變文避複 or the literary allusion 用典 or parallelism 排比 compositional techniques.

(d) These texts frequently use compound words rather than single words.

(e) The Joseon-style Classical Chinese used by the yangban 兩班, government accountants 郎廳, and representatives in litigation 外知部, has a grammar that is close to Classical Chinese and uses less idu reading glosses. Still, the Joseon-style Classical Chinese used by clerks is considerably different from the grammar of Classical Chinese. Especially in administrative documents, vocabulary familiar to the lower-level functionary 衙前 is used.

(f) They frequently use phrase structures such as 有- (yu-), or other phrasal patterns such as -慰 (-wi), -宜 (-i), -慮 (-ryŏ), and -喜 (-hŭi) in the predicate. These phrases structures appear frequently even in letters that are faithful to Classical Chinese grammar. However, from the late 18th century onwards, instances are found of petitions that attempted to revert to the Classical Chinese grammar of ancient prose. Concerning this, it is necessary to pay attention to “changes in pragmatic context.”²¹

During the Joseon Dynasty, scholar-officials 士大夫 had to read and write many Idu documents in their public service. Kim Maesun 金邁淳 (1776–1840), a master of ancient prose, also wrote many official documents while serving as a magistrate, compiling a separate book titled Record of Official Documents 公移占錄.²² In addition, while serving as the magistrate of Simyŏng 沁營 from 1834 to 1837, he left behind six reporting documents to the king 狀啓, six reporting documents 報狀, two official documents to other offices 移關, 27 official directives 甘結, 16 orders 傳令, four detailed regulations 節目, and 60 disposal inscriptions 題辭.²³ However, many scholar-officials 士大夫 were not proficient in deciphering or writing hybrid Korean-style Chinese. This change can be seen in the fact that Amplified and Corrected Coroner’s Guide for the Elimination of Grievances 增修無冤錄 and Amplified and Corrected Coroner’s Guide for the Elimination of Grievances in Vernacular Korean 增修無冤錄諺解 were published during the reign of King Chŏngjo. Originally, during the reign of Sejong, Ch’oe Ch’iun 崔致雲 (1390–1440) and others were tasked with annotating and publishing Coroner’s Guide for the Elimination of Grievances 無寃錄 by Wang Yu 王與. Additionally, during the reign of Yŏngjo, Ku T’aekkyu 具宅奎 (1693–1754) was commissioned to revise and supplement the old annotations. King Chŏngjo ordered Sŏ Yurin 徐有隣 (1738–1802), minister of the Board of Punishment, to review the corrections again and translate them into Korean, sending them to the Outer Royal Library 外閣 for printing with movable type.²⁴ In 1795, regarding the petition from 李羲甲 Yi Hŭigap (1764–?), a secret inspector in Honam, King Chŏngjo also requested that the yangban read imun. He attached a royal edict to establish the rules for Imun composition as supplementary notes.²⁵

(1) The idu documentary writing style was also accepted when Yuan legal codes were adopted during the period of Mongol intervention in Koryŏ. To enhance the efficiency of document administration, the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan standardized the direct translation of Mongolian. Subsequently, the regime implemented several key reforms: in the tenth month of 1337 (Zhiyuan 至元 3), the format of imperial decrees 勅牒 was revised; in 1339, document formats for intergovernmental communication, particularly between the Central Secretariat 中書省 and the Censorate 御史臺, were updated; in the second month of 1340, the ‘Phags-pa script was promulgated; and in 1342 (Zhiyuan 8), Mongolian schools were established. The document formats enacted in 1339 were published in encyclopedias such as Comprehensive Collection of Literary Works 翰墨全書. In the late Koryŏ and early Chosŏn periods, the posts of officials responsible for studying idu documentary writing 吏文習讀官 were established in the Royal Secretariat for Diplomatic Correspondence 承文院 to study clerical writing, referring to works such as Record of Diplomatic Documents in Clerical Script 吏文謄錄, Chi-Chŏng Code 至正條格, and Comprehensive Statutes of the Great Yuan 大元通制. Clerical writing rarely used ending particles, employed specialized vocabulary known as iŏ 吏語, and aimed solely to convey meaning in four-character parallel phrases. A representative style of clerical writing can be found in Great Ming Code, which became the foundation of Chosŏn law. Yuan clerical writing continued to influence the style of official documents until the late Chosŏn period. It also had an influence on the style of unofficial historical narratives 野談. In 1795, King Chŏngjo decided to have select literary officials simultaneously learn clerical writing used for domestic documents and tributary documents to the Chinese Emperor, despite their differences.²⁶

(2) During the Three Kingdoms Period of Korea, as Chinese translations of Buddhist texts were introduced and Buddhism functioned as the state religion, the Sino-Korean style of Buddhist texts translated into Chinese influenced various aspects of religious culture and politics. An examination of the readable parts of the epitaph on the six-sided stone monument erected in 818, 290 years after the martyrdom of Ichadon in 527,²⁷ shows ancient-style prose primarily using four-character phrases. This style uses the dialogue particle -wal -曰 or - -wal - -曰, as the two-character nominative particle, and the ending particle ho 乎. The text does not show any signs of variant styles or rhyming, and it is structured in a question-and-answer format with the spirit and soul of Ichadon.

From the mid-Koryŏ period onwards, Zen texts 禪書 developed, encompassing various forms of Buddhist texts by Zen masters: doctrines 宗義, historical biographies 史傳, recorded sayings 語錄, inscriptions 銘, admonitions 箴, hymns 歌頌, public cases of enlightenment 頌古公案, Zen literature 禪文學, and monastic regulations 淸規. Buddhist Classical Chinese uses Classical Chinese grammar, while frequently employing consecutive compound predicate verbs and i 而 to adjust the tone between the subject and predicate. Additionally, it utilizes phrases such as ŏ-ha 於-何 (-eul -hayŏya haneun-ga : -을 -하여야 하는가), rhetorical questions ending in pul 不 or ho 乎, short sentences asking for reasons like soyijaha 所以者何, haiku 何以故, unha 云何, and frequent use of second-person pronouns like yŏ 汝, i 爾, in 仁, inja 仁者, indeung 仁等, and expressions of complete negation such as topul 都不 or tomu 都無.

(3) In Koryŏ and Chosŏn, influenced by Zen Cases with Annotations and Verses 禪門拈頌 and Chan Master Dahui Zonggao’s 大慧宗杲 (1089-1163) letters, there are instances of commentaries or passages of prose crafted in imitative vernacular style. A prime illustration is Kim Sisŭp’s 金時習 (1435-1493) commentary on Essential Explanation of the Ten Mysteries Discourse 十玄談要解. Furthermore, Buddhist Classical Chinese incorporated verses from Koan 公案 or Zen poems 禪詩 into its eulogies 贊. Kim Sisŭp’s works, such as Distinctive Eulogies on the Lotus Sutra 妙法蓮華經別讚, Essential Explanation of the Ten Profound Discussions 十玄談要解, and Commentary and Annotations on the Seal-diagram of the Dharma Realm of the Great Avatamsaka Sutra 大華嚴法界圖註 exemplify these characteristics. In an example from introduction eulogies 序品贊 in Distinctive Eulogies on the Lotus Sutra, the main text of the eulogy frequently employs parallelism. Still, it is unrhymed and does not apply the tonal rules of hybrid Korean-style Chinese.²⁸ At the end of this eulogy, a passage from monk Shishuang Chuyuan 石霜楚圓 (986-1039)’s theory of “five ranks of the prince” 王子五位²⁹ is quoted without attribution. The eulogy with a seven-character quatrain format is omitted.

All sages and saints vanish like lightning, but the Tathāgata is the master of all teachings.

Countless beings attain perfect enlightenment, and the great assembly is the audience that listens.

Echoing masters and disciples convene, both alike and distinct, revered by dragons and devas.

To fully reveal the intrinsic purpose of the serene sanctuary, and to brightly illuminate the exemplary standards of the spiritual peak.

Beneath the black mountain, the earth shakes, and light radiates; and within the dead waters, clouds rise and mists emerge.

The great cause and conditions are profoundly deep, difficult for all sages and mortals to comprehend.

If not for Ānanda’s earnest inquiry, how could the fourfold assembly’s doubts be resolved?

The former and later sages follow the same path, but the Dharma King’s decree must be upheld.

Do you wish to see the Dharma King’s decree?

“The wondrous seal is held in hand, stilling the sands. How could it reveal even the slightest mechanism under the open sun?”

一切聖賢如電拂, 如來是所說之主.

恒沙衆生成正覺, 海會是能聽之伴.

影嚮師資會合, 同異龍天欽仰.

欲暢寂場本懷, 光闡靈峰標格.

黑山下動地放光, 死水裡興雲吐霧.

大事因緣甚深, 一切聖凡難解.

若非逸多發問, 爭決四衆狐疑?

前聖後聖一揆, 法王法令當行.

要見法王法令麽?

“妙印手持沙塞靜, 當陽那肯露纎機?”

(4) Chosŏn Confucian scholars sometimes used the vernacular Sinitic expressions in Classified Conversations of Zhu Xi 朱子語類. In the late Chosŏn period, as vernacular Sinitic novels such as Water Margin 水滸志 and The Western Chamber 西廂記 became popular, some literary figures imitated their vernacular Sinitic style to compose poetry and prose. Yi Ŏnjin 李彦瑱 (1740–1766) employed vernacular Sinitic in his poetry. No Kŭng 盧兢 (1737–1790) introduced vernacular Sinitic vocabulary and grammar into his prose, among which “unraveling of thoughts” 想解 is the most famous. In the 19th century, plays by anonymous authors such as The Northern Chamber 北廂記 and episodic revised novels such as Revised and Augmented Talented Scholar Edition of the Story of Nine Clouds 新增才子九雲記 appeared.

Notes

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