Abstract
The importance of early Korean records of supernovae, comets, meteors and aurorae in modern astronomy is well-known. However, the most extensive Korean source of such data, the Seungjeongwon Ilgi (Daily records of the Office of Royal Secretariat), has received relatively little attention among historians of astronomy. Written in Chinese (Hanmun), the Seungjeongwon Ilgi is a day-to-day chronicle of important events. The main emphasis is on matters of court and state, but observations of a wide variety of astronomical phenomena are regularly included. Although maintenance of the chronicle began early in the Joseon Dynasty (AD 1392–1910), due to wars and rebellions only the records from AD 1623 to 1894 now survive. Nevertheless, the remaining text is substantial, containing more than 3,000 chapters. In this paper, the general format of the astronomical records in the Seungjeongwon Ilgi is discussed, together with examples of the various types of celestial observations which this huge compilation contains.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
For this purpose, the night from dusk to dawn was divided into five equal watches.
- 2.
During this 2.5-year period, in some months the Seungjeong-won Ilgi records as many as 10 of these occurrences. Each separate record cites the night watch during which the event was observed and also the relevant octant or quadrant of the sky.
References
Kim Tai-jin, 1976. A Bibliographical Guide to Traditional Korean Sources. Seoul, Korea University.
Lee, E.H., Ahn, Y.S., Yang, H.J., and Chen, K.Y, 2004. The sunspot and auroral activity cycle derived from Korean historical records of the 11th to 18th century. Solar Physics, 224, 373–386.
Pan Nai, 1989. Zhongguo hengxing guance shi (History of Chinese Star Observations). Shanghai, Xuelin (in Chinese).
Park Seong-rae, 1977. Portents and Politics in Early Yi Korea: 1392–1519. Doctoral thesis, Department of History, University of Hawaii.
Stephenson, F.R., and Green, D.A., 2002. Historical Supernovae and their Remnants. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Stephenson, F.R., and Willis, D.M., 2008. Vapours like fire light are Korean aurorae. Astronomy and Geophysics, 49, 3.34–3.38.
Yau, K.K.C., Stephenson, F.R., and Willis, D.M., 1995. A Catalogue of Auroral Observations from China, Korea and Japan: (193 B.C.-A.D. 1770). Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Technical Report RAL-TR-95–073.
Yi Shitong, 1984. Quantian xingtu: 2000.0 (All-Sky Star Atlas for Epoch 2000.0). Beijing, Ditu (in Chinese).
Acknowledgements
The author gratefully acknowledges the valuable opportunities provided by the award of a Leverhulme Emeritus Fellowship.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this paper
Cite this paper
Stephenson, F.R. (2011). The Seungjeongwon Ilgi as a Major Source of Korean Astronomical Records. In: Orchiston, W., Nakamura, T., Strom, R. (eds) Highlighting the History of Astronomy in the Asia-Pacific Region. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8161-5_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8161-5_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4419-8160-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-8161-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)