In hopes of bringing this list back to a footing of scholarly rigour, I
invite contributions of the type of which the following is, in my
opinion, a classic example.  It is reprinted from _AKSE Newsletter_ 2
(1978), pp. 32-34, where better orthography than standard ASCII may be
found.  In the present text, McCune-Reischauer short o is represented by
@.

Rob Provine

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The following note from Dr. Yu No-hu (Ho:  Hoho) of Nongdam Taehak
fulfills the requirement of para. 10 of the _Suggestions Concerning a
Newsletter_ (Anon. [D. Eikemeier], AKSE, 1977):-

In the History of Kory@, vol. 27, we find the following passage:
"Wanjong, Year 13, Black Monkey ... 3rd month ... Green Dragon day:  the
Supervisory Bureau for Warships and Armed Forces Supplies was
established and the Supervisory Bureau for the Manufacture of Inlaid
Lacquerware Boxes was established, because the Empress wished to store
her sutras and requested [the boxes]."

There is some confusion in this report, since there was in fact no
"Green Dragon day" in the 3rd month of the "Black Monkey year" of 1272,
and scholars are agreed that the record should be amended to "2nd
month".  The "Green Dragon day" of the 2nd month of 1272 was April 17th,
a day of a full moon, which may account for the lunacy which appeared to
afflict the Kory@ bureaucracy on that day.  That they appeared not even
to know what month it was is striking enough proof of this, in a
civilisation which prided itself above all on calendrical accuracy.
However, we may discern in this report something far more serious, by
our standards, than a calendrical error.  Indeed its importance for the
subsequent history of Korea can hardly be overestimated.  The whole
course of Korean history for the next 700 years was set by the Chih-yuan
Empress having expressed admiration for the artistic merits of Kory@
inlaid lacquerware boxes.

It is certain that a great number of such boxes must have been required
to meet the Empress' request, since it was felt necessary to establish a
"supervisory bureau" (_togam_) for their manufacture.  This was the age
of mass production of sutras in Korea, in the form of the Kory@
Tripitaka, and, since the Empress ordered boxes to store her sutras from
Kory@, it is reasonable to surmise that it was the Kory@ Tripitaka that
she wished to store in them.  These totalled 6,000 volumes, and, with 20
volumes to a box, one can calculate that the order would have been for
300 boxes.

It must be remembered that this was the period immediately after Kory@
had finally resolved to capitulate completely to Yuan, and every
official was frantic in his efforts to ensure that it would not be his
responsibility if any offence were given to Peking.  From Peking there
arrives in Kaes@ng a request for 300 inlaid lacquerware boxes -- in the
Korean-Chinese of the time:  _jy@nham_.  Now it is true that such wares
had been produced in Korea, probably for about 200 years, but on a very
small scale, and it must have seemed incredible that a single export
order for 300 should arrive, and, of all places, from the cultural
centre of the world.  The trade officials could hardly have been more
surprised had an order for 300 tons of coal arrived from Newcastle.
Obviously the order had to be met, but ... what if there had been some
misunderstanding?  The unsolicited despatch of 300 inlaid lacquerware
boxes might cause some amusement in Peking, but would not in itself give
such offence as to result in heads rolling in Kaes@ng.  But if the
inlaid lacquerware boxes order were a misunderstanding, what might have
been ordered really?  There was just one other product which
13th-century Koreans called _jy@nham_, and which Korea had been
supplying to the Mongols for at least 13 years:  warships, for use
against the Southern Sung.

Now, if the request was for 300 warships, Qubilai might not be quite as
delighted as his Empress would be if he were sent instead 300 inlaid
lacquerware boxes.  All credit must be given to the officials for their
astute reasoning.  The safe decision was taken to establish a
Supervisory Bureau for Warships (a bureaucrat with many years experience
suggesting that "and Armed Forces Supplies" be added).  We may assume
that this bureau was then ordered to produce 300 warships.  However, it
is significant that the officials were careful not to add any mention of
any imperial request for this.  The rather bizarre decision, as it must
have seemed when it was put to the court for ratification, to establish
on the same day a Supervisory Bureau for the Manufacture of Inlaid
Lacquerware boxes, was justified by the note that "the Empress had
requested" them.  It is perhaps the supreme irony of Korean history that
Koreans, at the height of their country's artistic creativity, could see
themselves as required to produce something which they were not destined
to perfect for over three hundred years - warships - when inlaid
lacquerware boxes were specifically requested.

In this way it came about that Qubilai had 300 warships surplus to his
requirements of his campaigns against the Sung.  Prior to 1272, warships
had been constructed for the Mongols at various points on the west coast
of Korea, but, under the pressure to produce these extra 300, new yards
were opened in the southeast.  Thus, by 1274, 300 warships were lying
idle in ports in the southeast of Korea, just at a time when Qubilai's
annoyance with the Japanese persistent refusal, since 1264, to answer
his requests for the opening of friendly relations was reaching its
peak.

So events followed their inevitable course to tragedy.  The Mongol fleet
which landed at Hakozaki Bay in Kyushu in November, 1274, two years and
seven months after the day of lunacy in Kaes@ng, is estimated to have
included just 300 Korean-built ships.  Thousands of Koreans perished
here, and all because of a bureaucratic decision to play safe.  But the
tragedy did not end there.  Stung by his failure in 1274, Qubilai
despatched a second expedition in 1281, in which many more thousands of
Koreans perished.  The ruined Kory@ dynasty staggered on to its final
collapse, and the Yi seized power.  Inspiring Buddhism was replaced by
stolid, solemn Confucianism.  Delicate green celadon gave way to heavy
white china, _taror@-darir@_ to _t'aep'y@ng s@ngdae_.  The stimulating
trade in goods and ideas with the Middle East was banned in the stifling
isolation which the new regime imposed.  Korea stagnated for 500 years,
and was so totally unfitted to meet the situation in the late 19th
century that it fell into the hands of the Japanese, and there is no
need to dwell here on the tragic consequences of that, which are,
indeed, still felt today.

As a footnote, we may perhaps see in a different light the decision
taken early in the Yi dynasty to give absolute priority to the
correcting of Korean pronunciation of Chinese.  It is generally believed
that the sole purpose of _Tongguk Ch@ngun_ was to enable
scholar-gentlemen to rhyme their Chinese poetry correctly, but it is
likely, in view of our findings, above, that King Sejong, while
supervising the final revision of the _Kory@sa_, had spotted what we
have spotted:  that an elementary error in pronunciation had brought the
previous dynasty to ruin, and determined to ensure that this did not
happen to his dynasty.  For by 1447 it had been clearly established that
"warships" was _jy@:nhha:m_, but that "inlaid lacquerware boxes" should
have been pronounced _dy@:hha.m_.  The correct pronunciation was simply
not known in Kaes@ng on 17 April 1272, and so perhaps 10,000 Koreans
perished and the whole course of Korean history was changed.  It has
often been said that, in morpho-phonemics, King Sejong was centuries
ahead of his time.  This sad story would seem to indicate that he was
born 175 years too late for Korea.

[W. E. Skillend]