Kim Si-seup (1435–1493) was a Korean scholar and author.
Background
Kim Si-seup's ancestors originally came from
Gangneung
Gangneung () is a municipal city in the province of Gangwon-do, on the east coast of South Korea. It has a population of 213,658 (as of 2017).Gangneung City (2003)Population & Households. Retrieved January 14, 2006. Gangneung is the economic ...
,
Gangwon-do. His family was from the
yangban
The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil servants and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats ...
class and Kim himself was born in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
.
Throughout his life, Kim maintained a special bond with the Gangwon area and compiled a book of poetry called ''
Tangyugwandongnok'' which was based on family history and experiences he had in the area. Kim was an extremely gifted child and had picked up reading ability at eight months of age. At five years of age, he was able to read and comprehend
The Great Learning
The ''Great Learning'' or ''Daxue'' was one of the "Four Books" in Confucianism attributed to one of Confucius' disciples, Zengzi. The ''Great Learning'' had come from a chapter in the ''Book of Rites'' which formed one of the Five Classics. I ...
and the
Doctrine of the Mean
The ''Doctrine of the Mean'' or ''Zhongyong'' is one of the Four Books of classical Chinese philosophy and a central doctrine of Confucianism. The text is attributed to Zisi (Kong Ji), the only grandson of Confucius (Kong Zi). It was originall ...
. Kim was a devout Buddhist and at twenty-one years of age protesting
King Sejo
Sejo of Joseon (2 November 1417 – 23 September 1468), personal name Yi Yu (Korean: 이유; Hanja: 李瑈), sometimes known as Grand Prince Suyang (Korean: 수양대군; Hanja: 首陽大君), was the seventh ruler of the Joseon dynasty of K ...
usurping of the throne from his nephew
Danjong of Joseon
Danjong of Joseon (18 August 1441 – 17 November 1457), personal name Yi Hong-wi (Korean language, Korean: 이홍위; Hanja: 李弘暐), was the sixth ruler of the Joseon, Joseon dynasty of Korea. He was forced to abdicate by his uncle, Gran ...
(eventually murdering him), he decided to skip government service and become a Buddhist monk.
Works
Kim wrote the first novel in
Classical chinese
Classical Chinese, also known as Literary Chinese (古文 ''gǔwén'' "ancient text", or 文言 ''wényán'' "text speak", meaning
"literary language/speech"; modern vernacular: 文言文 ''wényánwén'' "text speak text", meaning
"literar ...
in
Korea
Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...
, titled
Geumo Sinhwa ''Geumo Sinhwa'' () is a collection of novellas, written in Chinese characters by a Korean author Kim Si-seup (who was born during the reign of Sejong the Great). Like most of the early literature of Korea it forms part of the Chinese-language liter ...
(금오신화; 金鰲新話), as well as other books such as
Siphyeondamyohae,
Tangyugwanseorok, and
Tangyuhonamnok. Geumo Sinhwa (New stories from Mount Geumo) was likely composed at
Yongjang Temple during the reign of
King Sejong
Sejong of Joseon (15 May 1397 – 8 April 1450), personal name Yi Do (Korean: 이도; Hanja: 李祹), widely known as Sejong the Great (Korean: 세종대왕; Hanja: 世宗大王), was the fourth ruler of the Joseon dynasty of Korea. Initial ...
and became an instant classic. Although
Geumosinhwa was influenced by a Chinese novel titled ''
Jiandeng Xinhua
''Jiandeng Xinhua'' (, lit. ''New Stories Told While Trimming the Wick'' or ''New Stories After Snuffing the Lamp''; 1378) is an early Ming dynasty collection of Chinese stories by Qu You (). The book consist of 21 stories in 4 volumes. It was s ...
'' (New stories while trimming the lampwick) by
Qu You
Qu You (, 1341–1427), courtesy name Zongji (宗吉) and self-nicknamed Cunzhai (存齋, "Reading Studio of Existence"), was a Chinese novelist who lived in the Ming dynasty, and whose works inspired a new genre fantasy works with political ...
, it would become nativized.
Another characteristic lies in his own writing. He did not prefer only Confucianism and tried to deal with Buddhism. It appeared in several books of his that the king and subjects should respect the whole nation regardless of a person's status and origin. It was believed his thought was much advanced compared to the era in which he lived and remained one of the earliest ideas concerning democracy on the Korean peninsula.
[Translated from data of Ministry of Culture of Korea http://person.mct.go.kr/person/data/person_view.jsp?cp_seq=100]
When he died there was a government effort to find and preserve all of his works, which number around 30 volumes. Below is an example of his poetry:
:Do not sweep the fallen leaves,
:For they are pleasant to hear on clear nights
:In the wind, they rustle, as if sighing;
:In the moonlight, their shadows flutter.
:They knock on the window to wake a traveler;
:Covering stairs, they hide moss.
:Sad, the sight of them getting wet in the rain;
:Let them wither away deep in the mountains.
See also
*
Korean Literature
Korean literature is the body of literature produced by Koreans, mostly in the Korean language and sometimes in Classical Chinese. For much of Korea's 1,500 years of literary history, it was written in Hanja. It is commonly divided into classica ...
*
Gangwon
Gangwon or Kangwŏn may refer to:
* Gangwon Province (historical), the Goryeo, Joseon Dynasty and the Japanese Korean province
* Gangwon Province (South Korea), a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Kore ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Si-Seup
1435 births
1493 deaths
Joseon Buddhist monks
Korean Taoists
15th-century Korean philosophers
Korean writers