• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.97
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• pp.69-86
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• 2020

Haenghaeng Ilgi (Diary of a Royal Trip) (koo 7152; hereafter Ilgi) in the collection of the National Museum of Korea provides an account of Crown Prince Sado's incognito royal visit to Pyeongyang in the fourth month of 1761. Ilgi was written by Ham Daeil, a low-ranking military officer in Pyeongyang. Ham was singled out for praise by Crown Prince Sado (1735-1762) and served the prince from the seventh day of the fourth month to the first day of the fifth month. Ilgi documented the deeds of Crown Prince Sado during this period and provides detailed information on his incognito visit to Pyeongyang, which was not officially recorded. Ilgi shows characteristics differentiating it from many other diaries. For example, the quality of the paper, neat handwriting, and well-organized sentences differ from those of common diaries. These distinctions indicate that Ilgi is closer to an official document than a private diary written by an individual. Since Ilgi records Crown Prince Sado's incognito visit to Pyeongyang, is only vaguely known otherwise, its contents need to be examined in terms of whether or not they are fully factual. As the first step in such verification, It is traced that Ham Daeil's family history which turned out to match what is written in Ilgi. Moreover, Ilgi mentions about Prince Crown Sado's writing a piece of calligraphy, and a matching piece of calligraphy written by Sado still survives today. It can be confirmed that the contents of Ilgi are factual in at least these regards. However, although Crown Prince Sado was known to have met people from various social classes during his visit to Pyeongyang, Ilgi focuses only on Crown Prince Sado and Ham Daeil. This suggests the possibility that the surviving version of Ilgi may be an edited condensation based on original texts containing more complete information on Crown Prince Sado's visit. Ilgi is presumed to have been produced during the generation of Ham Jeonghui, a son of Ham Daeil. The dates of birth and death of Ham Daeil fall during the reign of King Yeongjo. It is unlikely that any records regarding Crown Prince Sado would have been published while King Yeongjo, who was hostile to Sado, ruled the country. Ilgi also provides strong evidence that Ham Jeonghui presented the subsequent king, King Jeongjo, with the calligraphy by Crown Prince Sado and the diary. It is unclear if the book Ham Jeonghui presented him was the same as the extant version of Ilgi. Nonetheless, considering the situation at the time when King Jeongjo was pursuing several projects to honor his father Sado, it is highly probable that Ilgi was produced during the reign of King Jeongjo. The periods of presenting the calligraphy and the diary respectively overlapped with the production of Hyeollyungwon, the royal tomb of Crown Prince Sado, and Sado's sixtieth birthday. Therefore, is it considered reasonable that Ham Jeonghui produced Ilgi to promote his own social ambitions.