• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
• /
• v.56 no.2
• /
• pp.206-220
• /
• 2023

In the royal publishing process of the Joseon Dynasty, the main species of wood used for woodblock printing was recorded as Jajak-mok. Although the name Jajak-mok may suggest Jajak-namu(white birch), it is presumed to refer to a different type of wood than Jajak-namu based on its recorded habitat and usage in historical documents. The aim of this paper is to clarify that during the Joseon Dynasty, the term Jajak-mok referred to Geojesu-namu (Korean birch), while Jajak-namu was called Hwa-mok(樺木). Additionally, this paper explores how the term Jajakmok eventually became the name of white birch, Jajak-namu, used today. In the mid-18th century, Japan used the character 樺(hwa) to refer to Beot-namu(Sargent cherry). As Japanese encyclopedias entered Joseon, the term Hwa-mok began to refer to both Beot-namu and Jajak-namu, which is also called Bot-namu. Since the pronunciation of Boet-namu and Bot-namu are similar, the two trees were eventually unified under the name Boet-namu. In the 20th century, the official names of three trees were established. According to notifications issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce of the Korean Empire in 1910 and the Governor-General of Chosen in 1912, Hwa-mok(white birch) was renamed asJajak-namu. In 1968, Beot-namu(Sargent cherry) retained its original name, and Jajak-mok(Korean birch) was remained . In modern Chinese character dictionaries, the meaning of 樺(hwa) is listed as "1. Beot-namu(Sargent cherry), 2. Jajak-namu(white birch)." From this, we can infer the historical background in which the names of these three trees were mixed up.