• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.59-71
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• 2022

Objective : This study examines the historical changes of Ssangwha-'tang', traditional restorative medicine, to a type of tea in tea rooms(Da-bang) named Ssangwha-'cha' in the modern era in South Korea. The goal is to understand how traditional Korean medical culture has been related to the food culture of everyday life. Method : We analyzed traditional medical texts, newspaper articles and advertisements, literary works, and folk song lyrics in which Ssangwha-tang and Ssangwha-cha are mentioned. Results : Ssangwha-tang used to be mentioned as a medicine to tonify 'Yang' energy(Bo-yang) in traditional medical texts from the late Goryeo dynasty to the mid-Joseon dynasty. Since the late Joseon dynasty, it has also been prescribed for cold, as the tonifying method(Bo-beop) gradually prevailed from the royal family to the public. Since then, Ssangwha-tang has been more popular with the public, with the emergence of the patent medicine(Mae-yak) market since the Opening port period and the Colonial period. As the number of Da-bang sharply increased nationwide amid the period of the country's liberation, Ssangwha-tang has been included in the Da-bang menu served as Ssangwha-cha, corresponding to the increasing demands of the public and government policy that tends to favor traditional beverages over coffee. Conclusion : The historical process in which Sssangwha-tang, a type of herbal medicine, became also considered as tea, Ssangwha-cha, provides an example of how Korean traditional medical culture emphasizing the tonification of the body is interconnected with the daily lives of the public and food culture.

• MISULJARYO - National Museum of Korea Art Journal
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• v.100
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• pp.50-80
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• 2021

This paper critically examines the history of the theories connected to the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda that have developed over the last 100 years focusing on the original number of stories the pagoda would have reached. Part II of this paper retraces the dynamic process of the rediscovery of the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda by Westerners who traveled to Korea during the port-opening period. Koreans at the time viewed the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda as an object of no particular appeal or even as an eyesore. However, Westerners appreciated it as a wonder or magnificent sight. Since these Westerners had almost no prior knowledge of Buddhist pagodas, they were able to write objective travelogues. At the time, these visitors generally accepted the theory common among Joseon intellectuals that Wongaksa Temple Pagoda once had thirteen stories. Part III focuses on Japanese government-affiliated scholars' academic research on the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda after the proclamation of the Korean Empire and the Japanese Government-General of Korea's subsequent management of the pagoda as a cultural property during the colonial era. It also discusses issues with Japanese academic research and management. In particular, this portion sheds light on the shift in theories about the original number of stories of the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda from the ten-story theory supported by Sekino Tadashi (關野 貞), whose ideas have held a great influence on this issue over the last 100 years, to the thirteen-story theory and then to the idea that it had more than thirteen. Finally, Part IV addresses the change from the multi-story theory to the ten-story theory in the years after Korea's liberation from Japan until 1962. Moreover, it highlights how Korean intellectuals of the Japanese colonial era predominantly accepted the thirteen-story theory. Since 1962, a considerable quantity of significant research on the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda has been published. However, since most of these studies have applied the ten-story theory suggested in 1962, they are not individually discussed in this paper. This retracing of the history of theories about the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda has verified that although there are reasonable grounds for supporting the thirteen-story theory, it has not been proved in the last 100 years. Moreover, the number of pagoda stories has not been fully discussed in academia. The common theory that both Wongaksa Temple Pagoda and Gyeongcheonsa Temple Pagoda were ten-story pagodas was first formulated by Sekino Tadashi 100 years ago. Since the abrasion of the Wongaksa Temple Stele was so severe the inscriptions on the stele were almost illegible, Sekino argued that the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda was a ten-story pagoda based on an architectural analysis of the then-current condition of the pagoda. Immediately after Sekino presented his argument, a woodblock-printed version of the inscriptions on the Wongaksa Temple Stele was found. This version included a phrase that a thirteen-story pagoda had been erected. In a similar vein, the Dongguk yeoji seungnam (Geographic Encyclopedia of Korea) published by the orders of King Seongjong in the late fifteenth century documented that Gyeongcheonsa Temple Pagoda, the model for the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda, was also a thirteen-story pagoda. The Wongaksa Temple Stele erected on the orders of King Sejo after the establishment of the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda evidently shows that Sekino's ten-story premise is flawed. Sekino himself wrote that "as [the pagoda] consists of a three-story stereobate and a ten-story body, people call it a thirteen-story pagoda," although he viewed the number of stories of the pagoda body as that of the entire pagoda. The inscriptions on the Wongaksa Temple Stele also clearly indicate that the king ordered the construction of the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda as a thirteen-story pagoda. Although unprecedented, this thirteen-story pagoda comprised a ten-story pagoda body over a three-story stereobate. Why would King Sejo have built a thirteen-story pagoda in an unusual form consisting of a ten-story body on top of a three-story stereobate? In order to fully understand King Sejo's intention in building a thirteen-story pagoda, analyzing the Wongaksa Temple Pagoda is necessary. This begins with the restoration of its original name. I disprove Sekino's ten-story theory built upon flawed premises and an eclectic over-thirteen-story theory and urge applying the thirteen-story theory, as the inscriptions on the Wongaksa Temple Stele stated that the pagoda was originally built as a thirteen-story pagoda.

• Korean Journal of Heritage: History & Science
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.206-225
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• 2019

This paper examines the trade and development aspects of glass mirrors through the literature records of the Joseon Dynasty, and studies the characteristics of existing glass mirror crafts by referring to the terms and types shown in the literature. The glass mirror in the records had called western mirrors(西洋鏡, 洋鏡), glass mirrors(玻璃鏡, 玻瓈鏡), stone mirrors(石鏡), etc. Glass mirrors were imported mainly through trade with Russia and the Qing Dynasty since the 17th century and were banned from importation in the late Joseon Dynasty. These mirrors were something new that caused a great stirring in Joseon society in the 18th century, and in the 19th century, it grew larger as a commodity needed for everyday life, especially with trade with Japan. At that time, glass mirrors were used for various purposes, such as installing large glass at a store, which were not the standard mirror usage of confirming one's appearance. These mirrors surprised Koreans in Joseon who experienced them at Yanjing Liulichang(燕京 琉璃廠) in the 18th and 19th centuries. As a result, the demand for glass mirrors rapidly increased and quickly surpassed that of bronze mirrors. Consequentially, new crafts using glass mirrors instead of bronze mirrors in Joseon began to be produced and used after the 18th century. In particular, integrated flat boards of glass mirrors were developed as crafts used indoors. It was convenient to use the hair comb box, a long-time presence in Joseon society, with the bronze mirror. This kind of mirror remained apparent in various genre paintings, including the Taepyeong Seongsido(太平城市圖, 'A Thriving City in a Peaceful Era') collected the National Museum of Korea which reflect its populism of the times. Also, the Mirror Stand(鏡臺) used in the Qing Period was produced in Joseon, but there was a difference in the way of making the drawers and box shapes between two nations. On the other hand, the Face Mirror(面鏡) was made to look at the face. Various crafts made with the aesthetic sense of Joseon, such as the ox horn inlaying craft technique, were produced with auspicious designs. In the 19th century, glass mirrors were imported from European countries, such as France, Denmark, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, however after the end of the 19th century Japanese crafts were popular. Glass mirrors, which were popular in the Meiji and Taisho eras of Japan, were imported and also the Mirror Screen(鏡屛) using large glass mirrors were used. In particular, the mirror screen had developed wood furniture since the previous time, which were used for banquets and large spaces, such as the drawing room, and were imported from China and Japan. In addition, the western architectural effect of attaching a mirror to the wall was also attempted to adjust the brightness of the space and introduce another image and scenery in the mirror. This was done at Deoksugung Palace's Seokjojeon.