The surface and the back of late Joseon medicine - Centered on medical knowledge system - / 의사학

Many medical books of the late Joseon Dynasty were based on the medical knowledge of Donguibogam. For this reason, most of the studies have explained the medicine of the late Joseon Dynasty focusing on Donguibogam. However, the appearance of medicine in the late Joseon Dynasty is more complex than that. Although the “treatment knowledge” of Donguibogam had a huge impact in the late Joseon Dynasty, the “medical thought” of Donguibogam was not easily established.This is confirmed through the knowledge system of medical books in the late Joseon Dynasty. Jejungsinpyeon, published by the government in the late Joseon Dynasty, disassembled the contents of Dongibogam and rearranged it into a knowledge system of Uihagibmun. Injeji, which was made in the private sector, followed the same method. They tried to maintain part of the knowledge system of Donguibogam. Nevertheless, the framework of perception that extends from “human” to “disease,” the central idea of Donguibogam, was not maintained.This shows that there was a considerable amount of respect for the medicine of Ming Dynasty in the late Joseon Dynasty. Therefore, for a more in-depth understanding of medicine in the late Joseon Dynasty, it is necessary to examine in more detail the influences of other medical books such as Uihagibmun, Bonchogangmok, and Gyeongakjeonseo in addition to Donguibogam. This should be understood as a process in which various medical knowledge and systems compete.

The surface and the back of late Joseon medicine - Centered on medical knowledge system - / 의사학

Many medical books of the late Joseon Dynasty were based on the medical knowledge of Donguibogam. For this reason, most of the studies have explained the medicine of the late Joseon Dynasty focusing on Donguibogam. However, the appearance of medicine in the late Joseon Dynasty is more complex than that. Although the “treatment knowledge” of Donguibogam had a huge impact in the late Joseon Dynasty, the “medical thought” of Donguibogam was not easily established.This is confirmed through the knowledge system of medical books in the late Joseon Dynasty. Jejungsinpyeon, published by the government in the late Joseon Dynasty, disassembled the contents of Dongibogam and rearranged it into a knowledge system of Uihagibmun. Injeji, which was made in the private sector, followed the same method. They tried to maintain part of the knowledge system of Donguibogam. Nevertheless, the framework of perception that extends from “human” to “disease,” the central idea of Donguibogam, was not maintained.This shows that there was a considerable amount of respect for the medicine of Ming Dynasty in the late Joseon Dynasty. Therefore, for a more in-depth understanding of medicine in the late Joseon Dynasty, it is necessary to examine in more detail the influences of other medical books such as Uihagibmun, Bonchogangmok, and Gyeongakjeonseo in addition to Donguibogam. This should be understood as a process in which various medical knowledge and systems compete.

The Change of the Status of Joseon Medical Bureaucrats in the 15th and 16th Centuries / 의사학

In the 15th century, Joseon dynasty's goal for the stabilization of the ruling system, the ideological freedom of the era, and the necessity of medicine due to the introduction of Jin and Yuan dynasty's medicine led to the increased interest in medicine by the nobility along with tolerant practice. The practice of reading medical books is a good example of this institutional demonstration. However, by the end of the 15th century, a noticeable change had taken place. Within the nobility, there was an ideological rigidity regarding technology other than those of Confucianism, as the nobility became concentrated on the principles of Neo-Confucianism. In addition, as the publication of large-scale editions such as Ŭibangyuch'wi (the Classified Collection of Medical Prescriptions) came to an end, they have become less inclined to nurture talent at the level of the central government as in the previous period. In addition, as the discrimination against illegitimate children became stronger, technical bureaucrats such as medical officials, which were open to illegitimate children, came to be seen in increasingly disdainful and differentiated manners. From the late Sejong period to the early Seongjong period, the entrance of illegitimate sons into the medical bureaucracy solidified the negligence of medicine by the nobility. After then, the medical bureaucracy came to be monopolized by illegitimate sons. As for illegitimate sons, they were not allowed to enter society through Confucian practices, and as such, the only way for them to enter the government was by continuing to gain experience as technical bureaucrats. Technical posts that became dominated by illegitimate sons became an object of contempt by the nobility, and the cycle reproduced itself with the social perception that legitimate sons of the nobility could not become a medical official. Medical officials from the Yi clan of Yangseong had been legitimate sons and passers of the civil service examination in the 15th century. However, in the 16th century, only illegitimate sons became medical officials. The formation of Jungin (middleclass) in technical posts since the middle of the Joseon period is also related to this phenomenon. The Yi clan of Yangseong that produced medical officials for 130years over four generations since Yi Hyoji, a medical book reading official, is an exemplary case of the change in the social perception in the early Joseon period regarding medical bureaucrats.

The Unique Theory of Cold Damage Advocated by Medical Practitioners in the Latter Era of the Joseon Dynasty / 의사학

The issue of cold damage is one of the major topics of orthodox medicine in East Asia. From the historical view of point, most of the medical practitioners have turned The Theory of Cold Damage to account as their grounds for justifying their own argument. However, it is rare to find a book related to The Theory of Cold Damage in Korea's traditional medicine. Therefore, people have perceived the research status of cold damage is unsatisfactory. This problem could be analyzed by dividing it into a medicinal herb problems and theory problem. First, the medicinal herbs needed for the prescription based on The Theory of Cold Damage don't grow in the Korean Peninsula. Accordingly, there were a lot of restrictions on the free use of these prescriptions. Nevertheless, Chinese medicinal herbs were essential to even the use of the prescriptions besides The Theory of Cold Damage. Accordingly, such aspects do little explain the point that there were few medicine books about The Theory of Cold Damage in Korea. On the other hand, it is hard to exclude the guess that the medical practitioners in the period of the Joseon Dynasty might have presented a theoretically different opinion about cold damage. This study did intensive research on this. As a result of examining the medical practitioners in the latter period of the Joseon Dynasty perceived 'the cold damage to positive and negative meridians' as the case where a patient got attacked by cold as a pathogenic factor in a state of the kidney deficiency. They presented the verdict that kidney deficiency was mostly incurred by sexual relations, and the cold damage to positive and negative meridians broke out when a patient got attacked by cold as a pathogenic factor after having sex. it is an original standpoint shedding light on the relationship between cold damage and the kidney deficiency. The medical practitioners in the latter period of the Joseon Dynasty used Donguibogam as a major text for study on cold damage. In other words, Donguibogam includes the well-organized theory of Yeoksu school who regarded the comparison between internal damage and external damage as important. The medical practitioners in the latter period of the Joseon Dynasty managed to form the theory of the cold damage to positive and negative meridians by deepening the relationship between internal damage and external damage, which was highlighted in Donguibogam. The medical practitioners in the Joseon Dynasty didn't show a big interest in the literature itself, or the so-called The Theory of Cold Damage, which was mainly due to not only the realistic problem of the lack of medicinal herbs needed for applying the prescription to cold damage but also the difference between their positions on cold damage. Therefore, the idea of insufficient research on The Theory of Cold Damage is no more than a kind of optical illusion. On the contrary, we may assume that the medical practitioners in the Joseon Dynasty understood and developed The Theory of Cold Damage in their own way.