- Title : he Practice of Aiding Each Other in Distress(患難相恤), and Local Sajok figures’ Managing of Local Medical facilities(Euiguk, 醫局) in the 16th and 17th centuries
- Author : Kim, Ho(HK Professor)
- Journal : YŎKSA WA HYŎNSIL
- Publication Date : 2023.3
- Abstract
From the very foundation of the dynasty, the Joseon government continued to open medical offices throughout the country in order to spread medical service. However, the establishment of such offices could also be attributed to the local Sajok(士族) figures’ willingness to actively participate in the operation of these offices, as the joining of Confucian scholars with medical knowledge(Yu’eui, 儒醫) went a long way to ensure their success. In short, both the government’s determination to install such medical offices in the local regions, and the voluntary participation of the local Sajok figures who were willing to engage in public service were altogether crucial to the cause.
Since the 16th century, the Joseon Sajok figures in local regions actively engaged in local governance through several local bodies including the Yu’hyang-so(留鄕所), Seo’weon(書院) and Hyang’gyo(鄕校) schools, and of course the Euiguk medical facilities, in order to provide suggestions or offer resolutions for the local communities’ problems. There have been many prior studies that examined such efforts, but many of them chose a rather dichotomous approach in their analysis of such local actions, as they mostly categorized the local Sajok figures’ efforts as a fight against the central government’s attempt to assimilate the local regions, and as an ultimate effort to achieve autonomous local rule for themselves. This article employs a different angle, as stressed in this article is the fact that local Sajok figures who were generally deeply involved in character-building studies[爲己之學] were also committed to running local medical facilities and serving as Confucian doctors(or Doctor Confucians, Yu’eui), and that many of them were interested in not only Neo-Confucianism but practical knowledge.
For the local medical Euiguk offices to continue to function, cooperation between the state and local figures was imperative. Conflicts could only endanger that. Cases examined here include (1) Confucian Medical practitioner Yi Seok-gan of the Yeongju area’s Euiguk office “Jemin-ru,” and the effort of Park Jong-mu who was involved in the management of this facility, (2) Yi Deug-yun and other local Sajok figures of the Chungju region who all contributed to the reinstallation of the region’s Euiguk facility, and (3) the efforts and academic traits of Song Je-min who opened an Euiguk facility in the Mu’an area. These examples would hopefully help us properly evaluate the nature and meaning of public services provided by the Neo-Confucian scholars of the 16th and 17th centuries in the local regions.
|
