This paper examined the society and culture of Yangpyeong during the Joseon Dynasty through the village records of the Yangpyeong area compiled in the late Joseon Dynasty. In the pre-modern era, Yangpyeong was divided into two areas, Yanggeun in the w...
This paper examined the society and culture of Yangpyeong during the Joseon Dynasty through the village records of the Yangpyeong area compiled in the late Joseon Dynasty. In the pre-modern era, Yangpyeong was divided into two areas, Yanggeun in the west and Jipyeong in the east, bordering Mijisan Mountain. The two regions had already been integrated twice in the late Joseon Dynasty before being integrated by the reorganization of administrative districts in 1908. This was because the two regions shared Mijisan Mountain and were closely connected to each other, such as land transportation and waterway transportation.
Looking at the number of households and populations of Yanggeun and Jipyeong recorded in the village records of the late Joseon Dynasty, there is a slight time difference, but overall, it was a trend of decreasing from the 1740s to the 1840s. Then, it increased again from the 1840s to the end of the 19th century. Agriculture in the two regions was centered on field farming rather than rice farming, and the amount of land that paid taxes to the state due to cultivation continued to decline from the mid-18th century to the end of the 19th century.
Yanggeun and Jipyeong were the areas where Buddhist culture was quite developed, with a considerable number of temples and hermitages built around Mijisan Mountain. It is believed that the development of Buddhist culture in these areas was closely related to royal Buddhism in the late Goryeo and early Joseon periods, such as the fact that Bowoo普愚, a monk who was King Gongmin’s royal master, lived in Soseolam hermitage of Yanggeun, and that Sangwonsa temple of Jipyeong was the memorial temple of Prince Hyoryeong, who was a key figure of Buddhism in the early Joseon Dynasty.