Books published by local governors and local governments during Goryeo period can be classified into five categories:history books, Confucian scriptures, medical literature, anthologies, and others. They all amounted to 48 types of books which were ...
Books published by local governors and local governments during Goryeo period can be classified into five categories:history books, Confucian scriptures, medical literature, anthologies, and others. They all amounted to 48 types of books which were published 38 times in total. There were 6 types of history books published 4 times, 7 types of Confucian scriptures published 6 times, 10 types of medical literature published 3 times, 16 types of anthologies published 21 times, and 4 types of other books published 4 times. Compared to other books, the publication of literary anthologies accounted for an overwhelming proportion, which is thought to be closely related to the fact that the operation of imperial civil service examination(科擧制) during Goryeo period had a system for selecting bureaucrats with the writing ability(製述業) as the top priority.
Looking at the publication trends by kings, it was from King Jeongjong(靖宗) in the first half of the 11th century to King Gongyangwang(恭讓王) in the late 14th century. It can be seen that 3 types were published 1 time in King Jeongjong(靖宗) era, 12 types 4 times in King Munjong(文宗) era, 5 types 5 times in King Gojong(高宗) era, 2 types 2 times in King Chungryeolwang(忠烈王) era, 2 types 2 times in King Chungsukwang(忠肅王) era, 2 types 2 times in King Chungjeongwang(忠定王) era, 13 types 12 times in King Gongminwang(恭愍 王) era, and 3 types 2 times in King Woowang(禑王) era. The rest of the kings published 1 type each once. From the perspective of period classification, 15 types of books were published 5 times before the establishment of the Military Power regime in the early days of the founding of the country, 9 types in the Military Power era 9 times, and 18 types of books 23 times from the era of Yuan subjugation to the period of the collapse of Goryeo.
Of the total 16 local governments, 10 local units published books in Gyesugwan(界首官) and 6 in general Gunhyun(郡縣). Looking at the types and frequency of books published, 39 books were published 30 times in the Gyesugwan areas and 6 books were published 6 times in general Gunhyun areas. Therefore, it is confirmed that given the number of Gyesugwan was about twice that of general Gunhyun, the type and number of books published in Gyesugwan areas was overwhelmingly large enough to be about five times that of general Gunhyun areas. This is thought to show that during Goryeo period, the cultural and technical capabilities and foundations surrounding publication in Gyesugwan areas were much more dominant than those of general Gunhyun areas.
It can be seen that the publication of books conducted by local governments during Goryeo period was completed by forming a central administrative system by ministers, vice ministers, craftsmen(匠人), several officers of subordinates(屬官) including Jangseogi(掌書記) of local governments, and ministers and vice ministers of regional governments. There were very few cases of participation by Hyangli(鄕吏) who were in charge of the practice of local administration by helping local officials and their subordinates.
As shown above, seven cases are identified when ministers, vice ministers, and craftsmen of local governments participate, and these regions are all Gyesugwan areas and belong to Gyeongsang areas(慶尙道). What is noteworthy here is the fact that not both the minister and the vice minister of the local government participated, and only one of them participated. It is notable that Jangseogi(掌書記) were the most participated among subordinate officials, and Pangwan(判官) and Sarok(司錄) also participated.
It is believed that the administrative system consisting of ministers, vice ministers, subordinates, and craftsmen of local governments mobilized to publish books was not limited to Gyesugwan areas and Gyeongsang areas and that it was the same in general Gunhyun areas and other areas other than Gyeongsangdo.