Korea: Confucians, Buddhists, and their Books

Date: 14 November 2016
Time: 5:30 p.m.
Location: UVA Special Collections
Lecturer: Beth McKillop - Senior Research Fellow, Victoria and Albert Museum

Korea is a country with a remarkable book and literary history. Known in today’s world as a divided land, Korea has long been a country that revered the written word. Chinese characters and culture shaped much of traditional Korea’s education system, but the distinctive, continuous life of the book in Korea was shaped by historical events and movements that stretched far beyond China. Duplicating texts has been an important part of Buddhist practice in Korea for almost two millennia. Books were printed on paper from the earliest times, and important experiments with bronze cast types supplemented the dominant technology of woodblock printing. Every aspect of Korean book history has a material and physical dimension that illuminates the story of Korea’s past. From the preparation of woodblocks by soaking the planks in sea water before carving the texts on to them in mirror writing, to the simple methods used to produce soot ink, to the lavish gold and silver illuminated holy texts of the royal Buddhist scriptorium, books from the Koryo (918–1392) and Choson (1392–1910) dynasties bear witness to two great traditions that enriched indigenous Korean belief systems. The teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551–479 BCE) were studied in academies known as sowon, all around the country. They formed the curriculum for the national examination system—the ladder of success in pre-modern Korea. Buddhist scriptures reached Korea after traveling eastwards through China. Reverence for the Buddha, evidenced by careful study of his teachings, has persisted until modern times.

The illustrated lecture will use books in major Western collections, particularly the British Library and the Wellcome Library, London, to introduce the remarkable bibliographic and publishing achievements of the Korean past.