Jeong Sun-chik’s 􋺷Yukyu Yeoneui􋺸 and Grassroots Education

Abstract

􋺷육유연의􋺸는 명나라 태조 홍무제가 1388년 민중을 교화하기 위하여 제작ㆍ공포한 칙찬서 『敎民榜文』의 「六諭」에 청나라 학자 范鋐이 각 항목마다 해설을 붙여 간행한 책이다. 이후 이 책은 琉球의 학자이자 정치가인 정순칙에 의해 1708년 유구로 전래되었다. 그는 이 책이 당시 중국에 조공하던 유구인들의 중국어 학습에 유용할 뿐만 아니라, 유구의 풍속을 淳化할 서민교육에도 적합하다고 판단했다. 그러나 『육유연의』는 중국어 학습서 보다는 도덕서로 더 많은 역할을 하게 되었다. 따라서 유구서민들을 교육하고자 했던 정순칙의 애민사상과 노력은 유구인들에게 ‘나고성인’으로 불리며 그 공적을 인정받았다. 한편 『육유연의』는 유구가 사츠마에 헌상하고, 다시 사츠마에서 일본 에도막부 8대장군 도쿠가와 요시무네에게도 헌상되었다. 『육유연의』를 받은 요시무네는 당대의 저명한 학자들에게 간편한 해설판을 만들도록 했다. 그런 과정을 거쳐 『육유연의』는 당시 교육기관인 藩校와 테라꼬야(寺子屋)를 통해 교육서이자 도덕서로 일본 전역에 퍼져 에도막부의 서민교육에도 지대한 영향을 미쳤다.In 1388, the founder and emperor Hongwu of the Ming dynasty published and proclaimed 『Gyomin Bangmun』, a book of rescript style that aimed to enlighten the public. One of the sections of that book is 「Yukyu」. And 『Yukyu Yeoneui』, published by Fan-hung as a scholar of the Ching nation, is a book that provides explanations of all the items of「Yukyu」. In 1708, the explanatory book was introduced to Yugu by Jeong Sun-chik who was the then scholar and politician of the kingdom. He thought 『Yukyu Yeoneui』 would be not only good to teach Chinese to people of Yugu that was a tributary state of China, but also suitable as a means of grassroots education to purify the customs of the kingdom. In Yugu, however, 『Yukyu Yeoneui』 played a role as moral guides more than Chinese language instructions. For his efforts to educate the general public with the guides based on profound affection for people, Jeong Sun-chik was fully recognized by people of Yugu to be called as ‘saint of Nago’. In the meantime, 『Yukyu Yeoneui』 was presented from Yugu to Satsuma and then to Tokugawa Yoshimune, the 8th shogun of the Edo shogunate regime. Youshimune made the then distinguished scholars to create a more brief explanatory version of that book. Following the move, 『Yukyu Yeoneui』 was distributed as a text for education and morals across Japan through its educational establishments like Beongyo and Terakoya, greatly influencing grassroots education by the Edo shogunate regime.