Abstract

The Jeju Pungtorok describes the natural characteristics of Jeju. It is possible that it is a replay from Choongam to his nephew, but it is also possible that it could be directed to someone else than the nephew for now. Choongam wrote the Jeju Pungtorok between September and October, 1521 shortly before he was put to death by poison. He referred to Boncho Gangmok and Dongguk Yeoji Seunnam when writing the book. The people who provided Choongam with the information about Jeju are Geun‒son Goh, Se‒geol Moon, Soon‒hyeon Bang, and the unnamed people of Jeju. The Jeju Pungtorok has been widely read by the later generation of literary people. It has been frequently quoted in the recordings made in Jeju or various poems and writings written on the theme of Jeju in later times and also has been used as the literary material. The characteristics of the natural features of Jeju and the personal opinions on them by Choongam used to have been accepted as the popular opinion in miscellaneous records and down chronicles written by later generations. The text of this book has errors in various layers. Many errors and ackward expressions of the first edition were corrected in later editions, but the reasonable expressions were printed ackwardly in later editions in some cases. Also, in some cases, the Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics misread some letters in the anthologies when producing the fair copy. There are also many incomplete expressions and letters and they are the errors made in the course of transcribing the letters that were written in cursive style of writing and partly damaged. Therefore, the emphasis shall be given on cross referencing and correcting errors by keeping in mind the possibility of error when reading the Jeju Pungtorok.