lO54 NOTES TO CHAPTER 63 I. Chong Tojon, the famous radical reformer and supporter of Yi Songgye and the
new Choson dynasty, emphasized the problem associated with commendation in late
Koryo:There was no way to settle the people down in security and some of them proba-
bly died of hunger and cold. The population was reduced by the day, and those
who were left could not bear the burden of taxes and labor service, so they cut
it off [gave up?] and commended themselves to the families of the great and rich
and to the people of power and influence. Some engaged in artisanry and com-
merce, or ran off and wandered about, so that So to 60 percent of the people
were lost [from the tax rolls?], and this does not even include those who became
official and private slaves of the Buddhist temples.Chong Tojon, "Chostm kyonggukchon, sang p'anjok," [Institutes for the management
of the state of Choson, part I], in idem, Sambongjip, sang [Collected works of Chong
Tojon] (Seoul: Kuksa p'yonch'an wiwonhoe, 196T), p. 214, cited in Hong, Kory() sidae
nobi yon ·gll. p. 229.
- Salem, "Slavery in Medieval Korea," pp. 119-39; Hong, Koryo kwijok sa/we wa
nobi, pp. 309-40. - Sudo Yoshiyuki, "Korai makki yori Chosen shoki in itaru nuhi no kenkyii," part 3,
Rekishigaku kenkyu 9, no. 3 (1939):289-91; Hong, Koryo kwijok sahoe wa nobi, pp.
342-404. This development, an obvious violation of the legacy of T'aejo, antagonized
the Confucian bureaucrats who, as educated men trained in morality and statecraft, felt
that the use of slaves and eunuchs as ministers to the king made a travesty of government. - KRS 132:6b-7a. See also the story ofthe slave of Chang Hae in KRS 32:7a; Kameda,
"Korai no nuhi," part I. pp. 122-23, 129-30; part 2, pp. 58-S9.
3S. Yi Sug(\n estimated over 100,000 official slaves in the first quarter of the fifteenth
century. over 200,000 slaves in the second quarter, and over 350,000 in the last quarter.
Idem, Yiingnam sarimp (/ iii hylJngslJng [The formation of the s{{rim group in the
Kyongsang area] (Taegu?: Yongnam taehakkyo minjok munhwa yon'guso, 1979), p. 174. - Memorial of An Nosaeng, an official in the Ministry of Punishments, dated
1407.s.tirhaek, cited in Sudo Yoshiyuki, "Nuhi no benrei," p. 46. - This regulation could, however, be superseded by a written wilL KRS 8S:45a-46a,
notices dated 1391-1392. Ponson is a synonym for sClSon. Sudo defines the sason as the
group of relations including nephews, grandnephews, father's elder brothers (uncles),
and older male paternal cousins. "Nuhi no benrci," pp. 38,61, n.15. - In 1397 it was decided that sons and grandsons of concubines should have the
right to inherit family slaves in the absence of legitimate heirs. In 140S revised regula-
tions also provided that if there were no heirs of a family either by the legitimate wife
or a commoner concubine. then the children of a slave concubine would be entitled to
a one-seventh share of the family slaves. If there were no legitimate heirs, but sons of
a commoner concuhine, then the children of a slave concubine would still be entitled
to a one-tenth share of family slaves. If the legitimate wife had daughters and the com-
moner concubine had sons. the sons would get one-third of the slaves, and the son of a