NOTES TO CHAPTER 9 1083
one yangban held a parcel of TO. I I kyeil and 8 others had average holdings of 7.59 kylJl.
One commoner owned 6.33 ""yeil and 73 others had an avcrage holding or 1.52 kyeil. but
there were no major slave landowners. Ibid., p. 153, tables 54-56. p. 153·
- Kim Yongmo, "Chos6n hugi sinbun kujo wa kii py6ndong" [The social status struc-
ture and its change in late Choson], Tongbanghak chi 26 (19R I ):53-153: Song June-ho,
"Chos6n yangban'go" [A study of the yangban of Choson], in idem. Chos(ln sahoesa
yein 'gu [Studies in the social history of Choson] (Seoul: Ilchogak, 1987), pp. II8-259. - Edward Willett Wagner, "The Ladder of Success in Yi Dynasty Korea," Occasional
Papers on Korea, no. I (April 1974), pp. 1-8. - My view on this question differs from that of Martina Deuchler, who regards the
inheritance pattern in late Chason to have so heavily favored the eldest legitimate son
that it was tantamount to primogeniture. If, as Deuchler suggests, Neo-Confucian influ-
ence was tending toward primogeniture in property inheritance, one would expect to
see a continuation of large landholdings. The problem cannot he resolved without more
thorough empirical rcsearch of actual wills and agreements for the division of property.
See Deuehler. The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study ofSocietl' {{lid Ideology
(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992). - Chosen sotokofu, Chilsiiin, ed., Richo no zaisan s{iz,okuhii [The property inheri-
tance laws of the Yi dynasty] (Keijo, 1936). - Sejong sillok 49:I4a-2Ib. Sejong 12.8.muin. cited in Han Yong'u, "Taejong.
Sejongjo iii taesajon sich'aek: Sajon iii hasamdo igup munje rlil chungsim uro" [The pol-
icy of Kings T'aejong and Sejong toward sajein: The problem of the transfer of sajon to
the lower three provinces], Han 'guksa yein 'gu 3 (March 1969):79 and n.125. - If one were to guess that the average size of the kyol on the last two grades of land
was 8 acres, slightly better than the worst quality of land, then average productivity would
have been 2.5 sam or 37.5 mal per acre. -or if I ky61 was equal to either 20 majigi on
the best and 40 majigi on the worst land, and production was loll. then production should
have been 400 mal for 40 majigi, the worst land, or 26.7 srimlkyril. hut this would be an
estimatc for the early nineteenth century. - Kim Yongs6p. Chosiin hugi nong opsa yon 'gu: Nongch 'Oil kyiingje, sa/we pl'ondong
(1970), p. 1671T. For the late Koryo estimate I cited the work of Kim Chaejin,
"Chon'gyolche yon'gu" lA study of the system of land measurement], Kyongbuk tae-
hakkyo nonjip 2 (January 1958):75-1'13. - Kim Yongsop, Choson hugi nong'opsa yon 'gu: nongch on kyongje, sahoe pyeindong
(1970), pp. 168- 6 9. - Kim calculated 800 mal at 40 sam, or 20 mal per sam. Ordinarily, one som should
have consisted of 15 mal in which case Roo mal should have been 53,3 sam, but I would
hesitate to correct Tasan's firsthand testimony, and it is possihle the som in Cholla Province
at that time did consist of 20 mal. Ibid., p. 169. - Ihid.
- Fernand Braudel, Civilization and Capitalism, I 5tl1-18th Cmtury I. The Struc-
tures of" Evervday Lill': The Limits of the Possible (Ncw York: Harper and Row,
1981): I 20-21. Braudel mentioned that 1.5 heetolitres (ahout 4. 13 hushels of wheat seed
at 2.75 bushcls/heetolitre) would be planted on each hectarc to yield that crop.