Armed Soldiers of the Early Joseon Dynasty : An Analysis of the Military Reforms of Jeong Dojeon and King Taejong

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Other Title
  • 朝鮮初期における兵制の改革 --特に「甲士」設立の意圖とその變質について
  • チョウセン ショキ ニ オケル ヘイセイ ノ カイカク : トクニ 「 コウシ 」 セツリツ ノ イト ト ソノ ヘンシツ ニ ツイテ
  • 朝鮮初期における兵制の改革 --特に「甲士」設立の意図とその変質について

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Jeong Dojeon, a famous State Councilor during the reign of Taejo of the Joseon dynasty in Korea, had a grand design for military reform in which he tried to restore a type of farmer-soldier system. In the Goryeo period, eight Royal Guards composed of farmer-soldiers took up duty on shifts so that they could combine their military duties with farm management at home. The system collapsed after the disturbance caused by the war in the late Goryeo period. After the war, Jeong Dojeon attempted to restore the Goryeo system following the model of the Fubing system of the Tang dynasty in China, which had been traditionally estimated as an ideal system. Jeong Dojeon reorganized the military forces into ten Royal Guard divisions. However, powerful princes and aristocrats still maintained private armies to defend themselves, and Jeong Dojeon's attempt to abolish such armies cost him his life. (He was killed by one of the powerful princes who later ascended to the throne as King Taejong.) King Taejon's plan for military reform was quite different from that of Jeong Dojeon. He did not place a high value on the farmer-soldiers as fighting forces. He preferred his private armies and tried to reform the state armies based on them. The new state armies were called "Gapsa, " or the Armed Soldiers, and they fulfilled their duties as palace guards over the long term, not on shifts. He recruited the Armed Soldiers from the scions of wealthy aristocrats because long-term duty was too much of a burden for the farmer-soldiers to bear. However, the scions of aristocrats evaded their duties, and the vacant positions were filled by poor farmer-soldiers. Inevitably, the palace guards' duties changed from long-term service to shifts. To fill the rotations, the duty terms gradually decreased while the total number of Armed Soldiers gradually increased. In the end, because of its financial difficulties, the Joseon government of those days could not sustain national armies with long-term duties which were indispensable to maintain the quality of fighting forces. Notwithstanding the will of Taejong, the basis of state armies returned to the ancient system of Jeong Dojeon's plan. This could be regarded as a limitation of the military reform of the early Joseon dynasty.

Journal

  • 東方學報

    東方學報 94 203-231, 2019-12-20

    Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University

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