“Koryosajolyo” is a book where the history of Koryo, the first unified state of our nation, is recorded in order of year, month and date.
“Koryosa” (History of Koryo), which was written in 1451, touches a huge amount of materials divided into categories, so it was inconvenient to learn the contemporary history chronologically at a glance.
That is why after the completion of “Koryosa”, a more concise one “Koryosajolyo” was compiled.
“Koryosajolyo” was completed in 1452 by Kim Jong So, Jong Rin Ji et al. who had worked at “Koryosa”, and published in the following year 1453.
The title “Koryosajolyo” means “the main parts of Koryo history” and it consists of 35 volumes, which is about a quarter of “Koryosa” in 139 volumes.
In the book is recorded the history of the feudal Koryo dynasty in order of reign of the 34 kings from the founder king to King Kongyang, and the events and facts during their reigns are arranged in yearly, monthly and daily order.
It gives a large amount of information about the feudal Koryo State ― politics including the state machinery, ranks of government posts, punitive system, anti-aggression and anti-feudal struggle; economy including the land system and tax system; culture including education and art; military affairs including the military system, national defense, etc.; nature including astronomy, geography, natural disaster, etc.; information about individuals that made contributions to the development of science and culture.
Although it reveals some shortcomings due to the class restrictions of the compilers, “Koryosajolyo” serves as an important national classic legacy that shows the history of the Koryo since “Koryosajolyo” and “Koryosa” constitute key documents to the research into the history of the Koryo dynasty by compensating each other’s defects.
Ri Won Chol, researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences
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