[KS] pyongyang kamsa

[Gari Keith Ledyard]

As Lee Young-Jun has rightly indicated, the "kamsa" in the title of the
P'y^ongyang map painting means "governor" of a province.  It is an
informal term for kwanch'alsa, the proper institutional title.  But I
believe Mr. Lee might be mistaken in equating your "kamsa" with the
"kamsa" meaning "inspector," which is written with different Chinese
characters.  See Kim Minsu's dictionary.  Mr. Lee's translation of "town
of entertainers" can indeed be valid for <saekhyang>, but I think that for
any average lusty gentleman of Chos^on times that term might have connoted
something like "sexville."

I discuss a similar painting in my "Cartography in Korea," in J.B. Harley
and David Woodward, eds., <The History of Cartography>, vol 2, part 2, p.
337 and color plate 20.

Gari Ledyard

On Sat, 16 Mar 2002, Junghee Lee wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I am looking at the screen of "Pyongyang kamsa banquet on the Taedong
> river."
> I would like to know what is "Pyongyang kamsa."  Was he the major of the
> city of Pyongyang or the governor of Pyongan province?  If he was the
> governor of Pyongan province, why was he called Pyongyang kamsa?
> His banquet is a topic of many screen depicting the map of pyongyang, he
> must have been a powerful figure, higher than major.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> Junghee Lee
>
>
>
>