[KS] Court jesters

[gkl1 at columbia.edu]

   In my reading of Choson dynasty sources over the years I cannot  
remember coming across any person that looked like a court jester, but  
with twenty-seven kings during that period being constantly under the  
scrutiny of Confucian officials for any fault, I wouldn't be surprised  
if at least a few of them might have longed for the comfort of a  
little humor and entertainment during their daily duties. So I would  
not rule out the possibility that a jester might have served his king  
in some cases. But it's not likely that such a thing would be recorded  
in official source materials.The best place to look would be in the
more informal yasa literature that was produced over the course of the  
dynasty.

   However, in the Koryo sa, kwon 114, pp. 27a-28a, there's a  
biography of a man named Na Hung'yu (나흥유, 羅興儒), who comes close to the  
description of a jester, although that was only one aspect of his  
career. Na was said to be of gaunt appearance and fond of jokes.  
During the reign of King Kongmin (1352-1374), he failed the  
examination for a civil post but obtained a military rank and was put  
in charge of a palace construction project. While supervising the
workers moving the stones into place, he stood on a high rock,  
gleaming in his luminous white beard while waving flags and shouting  
at them. King Kongmin, who had enjoyed watching the show, appointed  
him as the master of ceremonies and as time went by a number of other  
promotions involving special projects, keeping him in his presence  
morning and evening and calling upon him to compose poems and tell  
jokes. After Kongmin's assassination and early in the reign of his
successor (known only as Sin U 신우 辛禑, r. 1374-1388), Na was sent to  
Japan as the head of a diploamtic mission The Japanese at first  
thought he was a spy and threw him in jail. He was recognized by a  
Korean monk then living in Japan, who requested his release. Na was  
then just 60, but claimed he was actually 150. The Japanese all gaped  
at him, then painted a congratulatory portrait and presented it to him.

   Mysteriously, the biography stops there, without saying whether he  
ever returned to Korea or not. But clearly he had an unusual career.

Gari Ledyard


Quoting Steffen Raudies <Stera3 at gmx.de>:

> Dear list members,
>
> due to the fact that my poor research hasn't generated any result    
> yet, I'm in need of help. I'm interested in the question whether    
> there were court jesters in Korea or not. Does somebody know about    
> records?
>
> With best regards
>
>
> Steffen Raudies
> Student
> Korean Studies Institute, University of Hamburg
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