Imyun-ji-dang was a scholar of Neo-Confucianism. ‘Im’ is her family name and ‘Yun-ji-dang’ is her pen name. She was born and raised in Wonju. She was one of influential women writers and scholars of the Joseon Dynasty when everything was oppressed against women.

Before we talk more about who Imyun-ji-dang is, let us study historical background of women literature in 18th century when the culture of Joseon Dynasty flourished and then look at who she was and what he did.

 Woman scholars such as Imyun-ji-dang brought about unparalleled change to male-oriented Joseon Dynasty’s literature world.  

The culture of the 18th century of Joseon Dynasty flourished. These times were when King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo ruled the country. People of the 18th century enjoyed the reign of peace. Thus, culture was not an exception.

The culture of the 18th century featured ‘truly ours’, different from what was dominated by China’s culture. Scholars and educated classes, who studied and read only Chinese books, started showing interest in the history and geography of Korea. With it, the culture for ordinary people also developed. Why the culture of the ruling class and the ordinary people flourished is closely related with the increase of agricultural production as well as the industry of commodities and currency in the latter period of Joseon Dynasty.

The development of the culture in the 18th century influenced the life of women, including the ruling class and ordinary citizens. Before the 17th century, only few women from the ruling class and Gisaeng(Korea’s traditional Geisha women) knew how to read and write classical books in Chinese characters. However, the 18th century was different from the prior century. The number of women of the ruling class, who learned and knew how to read and write Chinese and Korea and were born and raised in the ruling class and also wedded to husbands of a ruling class, increased a lot in the activities of learning and writing. It was unthinkable before the 18th century. Of women with a literacy, there were noticeable women who studied and learned highly qualified classical books for scholars. Imyun-ji-dang was one of them.

Joseon Dynasty was a male-centered society where Confucianism(that was transmitted from China) was deeply rooted. After the Joseon Dynasty was established, women, irrespective of the social hierarchy, were immensely restricted in their daily life, contrary to the life of women of the Goryo Dynasty period, and they were deprived of the right to learn at formal education institutions. Women of the Joseon Dynasty were not able to receive the education. The following notion was forced into the society, “Reading and writing is the work for men only. Women are always busy taking care of all house chores every day. How can women spare their time to read, memorize, and write? It is impossible!”.

Despite this social circumstance, beginning in the early 18th century, several women of the ruling class and the society’s lowest class(such as servants and Gisaeng) broke the suppressed mood, though not many in their number. Even under the forced mood not to have women irrespective of the social status learn and write, they learned by themselves or with the help of their brother or father who were open-minded (not that many in those times, though) and also published anthologies. Imyun-ji-dang was a representative, iconic figure.

 The long-forgotten Neo-Confucianism Woman Scholar, Imyun-ji-dang  

Imyun-ji-dang was born and raised in Wonju. Her family was a ruling class. However, her family lost the wealth and became poor. When she was born, her family was poor. She got through a lot of life difficulties and misfortunes in her life. Despite these difficulties, she persevered, learned, and kept studying. She was said to have fulfilled the achievements of her life through her life-long, continuous learning under the harsh environment.

The name of Imyun-ji-dang as a Neo-Confucianism woman scholar was heard a lot at that time across Joseon. Even well into the Japanese colonial period of the Korean peninsula, she was widely known and her influence was far-reaching. However, after Korea was freed from the Japanese colonial ruling, westernization began to sweep through Korean peninsula. She was forgotten over time. Though her hometown was Wonju, her family hand all descendants fell apart behind history. However, her remarkable life and achievements was beginning to draw attention of Koreans from several years ago.

Her elder brother noticed how brilliant and gifted his sister, Imyun-ji-dang was and he taught his sister on how to read ‘Daehak’, ‘Analects of Confucius’, ‘Golden Mean(philosophy)’, other Confucianism-related classical books and a variety of history books. It was a very surprising treatment back then.

General way of learning for woman scholars was by learning through their father, husband, or brother. Pak Juk-seo was one of women scholars who learned with the help of father. Imyun-ji-dang learned literally over the shoulders of her brothers just like many other women of high social status did.

 Imyun-ji-dang elevated her long-suffering life and became one of admired woman writers.  

From her early years on, Imyun-ji-dang was very smart and worked hard. She showed great devotion to her parents and was a sympathetic child. So, she was greatly doted on. The data say that she became more sophisticated over time and cultivated virtues expected of women in those times.

When she had sessions of debate on Chinese classics with her brothers, her excellent insight took everyone around by surprise. Whenever there was a debate on figures of the ancient or contemporary times, a succinct explanation of Imyun-ji-dang’s decided what or who was right or wrong. It was said that her explanation was so logical that her brothers and people around were always impressed.

This academic environment influenced the formation of her learning habit and ideas. Further to this, a far freer environment created after her father’s death is believed to have helped Imyun-ji-dang continue her study more though everything around was practically challenging.

Imyun-ji-dang was married to a man of a high social status from Wonju in 1739 when she reached 19. Her husband’s father and cousin served as prime minister of the Joseon Dynasty. However, her husband died after their eight year’s marriage.

In the period of the Joseon Dynasty, once women got married, they were virtually not able to get married again if their husband died. This was because the notion of “Once women get married, they are not a member of our family” dominated the country.

Thus, even after her husband’s death, Imyun-ji-dang stayed at the house of her dead husband’s brother until her death.

Her life as a woman was of utter solitude. She gave a birth to a baby after a hard labor but the baby was dead in a few years. She adopted a child of her dead husband’s brother but the adopted boy also died shortly after.

Reading and writing took up most of her life and in 1793 at the age of 73, she passed away in Wonju, the hometown where she was born, raised, studied and learned, and wrote.

 Ideologies and Philosophies of Imyun-ji-dang and Their Implications  

‘Posthumous Collection of Imyun-ji-dang’ is an anthology of ideas, ideologies, and philosophies of Imyun-ji-dang. After three years of her death, her brother and her dead husband’s brother pieced together her works that reflected ideas, ideologies, and philosophies and published the book.

She believed that everybody is able to become a person of wisdom and a saint through the personality cultivation and refinement as well as personal mind training and sophistication. She recognized the relationship of men and women as a complementary relationship with no discriminations.

Imyun-ji-dang believed that men and women are only put in a different position in a real world but have a similar nature. She newly and freshly interpreted hard-to-understand Confucianism scriptures in easily terms and phrases, learned history books on China through and through, and often criticized politicians or scholars of the time in history in wonderfully-crafted words and phrases. As a matter of fact, she did not just try to learn and gain sheer knowledge. She did an in-depth study of moral philosophy and ethics and she thought that everybody is able to turn around to become a saint through a continuous learning and mind cultivation.

Educated women of the Joseon Dynasty mostly wrote poems or stories about sorrows of life or about love. On the contrary, Imyun-ji-dang wrote her own opinions about Confucianism scriptures, Confucians, and scholars of the time. This made her different from other educated women in the Joseon Dynasty, who were not many in their number, though.