무명자 윤기의 한대(漢代) 영사시(詠史詩)에 나타난 패도(覇道)의 그늘과 유도(柔道)의 회복

초록

This study analyzes 161 historical poems (yeongsasi), from No. 180 to No. 340, in the collected works Mumyeongjajib by Yun Gi (1741–1826), a late Joseon intellectual writing under the pen name Mumyeongja. It examines how he interpreted and poetically rendered the expansion, restoration, and decline of the Han Empire. Moving beyond a mere chronicle of dynastic succession, Yun Gi probes the nature of power and the ethical conduct of intellectuals through the contrasting governing ideologies of bado (rule by coercive force) and yudo (rule by yielding virtue). Five findings emerge from the analysis. First, Emperor Wu’s reign is condemned as the archetypal bado administration, one that devastated popular livelihoods through ruinous wars of conquest, blind patronage of occultists, and exploitative taxation. Second, although Emperor Xuan’s restoration achieved pragmatic successes in foreign policy, its underlying logic of mixing bado with wangdo (the kingly way), together with a punitive legalism that silenced remonstrance, is identified as a structural limitation. Third, the usurpation of Wang Mang serves as a vehicle for exposing the lust for power concealed behind Confucian moral rhetoric, as well as the complicity and betrayal of intellectuals who lent their prestige to the regime. Fourth, Emperor Guangwu’s politics are assessed positively as yudo governance—characterized by magnanimity, the protection of meritorious subjects, and the principle that yielding overcomes force—while his blind reliance on prophetic apocrypha (docham) and his performance of the fengshan rites are candidly criticized. Fifth, the study traces the tragedy of the early Later Han period: the successive enthronement of child emperors enabled the tyranny of imperial consort clans and eunuchs, and the qingliu scholar-officials, despite their moral rectitude, precipitated the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions (danggo) through an inflexibility that proved no match for the cunning of their adversaries. In conclusion, Yun Gi’s historical poetry on the Han restoration era constitutes a comprehensive history written in verse. By holding the past as a mirror to the political contradictions of his own Joseon present, it articulates a vision of righteous governance and models the practical wisdom required of intellectuals navigating an age of disorder.

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