Explanatory Notes on Translation

  1. 1. We translated photograph explanations into English as a liberal translation, rather than word-to-word translation. However, Korean names, place names, dynastic names, the sexagenary cycle of year/month/date, natural features, cultural properties, and artificial buildings were romanized according to ‘Romanization of Korean Language’ and ‘Example Dictionary of Romanized Vocabulary,’ published by the National Institute of the Korean Language and officially announced by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Korea government in 2000.
    • Joseon Dynasty, The Great Han Empire
    • Gyeongbokgung (palace)
    • Sorokdo (island)
  2. 2. For Korean official positions, public offices, official system, names of institutes, organization names, historical events, books, newspapers, journals, and titles of art works, we have included English translations with Romanization or a brief explanation of the name in parenthesis, when necessary. Chinese characters are also given in the case of publications from the pre-modern period.
    • The Foreign Disturbances of 1866 (Byeongin Yangyo, 丙寅洋擾)
    • The Capitol building (Jungangcheong)
    • The Collection of Historical Records of Korean-Japanese Relations (Hanil Gwangye Saryojip)
  3. 3. Korean family names are written according to the ‘Standard Rules of the Second Draft about Romanization of Family Names’ (National Institute of the Korean Language, 2009). However, in cases where romanization of some family names can be confused as English words, exemptions as in the following examples are allowed.
    • 안창호 → Ahn Changho
    • 신규식 → Shin Gyusik’
  4. 4. If romanization of Korean names according to ‘Romanization of Korean Language’ are different from the romanized names that have been known to the English-speaking world, romanized names according to the National Institute of the Korean Language rules are given, followed by the romanized version that has been known to the English-speaking world in parenthesis.
    • President Yi Seungman (Syngman Rhee)
    • Korean Provisional Government Premier Kim Gu (Kim Koo)
  5. 5. For Korean names, institutions, and organization names, we used a hyphen (-) in necessary cases, to avoid confusion in pronunciation.
  6. 6. Korean place names are written in romanized Korean. When the name appears for the first time, administrative district names in English are also given.
    • Gyeonggi-do (province) Seongnam-si (city) Bundang-gu (borough) Bundang-dong (town) 1(il)-ga
  7. 7. Old administrative district names are romanized as they are in the record. Today’s place name is written in parenthesis when the name appears for the first time.
    • Gyeongseong-bu (Seoul)
  8. 8. Names of books, newspapers, journals, art works, and sexagenary cycle names (year/ month/date) are written in Italic.
    • Kim Gu’s Diary (Baekbeom Ilji)
    • Dong-a Daily (Dong-a Ilbo)
    • Japanese generals who fought in the Imjin War between Korea and Japan
  9. 9. In the case that a Korean, Chinese, or Japanese common noun cannot be liberally translated, it is written romanized and italicized with a brief explanation in parenthesis.
    • The Japanese police offered a 600,000 yuan (also known as dayang) reward for Kim Gu.
    • The amount of rice flowing from Gunsan increased from 14,000 seok (approximately 2.5 million litres) at the opening of the port to over 2,000,000 seok (approximately 360 million litres) in 1934.
  10. 10. Chinese proper nouns, including people’s names and place names, are written in the Pinyin romanization system, without tone marks.
  11. 11. Chinese place names and administrative district units are written in the Pinyin system, with a hyphen between the place name and the administrative district name. Exceptionally, the district unit 村 is written as ‘village.’
    • 嘉興市 海鹽縣 南北湖 → Nanbeihu, Haiyan-xian, Jiaxing-shi
    • 서호(西湖)에 가까운 호변촌(湖邊村) → 23 Hubian Village near to Xihu
  12. 12. Japanese proper nouns are written in the Hepburn system, in alphabet only without using special symbols for long sounds, such as ā, ii, ū, ei, and ō.
  13. 13. For cultural properties and buildings in China and Japan, unlike from those of Korea, their kinds or uses are written in English.
    • 기요미즈데라(淸水寺) → Kiyomizu Temple
    • 재청별서(載靑別墅) → Zaiqing Villa
  14. 14. In cases where proper Chinese characters or Katakana cannot be found, we followed precedents used in existing research articles and books.