In this dissertation, we try to find out the iconization of Shijing(詩經). In order to have better understanding of Shijing(詩經), different analysis was done in the matter of the confucian classic side.
In ancient China, they had very old tradition of reading books in a specific way, which is called ‘Zuo Tu You Shu(左圖右書)’. This means that people would read books with the picture on the left side of the book, and the Chinese characters on the right side of the book. Because of this, iconography of the Shijing(詩經) varied after Late Eastern Han Dynasty period of time.
The Illustration of the Shijing(詩經) can be divided into two kinds depending on the characteristics of the picture. The first kind is practical paintings of all things, which depicts flowers, tree, fish, or regular things in the daily life, and the second kind is poetry-based-Paintings, which translate poem into drawing. However, in my dissertation, I argue that the illustration of the Shijing(詩經) can be divided into three kinds, and the last one is character paintings. all three of this pictures contributed to the interpretation and dissemination of the Shijing(詩經). However, specifically character paintings mostly highlighted the confucian classic side of the Shijing(詩經).
So far, illustration study of the Shijing(詩經) belittled the character paintings. This was because they had many letters, but few illustration that depicts the feature of the figure. However, if we look at the view of the letter studies, we need to pay more attention to the visual effect of the letter characters. That is because, visual aspects of letter characters can have enormous effect on the readers since they can incorporate more value beyond its own literal meaning of the letter.

1. 시작하며
2. ≪詩經≫과 ‘左圖右書’
    1) 注釋적인 名物圖
    2) 회화적인 詩意圖
    3) ≪毛詩正變指南圖≫ 계열의 문자혼합도
3. 맺으면서

• 고인덕(연세대 인문학연구원 HK연구교수) | Ko, In-Duck