Medicinal porridge (藥粥) is made by putting rice or grains into a pot and boiling with water until a semi-liquid texture is obtained. Porridge is digested fast and absorbed by the body. Children or elderly people with weak digestive ability can eat it without difficulty. The authors of this literature focused on utilization of mung bean porridge (Nokdu-juk) based on SeungjeongwonIlgi (承政院日記), which is the daily record of the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty from 1623 to 1910. Four cases were found. The first case used mungbean for treating fever diseases (熱症), the second as a meal alternative, the third for wound recovery, and the last case described the culture of the joseon dynasty. According to the actual cases in SeungjeongwonIlgi (承政院日記), mung bean porridge (Nokdu-juk) was actively used to lower fever and strengthen the spleen and stomach. When suffering from the after effects of a malignant tumor or serious liver disease (肝 病), an infectious disease, or a serious physical wound, people ate mung bean porridge (Nokdu-juk). It is suggested that mung bean porridge (Nokdu-juk) can be used as an alternative food treatment for the current medical field due to the prevalence of pain-killers and psychotropic drug abuse.
During the Joseon Dynasty, medicinal foods derived from herbs were often more effective than traditional medicines. In addition, the royal family of the Joseon Dynasty believed that foods could be used as various disease treatments. Grain-based foods, especially medicinal porridges (藥粥), were most frequently used for diet therapy. We investigated various types of diet-related diseases suffered by King Injo (仁祖) as well as how the diseases were treated using medicinal porridges based on information in the SeungjeongwonIlgi (承政院日記), which is the daily record of the Royal Secretariat of the Joseon Dynasty. This study examined the SeungjeongwonIlgi of King Injo from his1st year (1623) to 27th year (1649) on a website database maintained by the National Institute of Korean History. According to the records, King Injo suffered from severe diarrhea several times due mainly to febrile disease (煩熱症) as well as abdominal dropsy (脹滿) throughout his entire life. Major diseases affecting King Injo were due to his unhealthy eating habits and psychological factors. For treatment, royal doctors prescribed around 15 medicinal porridges, including nelumbo (seed) porridge (Yeonja-juk), milk porridge (Tarak-juk), Chinese dioscorea porridge (Sanyak-juk), mungbean porridge (Nokdu-juk), perilla seed porridge (Imja-juk), adzuki-bean porridge (Pat-juk), soybean porridge (Kong-juk), Korean-leek porridge (Buchu-juk), and so on, in addition to other medical treatments. Diet therapy using medicinal porridges has been used throughout history since the Joseon Dynasty period. However, knowledge of traditional diet therapy and medicinal porridges used by monarchs in the Joseon Dynasty is insufficient. Therefore, in-depth study is needed to understand the theory of traditional medicinal foods as well as explore their application to patients in the context of modern medicine.
The purpose of this study is to understand the architectural space of Seungjeongwon (承政院), the Royal Secretariat, in the early years of Joseon Dynasty. The Royal palace can be divided into three parts, political space, living space for king and his family and offices for government official in the palace. So first, we should to understand the characteristics of each space in the Royal Palace. The result of this study is following. Seungjeongwon of the Joseon Dynasty was where Seungji (承旨), Juseo (注書), Sagwan (史官), Seungjeonsaeg (承傳色), Seori (書吏) and Harye (下隷) worked together. The architectural space of Seungjeongwon was separated into Jeongwon-Cheong (政院廳) and Juseo-Cheong (注書廳). Jeongwon-Cheong was the office for Seungji, where Sagwan worked as well as Seungji and Juseo. The form of Jeongwon-Cheong (政院廳) in Kyung-bok Palace was similar to that depicted in Eundaegyecheop (銀臺契帖), which was painted the meeting of Seungjis. Juseo-Cheong was the office for Juseo and Sagwan and there was a break room. Apart from Jeongwon-Cheong there were rooms where Seungji could work or take a rest. As with the office of Seungji, the space for Juseo also had rooms for Juseo. There were also rooms for Seori and Abang (兒房) which were rooms for servants.
Astronomical records in the days of King Jeongjo of Yi dynasty, 1777-1800, are examined for solar and lunar eclipses, meteors and comets. The books used for this investigation are Sung Jeong Won Il Gi, which are the original daily records written in the court. The records found in these Sung Jeong Won Il Gi are tabulated according to the four astronomical phenomena above, and they were cross checked with the records in the book, Jung Bo Mun Heon Bi Go. Although Jung Bo Mun Heon Bi Go has most frequently been used as the original records to those who work for the ancient Korean records, the inaccuracy and the deficiency are found.