Relics Description

Cheopae sineo is a Japanese language book by Gang U-seong compiled in 1618 of manuscripts he had written over the course of several years. The title means “A Book on Quickly Deciphering ‘Sineo (Japanese)’.” In 1592, at the age of 12, Gang was taken hostage to Japan during that nation’s invasion of Korea, returning home after ten years. He wrote this book based on the Japanese he learned during his time there. In the book, Japanese characters are written in large letters, Korean phonetic readings are written in Hangeul on the right, and the meaning on the left. It is composed of conversations between people who come and go between Joseon and Japan on business, on diplomatic missions, and on other occasions. Written in a conversational style, it is a highly valuable volume in efforts to know more about spoken language in the 17th century.