IM YUNJIDANG: THE FEMINIST CONFUCIAN

By Mary Charisse C. Antonio

Summary

Im Yunjidang, according to Kim (2018), is a Korean writer and neo-Confucian

philosopher who was born in 1721 in Yangsong in Kyonggi province. She also has the
title of being the first female philosopher of Korea. Im Yunjidangs belongs to the
yangban class of family. “Yangban” is a class of family that is consisting of civil servants
or military. However, there are conflicts to the studies if Yunjidang is really poor or
aristocratic because there are a lot of written history books that have a contrasting
description of what is the status of her family. Despite the confusion of where she really
came from, this doesn’t hinder Yunjidang from pursuing the path that she wants to take
and that is to encourage women to become a sage. With this idea, she wrote the
Yunjidang Yugo which has the central thesis that women can be Confucius sages. Due
to gender biases during her time, she can’t publish her collection of written thoughts.
However, three years after her death, her younger brother, Im Jeong Ju, and brother-in-
law, Sin Kwang-Wu helped her to publish her beloved work.

According to Sungmoon (2014), the inspiration for the compositions of Im

Yungjidang is the hardships that she experienced in life. At the age of 19, she married
her husband when he is about to take a civil exam. However, due to unfortunate events,
he failed to pass that exam. Even though that gloomy event happened in their lives,
they became happily married but it doesn’t last long as her husband died 8 years later.
With his death, Yunjidang’s life deprived her to follow the three ways to become a
virtuous Confucian woman. According to Kim (2011), the three ways to become virtuous
women are 1) obeying father, 2) obeying husband and 3) obeying son. Due to not
having a husband, she gain a freedom to study Confucian Classics more and develop
her own philosophical taught. Her brother, Im Songju, is the one who helped her to learn
Classics. It happened that Songju was amazed of the talented mind of his sister so he
became determined to teach her the Classics.

Discussion:

Im Yunjidang’s philosophy focused on feminism – it is defined as a social

movement in which she defends the women’s rights. Her two main arguments in her
composition are resisting samjongjido 삼종지도 (三從之道), which means that a woman
would not be someone who would be politically or socially active but it makes them just
a follower to their fathers, husbands, and son and the other argument is about men and
women having the same mind which means that both of them are capable of doing each
other’s works.
 According to Kim (2011), Confucianism and even in neo-Confucianism is sexist
as Confucius himself doesn’t mention women as a part of his teachings but rather he
praised men and encourage them to have knowledge and wisdom at the same time to
support the family. As a foundation of the family, Confucians believe that men have a
greater responsibility to lead the family in a household and they should be stern enough
to be followed. This tradition is what they called “samjongjido.” Women are just followers
and should be submissive to their husbands. This tradition that is highly respected by
every household has become one of the main points that question Im Yunjidang’s
argument.

The main question of them for this matter is, “How women can become sages if
their roles are to be submissive to their men?” According to Yunjindang Yugo, the
published work of Im Yunjidang, “Though I am a woman, the nature I originally received
was no different from that of a man. Though I am a woman, I can lead people because
my mind is no different from that of a man. Though I am unable to study what Yan Yuan
studied, I am completely earnest in sharing his aspiration to become a sage.” Her
desperation to show that she is no different from a man by comparing their mindsets
has become the topic for the next argument.

According to Lee (2019), Mencius discussed that in order for a man to become a
sage is to reflect fully in four moral emotions such as pity and compassion, shame and
dislike, compliance and deference, and right wrong and they should also overcome
these seven emotions such as joy, anger, grief, fear, love, hate and desire. Yunjidang
defended herself to the people in which she says that she can overcome these
emotions especially the ones who are related to the bodily desires. In the translation of
Sungmoon of Yunjidang Yugo, she stated, “The sages are the same kind of who I am.
Most people who don’t even aim to become a sage can do it too because the principle
is not based on who you are as a person but it is about how you can endow the
principles of the Great Ultimate as their nature.” The sages argued, “If everyone is
capable to become a sage then why there are few sages?” This time Yunjidang said
that the nature of the man is good and there is a possibility that people can all become
sages if only everyone could practice the rites.

Despite not being a sage during her time, Im Yunjidang opened an opportunity to
the women to push them to their comfort zone and to take part in activities that only
men can do. According to Lee (2019), during the Choson era, women are discouraged
from doing literature, artistic kinds of stuff and even school because as they have roles
to fulfill the society while education is only meant for scholars and public service that is
meant for men. There may be some of the families, mostly part of the yangban (this is
the status of class which is mainly composed of civil servants and military officers) who
let women to learn about the Classics. However, women of the yangban family are
meant to be educated not for scholarly matter but just to be educated to be virtuous and
mostly to lecture them about how great their husbands, sons, or their father are. With
Yunjidang’s influence, women starting with Yi Hwang (1501-1570) became inspired and
defended the right of women to participate in this scholarly matter and after years of
defending, slowly, women are taking part in these fields.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, Im Yunjindang’s philosophy focused on two main arguments: 1)

resisting the samjojidong (an action that makes women to be follower and not a leader
which makes them incapable of being a sage) and 2) speaking up about men and
women having the same mind which made them capable to do each other’s work and it
made both of them to be capable of being a sage which is one of her main goal. If this
will be described in modern words, Yunjindang focused on defending women or in short,
she took part in feminism.

Her legacy and life taught people that in order to be a role model, gender is not a
hindrance. As stated in her Yunjidang Yugo, “Though I am a woman, the nature I
originally received was no different from a man.” Im Yunjidang may not witness the
result of her works and composition when she was alive but she left a legacy that
inspires the women to gain their freedom when it comes to being a role model in public
by doing things that they are capable of without any gender biases. Two of the Korean
poets named, Kang Jeongildang and Seo Yeonsuhap, have taken her teachings as a
guide in their compositions as they continue to fight for her legacy by writing poems that
is pertaining to the issue of feminism during the Choson era. With this action, women in
Korea are slowly taking into action which includes Yi Bingheogak who published the first
women’s encyclopedia which is known as “Guyhap chongseo” which is about the
household tasks in 1809.

References:

Kim, Y. (2018). “Voices of Female Confucians in Late Chosun Korea”. Religions of

Korea in Practice, 3. p 223.

Kim, Y., & Pettid, M. J. (Eds.). (2011). “Women and Confucianism in Choson Korea:
New Perspectives”. Suny Press.

Lee, U. S. (2019). “Korean Confucianism and Women’s Leadership in the Twenty-First

Century–A Religious Reflection on Gang Jeongildang 姜靜一堂 (1772–1832), a Woman
Confucian Scholar in the Late Joseon Dynasty.” In Dao Companion to Korean
Confucian Philosophy (pp. 397-422). Springer, Dordrecht.

Sungmoon, K. (2014). “The Way To Become a Female Sage.” Journal of the History of
Ideas pp. 395-416
Lee, J. E. (2014). “Literacy, Sosŏl, and Women in Book Culture in Late Chosŏn Korea.
East Asian Publishing and Society.” 4(1), 36-64.