ABSTRACT
Oh Hŭimun’s 吳希文 diary, Swaemi rok 瑣尾錄 (‘Record of a Refugee’), 1591–1601, is a source rich with the detail of life during the most tumultuous decade of the Chosŏn dynasty. Oh records the everyday experiences of those anxiously receiving news of the incoming invasion and fleeing for their lives as destruction swept the peninsula. Through Oh’s eyes we see both how the Japanese and then Chinese appeared to the local population, but also how disease, starvation, and banditry plagued the country, and how normal life continued in between: marriage, entertainment, and class conflict. The key points drawn from the study of his diary are the sheer level of destruction in Korea, the fear and uncertainty in which events unfolded, and the despair the population faced as they struggled to survive between Japanese invaders, an ineffective Chosŏn state, and heavy-booted Chinese armies.
