North Korea's Kŭmgangsan is one of Asia's most celebrated sacred
mountain ranges, comparable in fame to Mount Tai in China and Mount Fuji
in Japan. Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan marks a paradigm shift in the
research about East Asian mountains by introducing an entirely new
field: autographic rock graffiti. The book details how late Chosŏn (ca.
1600-1900 CE) Korean elite travelers used Kŭmgangsan to demonstrate
their high social status by carving inscriptions, naming sites, and
joining the literary pedigree of visitors to renowned locales. Such
travel practices show how social competition emerged in the spatial
context of a landscape. Hence, Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan argues for
an expansion of accepted historical narratives on travel and mountain
space in premodern East Asia. Rather than interpreting pilgrimage routes
as exclusively religious or tourist, in Kŭmgangsan's case they were also
an important site of collective memory.
A journey to Kŭmgangsan to view and contribute to its sites of memory
was an endeavor that late Chosŏn Koreans hoped to achieve in their
lives. Based on multidisciplinary research drawing on literary writings,
court records, gazetteers, maps, songs, calligraphy, and paintings,
Carving Status at Kŭmgangsan is the first historical study of this
practice. It will appeal to scholars in fields ranging from East Asian
history, literature, and geography, to pilgrimage studies and art
history.
*Winner of the 2022 Patricia Buckley Ebrey Prize for a distinguished
book on the history of China proper, Vietnam, Chinese Central Asia,
Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea, or Japan, prior to 1800, sponsored by the
American Historical Association
