Yun Sŏndo (Korean: 윤선도; 1587–1671), also spelled as Yoon Sun-Do, was a Korean philosopher, poet, and politician. A Neo-Confucian scholar, he was also known by his art namesGosan and Haeong.[1]
Life
He was born in Seoul, Joseon. He achieved early success as a government official, but his straightforward character made enemies at court and he was banished for imprudent criticism of those in power. Thirteen years later he returned to become tutor to the royal princes but was later banished again. He spent most of his 85 years in his rustic country home, contemplating the nature of life, teaching and writing poetry.[1][2]
Yun is considered the greatest master of the sijo form in Korean literature.[3] His most famous composition is The Fisherman's Calendar (어부사시사, 1651)[4] a cycle of forty seasonal sijo. In both Chinese and Korean classical poetry, the fisherman symbolized a wise man who lives simply and naturally. In art, the fisherman appeared almost invariably in one of the most common genres of Asian water colors: sets of four paintings, one for each season of the year.
Yun Sŏndo wove both traditions into The Fisherman's Calendar. It is the longest and most ambitious sijo cycle attempted during the classical period of his life.
Some lines are given below from a translation of the Autumn section by Gross.[5][6]
A fisherman's life is idyllic, away from cares of the world...
Do not mock the old fisherman, you'll see him in every painting.
I look back on the world of men, the farther off the better.[4]
^Nahm, Andrew C (1996). Korea: Tradition and Transformation — A History of the Korean People (second ed.). Elizabeth, NJ: Hollym International. p. 121. ISBN1-56591-070-2.
^Larry Gross: Sijo Masters in Translation – Yun Sŏndo (1996), which has the complete text in translation of Song of Five Friends and Fisherman's Calendar
