Pukyong National University

'A professor hooked into unfamiliar natural history of fishes' ... 'Attention' to professor Kim Moon-kee's unique, extraordinary research
Interviewed with professor Kim Moon-kee of PKNU on December 12 by the Kookje Daily News

△ Newspaper with an interview article by Professor Kim Mun-kee. ⓒPhoto by Lee Sung-jae (PR team)

On the morning of the 12th, the 22nd page of the Kookje Daily was a space for Professor Kim Moon-kee of the Pukyong National University.

Recently, Professor Kim's book, 'Drawings of Fishes and Ichthyological Knowledge in Early Modern East Asia: With Focus on the Shijing and Shanhaijing' (Korean Studies Information Publication) was introduced in the Kookje Daily News as a full interview.

The book of the historian and naturalist Kim was adopted as the 55th story of the series of the project called 'The Cultural field of Jo Bong-gwon'

The introduction of this type of book is exceptional. What kind of book is it?

"Professor Kim Moon-kee made the first compilation of the Pacific Herring, Pacific Cod and Walleye Pollock, comparing and studying them from the point of view of East Asia beyond Korea's point of view.", this article focuses on Professor Kim 's research on' Pacific Herring, Pacific Cod and Walleye Pollock'.

What are the names of the fish that are important fishes shared by Korea China Japan, the three East Asian nations such as 'Pacific Herring', 'Pacific Cod' and 'Walleye Pollock' in China and Japan?

This article quotes Professor Kim's research as saying, "Pacific Herring (靑魚), Pacific Cod (大口) and Walleye Pollock (明太) are cold water fishes that are representing the Joseon dynasty, and their names themselves are added in Korea. In Korea, China, and Japan, there were names of their native languages, each of which called them three." and introduced, "However, an interesting phenomenon occurs around the 18th century. Pacific Herring, Pacific Cod and Walleye Pollock, the Korean name (Joseon-style), exerts a strong influence over a period of time, similar to a 'standard' in three East Asian countries."

According to Professor Kim 's study, which was introduced in the article, Japan abandoned the Chinese characters (鰊, 鯡), which means "herring" in Japanese, and adopted the name of Joseon, under the influence of Donguibogam (Principles and Practice of Eastern Medicine) and Joseon Tongsinsa (Korean missions to Japan).

The article introduced, "In the book which Professor Kim arranged closely, the Joseon style name 'Cheong-o (Herring)' appears as a formal name in Japanese books for over 100 years after 1709."

How was Pacific Cod(大口) called in Japan? Although they have Japanese names such as 'タラ', '鱈魚', and '鱈', it was written in Joseon style, 夻魚 and 大口魚. In China, 明太 is still called 'mingtaiwi (明太魚)', and in Russia it is called 'mingtai (минтай)'. It is interesting to note that Joseon style name 'pollock' remains in the Japanese "Mentaiko (明太子)", meaning salted pollack roe.

The article gave meaning that "It is confirmed that the Pacific Herring, Pacific Cod and Walleye Pollock, which were known only as the fishes of Joseon, emerged as an important fishes of East Asia at any moment.", "In East Asia, where the influence of Chinese character words (fish names) were absolute, the native fish names of Joseon influenced China and Japan."

The article highlighted, "Professor Kim Moon-kee's first book, 'Ichthyological Knowledge', comes not only from Korea's point of view, but from the point of view of East Asia as well and it comes very special in that it has studied comparative studies of natural history of fishes in Korea, China and Japan. This kind of attempt was hard to experience so far."

In addition, this article explains, "Professor Kim Moon-kee has conducted a comparative study on the history of 'an atlas of fish' (魚譜· a fisheries biology book) in 'Ichthyological knowledge' including 'Jasanobo (玆山魚譜)', in Korea, China, and Japan, East Asia. This is also the first time in academia."

According to the report, the first book of fish in East Asia was the 'Minzhong-Haicuoshu (閩中海錯疏)' by Tu Benjun 1596, Japan's book of fishes is Nitto-Gyofu (日東魚譜) written by Kanda Genshen in 1719, and the first Korean fish book, Woohaeri-Eobo (牛海異魚譜) compiled by Kim Ryo in 1803. 'Jasanobo (玆山魚譜)' was completed in 1814.

In this article, Professor Kim said, "The misunderstanding caused by the fact that Korean academic society did not know well the current state of China and Japan" for the evaluation of some of Asia's first fisheries biology.

According to the article, the significance of 'Jasanobo (玆山魚譜)' is said to be 'the first misunderstanding that occurred in Korea due to the lack of understanding of China and Japan's current situation in the Korean academic community, as part of the evaluation of Asia's first fisheries biology'.

The article said, "Professor Kim also made a 'scary' discovery.", and "In Japan, the first fish book, Kanda Genshen's ‘Nitto-Gyofu’ (1719), is an illustrated fish guide. In Japan, the first fish book, Kanda Genshen's ‘Nitto-Gyofu’ (1719), is a pictorial fish guide and a walk. Japanese picture books continue to emphasize paintings after that. The picture level evolves to the 'terrifying' level. Unlike China, Korean fish book does not have any paintings at all."

Professor Kim, in this interview, is likely to have to write a four-part series on fish naturalism such as 'Birth of Fish', 'fishery book and fisheries pictorial book', 'The marine products and Empire', 'Overfishing and Symbios' <Pukyong Today>