The home education and the Ethics Character Pictures in the Chosun Dynasty

ABSTRACT

This study is focused on the home education and presentation style of Ethics Character Picture of the Chosun Dynasty. The symbol and function of Ethics Character Picture lies the education at home in ethical education. The eight ethics characters are : Hyo(Filial piety) , Je(Brotherliness) , Choong(Loyalty), Shin(Faith) , Ye(Courtesy) , Eu(Justice) , Yeom(Honor) , and Chi(Shame) . Living according to these ethical guiding principle means that one should tend one s parents with Filial piety, be friendly with neighbors, love one s nation and people, keep one s faith, be courteous and thrifty, and have a sense of honor. The form of Ethics Character Picture is the presentation pattern harmonizing house decorative art and the 8 characters symbolizing the ethics that people should follow in their daily life.Ethics Character Picture are usually presented on an eight-folding screen. Each of the eight characters takes up one-fold. The frame of each screen is composed of a Chinese character and a picture of a symbolic object. Each picture shows the object which symbolizes the meaning of each character. Ethics characters and objects are unique, both representing different meanings. For example, the character Hyo has the meaning of filial piety and is symbolized objects such as a carp, bamboo shoot, fan, orange, and a six-string Korean harp. The presentation pattern of ethics character shows four distinctive features. Among those character pictures produced in the 20th century, many include overly decorative features and images. This made it very difficult to determine the original character. That s why the existing educational purpose of ethics character became weak and the practical purpose of house decoration was emphasized.