Kim Wan

[florel]

admin said:

If female divers were called "Hae-nyo," then I would have to assume that "Pojakhan" was just another name for seafaring male natives of Jeju (Cheju) island. "Hae-nyo" in modern day usage is a female driver of Jeju island, so if her male counterpart was called "Pojakhan" and they were sometimes involved in pirating, would it be okay to assume that many Jeju men were sometimes involved in pirating?

Yes, they are male counterparts of "Hae-nyo".
"Pojak-han" aka "Pojak-in" is the name designating male divers of Jeju (Cheju) Island.

And I have to correct myself about the term usage of "Hae-nyo". I found that "Hae-nyo" is a modern vocabulary entered in Korean language during the Japanese occupation. The female divers were called as "Jam-nyo" during the Chosun period.
(This drama makes me study Korean language and history !)


The number of the wandering Pojak people was reckoned as from several hundreds to several thousands in the late 15th century. But their number had been diminished into 88 men in the early 18th century. The male divers had existed at least until the mid-19th Century.

About the Pojak's relation with piracy, there are ongoing debates. Korean nationalist historians entirely deny their pirate activities while other Korean historians argue that they could occasionally commit piracy. (I found an article written from the latter's viewpoint in a Korean website. www.jejuhistory.com/ The author is a history teacher in Jeju Island.) On the other hand, Japanese nationalist historians insist that the Pojak would have been a pirate professional people and an ally of Wako.

I think the Japanese argument is unconvincing. After reading primary sources quoted in the above website, I come to assume that the Pojak were more seafarers than pirates and they could occasionally loot the Chosunese villages on southern seacoasts in (economically) hard times. The IYSS drama also presents them as a kind of wandering pirate-fishermen. But if they had been Wako-friend-professional-pirates (as the Japanese are insisting), Admiral YSS would have never been accompanied with them in his first battles.