Time and the Weather: Analyzing Climatic Data from Yi Sunsin’s Wartime Diary

In most studies of Chosŏn-period time and weather, researchers rely on quantitative data, focusing on known quantities and fixed points. But the majority of temporal and climatic information recorded in Chosŏn remains hidden within a network of experiences that are not easily quantifiable. A contextually sensitive understanding of time and weather is required to access information from qualitative sources. This article analyses Yi Sunsin’s Nanjung ilgi to understand experienced time and descriptive climatic information. Yi’s weather documentation not only contains climatic information, but also its direct connection to the spread of diseases, disruption of battle plans, and impacts on people. Ultimately a closer reading is required to help craft a more reliable understanding of the natural world and shows the limitations of modern text mining in the quantification of the past.