The Creation of Hangul

Arrive in Korea and everything from subway station names to shop signs is written in Hangul. Most visitors can sound those signs out within a few days. That was the point of the design.

The thing most often got wrong about Hangul is the date. 1443 and 1446 are both correct. Which of them is which is where this article starts.

At a glance

Winter 1443 — the script
Sejong created Hunminjeongeum in the winter of 1443.
Ninth month, 1446 — the manual
Jeong In-ji's preface is dated to the first ten days of the ninth month of 1446, which is how the book's completion date is known.
The Haeryebon had eight authors
Jeong In-ji, Choe Hang, Bak Paeng-nyeon, Sin Suk-ju, Seong Sam-mun, Gang Hui-an, Yi Gae and Yi Seon-ro.
National Treasure No. 70, Kansong Art Museum
33 leaves in one woodblock-printed volume; selected as UNESCO Memory of the World in January 1997.

1443 and 1446 — what the difference is

The two years refer to two different events.

Sejong created Hunminjeongeum in the winter of 1443, the twenty-fifth year of his reign. That is when the script itself was made.

1446 is the year the book explaining that script was completed. That book is the Hunminjeongeum, usually called the Haeryebon or the original edition. The reason its completion date can be pinned down is specific: Jeong In-ji wrote his preface in the first ten days of the ninth month of 1446, and the encyclopedia notes that part of the value of that preface is precisely that it tells us when the book was finished.

So the accurate formulation is this: the script was made in 1443, and the book explaining it appeared in 1446.

What the Haeryebon is — and where it is now

The Haeryebon is not a symbolic relic. It is a manual.

It is a commentary in literary Chinese explaining the newly created Hunminjeongeum, and physically it is 33 leaves in a single woodblock-printed volume.

Jeong In-ji's preface sets out what the script can do: Hunminjeongeum is simple and easy to learn while being applicable in many ways, able to write down most sounds — music, Sino-Korean readings, even natural sounds — and its creation made interpreting texts in literary Chinese easier and made communication possible.

What matters is that "easy to learn" was not an incidental benefit but a property claimed for it from the outset. Being able to read shop signs after a few days is not an accident.

Where the book is now is equally definite. It is National Treasure No. 70 and is held at the Kansong Art Museum. And in January 1997 it was selected as a Memory of the World by UNESCO's International Advisory Committee.

Eight names

The Haeryebon was not written by Sejong alone.

Its authors were eight men: Jeong In-ji, Choe Hang, Bak Paeng-nyeon, Sin Suk-ju, Seong Sam-mun, Gang Hui-an, Yi Gae and Yi Seon-ro. They were scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon, writing in 1446 at Sejong's command.

The Jiphyeonjeon was the institution through which Sejong trained talent, and the encyclopedia lists the training of many able people through the Jiphyeonjeon first among the achievements of his reign. Hangul is one of the things that institution produced.

The creation of Hunminjeongeum is recorded as the most brilliant achievement of Sejong's reign.

The practical part, for a traveller

Being able to read Hangul changes a trip, because you can sound out dish names on a menu and station names on a map.

There are not many letters, and once you have the rule for packing them into square syllable blocks the rest is combination. That the Haeryebon is a book about the consonant letters used in initial and final position, the vowel letters used in the middle, and how to combine them tells you the structure directly.

There is also a museum about writing itself. The National Museum of World Writing Systems in Incheon shows the world's scripts side by side, so you see Hangul in comparison with others.

Spend ten minutes with a letter chart on your first evening. Reading the signs is enough on its own to make the city look different. Even without knowing the meanings, being able to produce the sounds lets you start telling place names and shop names apart.

Places connected to Hangul

Frequently asked questions

Was Hangul created in 1443 or 1446?

The script was created in the winter of 1443. The book explaining it — the Hunminjeongeum Haeryebon — was completed in 1446, with Jeong In-ji's preface dated to the first ten days of the ninth month.

Where is the Haeryebon now?

It is National Treasure No. 70, held at the Kansong Art Museum. It is 33 leaves in one woodblock-printed volume, and was selected as a UNESCO Memory of the World in January 1997.

Who wrote the Haeryebon?

Eight scholars of the Jiphyeonjeon, at Sejong's command: Jeong In-ji, Choe Hang, Bak Paeng-nyeon, Sin Suk-ju, Seong Sam-mun, Gang Hui-an, Yi Gae and Yi Seon-ro.

Why is Hangul said to be easy to learn?

Jeong In-ji's preface describes Hunminjeongeum as simple and easy to learn while remaining widely applicable, able to write down most sounds. Ease of learning was a stated property from the beginning.

Do I need to learn Hangul to travel in Korea?

It is not necessary, but learning the letters lets you sound out station names and dish names, which makes both getting around and ordering considerably easier.