Yi Tongmu

(1741 - 1793)

A writer of the practical learning school, a movement that advocated pragmatic governance and would eventually spur modernization in Korea, Yi Tongmu published his popular book of etiquette, Small Manners for Scholars, in 1775. Of raising children, he writes, “Although they are of different sexes, sons and daughters are of the same flesh and bone. How can parents’ love be thick and thin?” Several years after the book’s publication, King Chongjo named Yi one of the four esteemed editors of the Kyujanggak Royal Library, a role he held until his death in 1793.