Cheongha (tɕʰʌŋɦa)
"To divide up the world create division within yourself. To be whole, embrace everything equally."
Cheongha is one of the most revered and celebrated figures in the history of the Rengo people. He was a scholar, poet, and philosopher who taught about the interconnectedness of all things. His works are read throughout the Empire of Wamato to this day, and have inspired countless others in the centuries since he lived.
Early Life
Cheongha was born on the island of Jiyul, shortly before the Kingdom of Gukusan became a part of the Empire of Wamato. His family was among the nobles who supported Gukusan's alliance with the Empire during their conquest of Seomna, and thus was favored by the Yanjin when they annexed Jiyul as well. When he was seven years old, Cheongha and his family moved from Jiyul to Gyeongseong, where his father was appointed to a prestigous post within the adminstration of the Chōjin Prefecture. Cheongha was raised to be fluent in both Yanjinese and Rengota, and he was given an excellent education so that he might one day join the civil service of the Empire himself.
Poet & Philosopher
While still a young student, Cheongha was already known as a gifted poet. His early work primarily revolved around the beauty of nature, and it is said that he would spend hours contemplating a single leaf or tree before composing a poem that conveyed the essence of the subject perfectly. Many of these early poems were written in Yanjinese, to please his teachers who believed it the only beautiful language. Later in life, he would rewrite these in Rengota, which he felt was better suited to his ideas.
In these early poems, the reader can find the beginings of the philosophical works he would become best known for. Cheongha saw the world as a vast and interconnected web, where every action we take has an impact on everything else. To him, this conferred a duty to be a good, kind, and productive part of the collective world. He taught that inherent in self-respect was respect for all the world, for "if I disrespect my hand, I disrespect myself, and you are as connected to me as any of my limbs".
When it came time for him to enter into the service of the daimyo his father worked for, Cheongha presented his first treatise on the interconnectedness of the world as a part of his credentials. It was not well received, for it laid out the many forms of respect people owed to one another in a manner that obliquely criticized the daimyo's rule over Gyeongseong. He was not granted the position, and instead had to make his living as a scribe and tutor rather than a servant of the Empire.
The next ten years were the most productive of his life. He further developed his philosophy, and shared it with the other Rengo scholars of his generation, who came to regard him as the best and brightest of them all. He taught that humans had a responsibility to care for the natural world, and that this care would benefit both humans and the environment. He advocated for sustainable living and urged his followers to live simply and mindfully. Copies of his work were circulated throughout the Empire, quietly passed from one scholar to another and gaining converts to his way of thinking everywhere it went.
Subversive Teachings
As Cheongha entered his fourth decade, his work became more overtly critical of the Empire and Imperial Policy. He particularly detested the Teikoku Nintei-sho and the enslavement of the Chilseongsin, and even went so far as to criticize the late emperor Ashikaga Tomoyuki for having written it. These later works earned him enemies among the Yanjin scholars who encountered it, and many who had previously praised his poetry and philosopy now denounced him as a dangerous subversive who opposed the Empire. He found it impossible to find a post as a tutor on Gyeongseong, and eventually lived only off the charity of his remaining followers. Despite this, he continued to write, and to advocate for reforms in how the Empire treated the people it ruled.
Shortly after the fortieth year of his life, Cheongha learned that he was to be arrested upon charges of sedition, and went into hiding. Very little is known about the final three years of his life, and his final work was a poem written to the White Comet which passed over the Great Ring in 3555. In the final lines of the poem below, he speaks about the end of his life.
"Your light will fade and so will mine,
For we are cousins at a great distance
And shall be brilliance in the memory of the world."
Cheongha among the Yanjin
The poetry of Cheongha is well-respected among the scholars of the Empire of Wamato, but few of the Yanjin ever learn that Cheongha was not Yanjin himself. His poetry was translated into Yanjinese a few years after his death, and his name was given as Seikawa in the translation. The translator also took liberties with some of the poetry to remove the implied criticisms of the Empire found in the original Rengota. Today, while most educated Yanjin are familiar with the poems of Seikawa, they are never taught about his origins or encounter his untranslated material. A few scholars have even gone so far as to claim that the Rengota versions are translations of the Yanjin originals, but this argument does not hold up once scrutinized.
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This article was originally written for Spooktober 2024. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
This article was originally written for Spooktober 2023. You can find all of my Spooktober Articles at Spooktober Central.
Cheongha is such a captivating character, full of depth and intrigue. Their story feels alive, with layers of history and personality that make you want to learn even more. A truly fantastic read!
Thank You!