Reading edition

The 1.0 results in prose rather than tables. Every number is on a metric page; this page reports only what the figures show. The Gojong and Sunjong records (KOGL Type 4, no derivatives) enter the counts only; no excerpts are published, and their rows in the coding tables carry judgments without title or quote.

How much was written

The principal editions for the 27 reigns from Taejo to Sunjong hold 375,368 articles and 47.4 million Chinese characters (Gojong and Sunjong: counts only). Per reign-year the Injong records are the densest at 205,623 characters and the Heonjong records the thinnest at 12,766. Eleven reigns exceed 100,000, among them Sejong, Seongjong, Jungjong, Seonjo and Jeongjo (and the one- to three-year reigns of Injong, Yejong, Munjong and Danjong); Sukjong is near 72,000, and after Jeongjo the density collapses. This puts a number on NIKH's remark that the record thins toward the end.

Historians' comments first exceed 2% of articles under Seongjong, peak under Jungjong, Myeongjong and Seonjo, and vanish from Jeongjo onward. Cha Jang-seop's hand count for early Joseon and the NIKH tags agree to within a few dozen per reign.

Where the editions diverge

The Revised Seonjo records are 7% of the original by articles and 10% by characters; NIKH's 'one fifth' is an estimate based on fascicle count. Of the revised edition's days, 60% also have an article in the original. The Supplemented Hyeonjong records have 13% more articles and 34% more characters than the original — a rewrite, not a cut. The Daily Records of Gwanghaegun lost 15% of their articles and 18% of their characters between drafts, and 16% of the second draft's characters sit inside deletion marks.

Was the sky right?

When all 332 articles containing '日食' were read and classified, one in three turned out to be a memorial or edict using an eclipse as an argument, and one in seven was not an eclipse at all ('日食一升' is a daily ration of rice). Of the 84 read as reports that an eclipse occurred that day, 65% fall within ±1 day of a computed eclipse visible from Seoul and 95% match an eclipse somewhere on Earth. Most of the rest are '地下日食' — eclipses after sunset that were recorded from calculation. Seen the other way, 33% of the 185 eclipses visible from Seoul have an article.

The 2,937 days on which Venus was reported visible in daylight give an even sharper result. A period search returns 583.7 days, 0.04% from the synodic period of 583.92; 66% of the records fall within 90 days of inferior conjunction and the conjunction itself is nearly empty. At least this kind of record carries the signal of real observation.

Who held office

When first appointees to high office are grouped by 50-year period, the share of the top ten clans rises from 0.28 to 0.45; concentration among examination passers over the same period is smaller. The two groups differ in composition, so the gap is not read as a promotion effect.

A death-penalty article is not an execution

Articles with capital-punishment terms are most frequent under Sejong, but the sample shows most of them are sentencing reports applying the code; execution is confirmed in 2 of 20. In the sample the confirmation rate is higher in the late 16th to early 18th century, but with 20 articles per period the distribution is not settled. Of the 2,853 capital cases Yu Seung-hui counted in the Ilseongnok for Jeongjo–Cheoljong, only 111 can be found in the Sillok. The Sillok is not a source of penal statistics.