Artifacts Related to Jo Heon

These are seven items in six categories of relics left by Jo Heon (1544–1592), also known by his pen name Jungbong, who served as a righteous-army (volunteer militia) commander in Chungcheong Province and died in battle fighting Japanese troops on the plain of Geumsan when the Japanese invasions broke out in 1592, the twenty-fifth year of King Seonjo of Joseon. Jo Heon passed the civil service examination and held posts including third counsellor of the Board of Taxation, third counsellor of the Board of Rites, and inspector, before being posted as magistrate of Boeun; although reappointed several times, he resigned, and when the Japanese invasions began he raised a righteous army of more than 1,700 men at Okcheon, joined forces with the monk-general Yeonggyu, and recaptured Cheongju. He then fought valiantly at Geumsan with his remaining 700 soldiers to block the Japanese army, and died in the Battle of Geumsan. His relics include the Jocheon Ilgi (a diary), a royal certificate (gyoji) announcing his pass in the civil examination, a royal edict appointing him righteous-army commander, a royal edict on his enshrinement at the Confucian shrine, and two commemorative eulogies. Briefly, the Jocheon Ilgi is the diary Jo Heon kept when he was sent to Ming China as an inspecting envoy in 1574, the seventh year of King Seonjo; this diary was also published by royal order in 1734, the tenth year of King Yeongjo. The civil-examination certificate is the one Jo Heon received on passing the examination at the age of twenty-four in 1567, the twenty-second year of King Myeongjong, and is the oldest of his official documents. The edict appointing him righteous-army commander records that, when the Japanese invasions broke out, King Seonjo appointed Jo Heon commander of the righteous army of Chungcheong Province. The edict on his enshrinement at the Confucian shrine was issued in 1883, when Emperor Gojong ordered that Jo Heon be honoured with rites at the shrine. The two commemorative eulogies were sent before Jo Heon's spirit tablet by King Jeongjo in 1795 and King Sunjo in 1812, mourning his death. There is also a quiver made of carved bamboo strips strung together with cord, made to be worn at the waist.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Geumsan, Chungnam

Designation

Treasure · 보물