Certificate of Meritorious Subject Issued to Jin Chung-gwi

A nokgwon is a certificate recognising someone as a meritorious subject; this is the nokgwon issued in 1395, the fourth year of King Taejo, by the Directorate of Meritorious Subjects to Jin Chung-gwi, who had served as governor of Uiju. It is a scroll of mulberry paper measuring 634 cm in width and 30.8 cm in height, with a roller attached at one end so that it could conveniently be rolled up for storage. Each line contains about fifteen to eighteen characters, and the names of 106 meritorious subjects are recorded on it. The original wooden roller from the time it was made is still attached, and the document is in relatively good state of preservation. At the end of the document are recorded the titles and names of fifteen officials involved in issuing the certificate, from the Directorate of Meritorious Subjects, the Ministry of Personnel and other offices, and ten of these names bear a suge, a personal signature mark, written beneath them. Among these meritorious subjects, the names of Byeon Wang-nan and Kim Cheon-u, who had already died by that time, were also added. Each of these meritorious subjects was rewarded with thirty gyeol of farmland and three enslaved servants, titles were bestowed on their parents and wives, and a royal decree was issued allowing their descendants to enter government office without sitting the state examinations. Because it is well preserved, it serves as important material for research into the Gaeguk wonjong gongsin, the minor meritorious subjects honoured at the founding of the dynasty.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yongsan-gu, Seoul

Designation

Treasure · 보물