Jangneung Royal Tomb, Yeongwol

Danjong became king at eleven, was forced off the throne by his uncle Sejo at fourteen, and was exiled to a river island near this town. In 1457, aged sixteen, he was killed. His body was thrown in the river; a local clerk named Eom Heung-do, at the risk of his own life, retrieved it and buried it quietly on this hillside, then fled. For two centuries the grave was officially nothing. Not until 1698 did King Sukjong restore Danjong's title, at which point the hidden grave became a royal tomb — the only one outside the capital region — and had the shrine, gate and stone figures added around a mound that had been dug for a commoner. Because the hill is steep, the shrine could not be placed directly below the mound, and sits off to one side; it is the only Joseon tomb where the two are not in line. Eom Heung-do has his own shrine on the grounds, and so do the officials who died for the boy. The pines here were, in 1999, symbolically married to a pine from the tomb of Danjong's widow near Seoul, which is about as close as the two have been since 1457.

Original Text

Where it is

Region

Yeongwol, Gangwon

Designation

Historic Site · 사적