Mural Tomb of Bak Ik, Miryang

Located on the sloping ridge of the Milseong Bak clan cemetery in Gobeop-ri, Cheongdo-myeon, Miryang, the Mural Tomb of Bak Ik, Miryang is a square tomb equipped with stone guardian figures, a coping stone and a stone retaining wall. The mound measures 6m by 4.8m and 2.3m high, and murals are painted on all four walls of the interior stone chamber (0.5m long, 1m wide, 0.8m high). A notable feature of this tomb's construction is that it is a square tomb equipped with a tunnel (sudo). The square tomb was one of the burial styles favoured by a certain class from the late Goryeo to the early Joseon period, but the placement of the tunnel to the south and the sloping installation of the screen stones are unusual features. No tunnel has yet been confirmed in any other early Joseon side-entry stone-chamber tomb, and it is presumed to have served the combined function of an entrance passage and a drainage channel, providing material for examining the stylistic origins of such tombs. The murals were painted in a fresco technique: lime was applied over granite slabs, the content was first sketched in black outline, and before the lime dried the principal areas were coloured in red, blue and black. Although parts have deteriorated, the surviving sections clearly depict figures, horses, tools and other aspects of contemporary life and customs. Bak Ik (1332-1398), pen name Song-eun, whose given name was originally Cheonik and who also used the courtesy name Taesi, was a civil official of the late Goryeo period from the Milseong Bak clan. He passed the civil service examination during the reign of King Gongmin of Goryeo and served as Sogam (Junior Director), Vice Minister of Rites, and Assistant Tutor to the Crown Prince and Jungseoryeong (a senior chancellery post), before becoming a Hallim Munhak, an academician of the Hallim Academy; he was one of the 'Eight Eun', a group of late Goryeo scholars known by pen names ending in '-eun'. He was later posthumously honoured as Left State Councillor, and his writings survive in the Song-eunjip (Collected Works of Song-eun). Beyond its archaeological and art-historical value, arising from the mural's contribution to research on early Joseon daily life and customs, the discovery of a memorial stone also gives the tomb importance for research on Bak Ik, a civil official of the late Goryeo period. The murals were discovered during repairs to the tomb area after damage caused by a typhoon in 2000, following which a detailed investigation was carried out. The site's name was changed from Miryang Gobeop-ri Bak Ik Byeokhwamyo to Mural Tomb of Bak Ik, Miryang, by a notice issued on 28 July 2011.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Miryang, Gyeongnam

Designation

Historic Site · 사적