Clothes and Belt Worn by General Bak Sin-yong (Presumed)

General Bak Sin-yong (1575–1627) passed the military service examination in 1618, the tenth year of King Gwanghaegun, and rose through the post of seonjeongwan (a royal messenger-officer) to become gwonji junggun (an acting military commander); he died fighting the forces of Later Jin during the Jeongmyo War of 1627. In 1885, the twenty-second year of Emperor Gojong, Yuuigak Hall was built to enshrine these relics. According to the epitaph on the spirit-path stele composed by Min Byeong-seung in 1874, and the inscription on the Yuuigak stele written by Yi Seol in 1896, since the general's body could not be recovered, the clothes and shoes he had left at home were buried in a cenotaph. He was later posthumously granted the post of Chamji (Third Deputy Minister) of the Ministry of War in 1685, the eleventh year of King Sukjong, and honoured with a jeongnyeo, a memorial gate for exemplary loyalty, in 1751, the twenty-seventh year of King Yeongjo. Judging from the form of these garments, they appear to have been enshrined on several occasions by his descendants during the period between the reigns of King Sukjong and King Yeongjo, when he was posthumously honoured with rank and a memorial gate. This is because the forms of the danryeong (a round-collared official robe), cheollik (a robe with a pleated skirt) and gwaeja (a sleeveless vest) do not match the period in which General Bak lived, but instead show characteristics of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some one to two hundred years later. The surviving relics comprise one gwanbok (official robe), one blue cheollik and one red cheollik, a dapho worn as a jeonbok, and three belts (dae) tied around the waist. The gwanbok is a danryeong with a round collar, made of a single layer of ramie with wide sleeves, and measures 134 cm in length; unfortunately it lacks the embroidered rank badge (hyungbae) that would normally be attached to the chest and back. The blue cheollik is dyed blue; a cheollik was worn by civil and military officials of the Joseon period when sent abroad as envoys, or when accompanying the king in times of national crisis. It is made of blue myeongju silk, with a chest width of 32 cm and a skirt length of 94 cm. The red cheollik is similar in size and form to the blue one, but is made of red myeongju silk. The jeonbok was worn over everyday clothes; it has no sleeves and lacks the mu (side gusset panels) or seop (overlapping front panel) found on other robes. The outer fabric is purple, while the lining and the dongjeong (collar-trim) are white, and the garment flares out at the hem.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Buyeo, Chungnam

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산