Hanging Board with a Record of Serving the Tutelary Deity, Sunchang

The Sunchang Seonghwangdaesin Sajeok Hyeonpan (Hanging Board with a Record of Serving the Tutelary Deity) is a hyeonpan, a wooden board — or one covered in paper or silk — bearing writing or a painting for display, recording the history of veneration paid to the seonghwangsin, the village guardian deity. The original board, made in the reign of King Myeongjong of Joseon, no longer survives; what remains is a board re-carved during the reign of King Yeongjo. It is a long, horizontal wooden board that retains the natural grain of the timber, formed by joining an upper and a lower panel into one. Measuring 180 cm across and 54 cm high, it carries roughly 1,600 characters written vertically over 73 columns in total. Its content records the history of the guardian deity, from the granting of honorific titles beginning in the seventh year of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo (1281) down to the rebuilding of the Village Guardian Shrine in the twenty-third year of King Sunjo of Joseon (1823). The calligraphy of the lower section is noticeably different from that of the upper section, suggesting it was added later. According to documentary records, the board was made in 1743, the nineteenth year of King Yeongjo, with further inscriptions added later in 1754, the thirtieth year of King Yeongjo, and in 1823, the twenty-third year of King Sunjo. It records the communal village rites offered to the guardian deity that continue to be held in various regions today, and is of great value as folklore material for showing the historical development of the cult of the village guardian deity.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sunchang, Jeonbuk

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산