Wolsajip Woodblocks

These are the woodblocks made to print the Wolsajip, the collected writings of Yi Jeong-gu (1564–1635), known by his pen name Wolsa, one of the Four Great Masters of Chinese-style prose of the mid-Joseon period. The set comprises 799 blocks of the original collection (wonjip), 79 blocks of the supplementary collection (byeoljip) and 61 blocks of the chronological record (yeonbo), 939 blocks in all. Each block measures 28.0 by 53.0 cm and is about 3 cm thick, with strips of wood fitted at both ends to keep them flat. The Wolsajip was first published in Gongju in 1636 by Choe Yu-hae, but the blocks were lost during the Manchu invasion of that year. Afterwards, in 1688, Yi Jeong-gu's grandson Yi Ik-sang published the original collection and its appendix at the Gyeongsang Provincial Office, and in 1720 his great-grandson Yi Hui-jo published the supplementary collection. The blocks for the chronological record were carved in 1930. The Wolsajip woodblocks were originally kept at Yongyeonsa Temple in Daegu, were moved in 1928 to Iwon-ri, Iwon-myeon, Okcheon-gun in Chungcheongbuk-do, and were brought to their present site in April 1987, where a jangpangak, a hall for storing printing woodblocks, was built for them. Alongside the significance of the Wolsajip woodblocks themselves, it is also notable that the Dongnijip, the collected writings of Yi Jeong-gu's grandson Yi Eun-sang, and the Jinamjip, the collected writings of his sixth-generation descendant Yi Cheon-bo, are likewise kept in this woodblock hall in Gapyeong. While the Wolsajip woodblocks have long been well known both in Korea and abroad, the Dongnijip and the Jinamjip have not been properly recognised or studied. These woodblocks are nonetheless confirmed by Joseon-period records to have existed and to have been preserved intact down to the end of the dynasty.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gapyeong, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산