Yeonggwang Naesanseowonganggamhoeyo Woodblocks

The Ganggamhoeyo was compiled by Kang Hang (pen name Su-eun, 1567–1618), a Joseon-dynasty scholar-official who also led a righteous army during the Jeongyu War (the second Japanese invasion of Korea, 1597); in it he supplemented and reorganised the Chinese histories Zizhi Tongjian and Tonggam Gangmok. The woodblocks were carved in 1702, the 28th year of King Sukjong, and number 642 in total. Kang Hang passed the mun-gwa, the higher civil service examination, in 1593, and served as an editor at the Gyoseogwan, the government publications office, and later as an assistant section chief (jwarang) in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Punishments. During the Jeongyu War he was taken captive by Japanese forces and brought to Japan, where he formed friendships with Fujiwara and Akamatsu and had a scholarly influence on them. With their help he was later released and returned home; although appointed to several posts afterward, he considered himself a criminal for having been captured and did not take them up. After his death he was posthumously honoured as Minister of Personnel and enshrined at Naesan Seowon, a Confucian academy. The woodblocks are of considerable age, and only a single printed copy is known to survive, held at the National Library of Korea, which makes them all the more valuable. They are currently held at Naesan Seowon in Yeonggwang County, South Jeolla Province.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeonggwang, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Tangible Heritage · 시도유형문화유산