Yi Su-gwang Tomb

This is the tomb of Jibong Yi Su-gwang (1563–1628), a literary scholar of the mid-Joseon period. In 1614, the sixth year of King Gwanghaegun, he published the Jibongyuseol (Topical Discourses of Jibong), introducing Catholicism and Western civilisation to Korea for the first time and thereby becoming a pioneer of the development of Silhak, or Practical Learning. The tomb takes the form of a single mound, jointly interred with his wife of the Andong Kim clan. The stone child figures stand with hands folded politely, wearing smiles. Their hair is tied in the double-topknot style, with shoulder ornaments and a sash bound at the waist, typical of stone child figures of the seventeenth century. The ornamental stone pillars are small but well proportioned, with handle-shaped ear carvings that clearly mark their period. The tomb marker, in the round-topped, square-based style, bears no inscribed date of erection. At the entrance to the tomb site stand three spirit-path steles, erected beside roads near tombs to commemorate the lifetime achievements of kings or high officials; here the steles for his father Yi Hui-geom and his son Yi Seong-gu stand together with his own. Yi Su-gwang's spirit-path stele stands at the centre; it is in the common round-topped, square-based style, but is a refined stele notable for its marble. This tomb site preserves well the original form of late Joseon tomb design and, with its grand spirit-path steles and charming stone child figures, possesses stone furnishings of great artistic merit, making it a highly valuable piece of cultural heritage.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yangju, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물