Yi Su Tomb

This is the tomb of Yi Su (1569–1645), posthumously titled Chungsukgong, a civil official of the mid-Joseon period. He was a grandson of Yi Gi, Prince Deokyang (1524–1581), and a son of Yi Jong-rin, Prince Pungsan (1538–1611). Distinguished in scholarship, he was appointed to the post of bujeong at the age of fifteen, and during the Japanese invasions of the 1590s he served actively as a seonjeongwan, a royal herald officer. He rendered meritorious service in suppressing Yi Gwal's Rebellion, and during the Jeongmyo War of 1627 he accompanied King Injo in his flight to Ganghwado Island, earning the king's deep trust. He rose to the rank of Sodeokdaebu and served as dochongwan, or commander-in-chief, of the Owi Dochongbu, the Five Military Commands Headquarters. He died in 1645 at his house in Namsomun-dong, and was afterwards posthumously raised to the rank of Hyeollokdaebu, a rank recorded only for officials of the first senior grade. The burial ground takes the form of twin mounds (ssangbun), Yi Su being buried alongside his wife, Lady Jeong. The tomb retains its original form well, and its stone furnishings are likewise original; below the mound, an octagonal border of stone has been built up to protect it, a form shared by all the family tombs of the Deokyanggun branch of the Jeonju Yi clan, and thought to reflect a burial style associated with royal kin. Between the two mounds stands a single myopyo, a stele inscribed with the name of the deceased, of wonsu-bangbu form, meaning it has a rounded capstone and a square base. Its epitaph was composed by Kim Jip and its calligraphy done by Song Jun-gil. Below it stand a pair of stone pillars (mangjuseok) and a pair of civil official statues. The pillars are relatively small, their shafts carved with handle-shaped ear ornaments, while the official statues are in yanggwan-jobok form, depicting a civil official wearing a yanggwan cap and court robes, with the simplified detailing typical of the flat, two-dimensional stone figures of the seventeenth century. The spirit-path stele (sindobi) at the entrance to the burial ground was erected in 1897, the first year of the Gwangmu era; its text was composed by Yi Jae and its calligraphy done by Yi Seung-hwi, a tenth-generation descendant. This burial ground is an important cultural heritage site in which the original form of a late-seventeenth-century tomb and its stone furnishings are exceptionally well preserved.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seongnam, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물