King Yeongjo Placenta Chamber, Cheongju

This is the site where the placenta chamber (taesil) enshrining the placenta of King Yeongjo of Joseon (r. 1724–1776) once stood. Based on Taoist thought, which held the placenta to be the source of the human body, and on geomantic theory, the Joseon royal court established a Taesil Dogam (Directorate for Placenta Chambers) to bury the placenta whenever a prince or princess was born. Officials sought out an auspicious site to enshrine the placenta and dispatched an Antaesa, an envoy for the enshrinement, to inter it there. The placenta chambers of princes or royal grandsons in particular, who were to succeed to the throne, were built as stone chambers. King Yeongjo, a son of King Sukjong, was born on 13 September 1694 (the 20th year of King Sukjong's reign) to Consort Suk-bin of the Choe clan, and his placenta was enshrined here at this first-class taebong (auspicious placenta site). When he ascended the throne, the placenta chamber was, in accordance with royal ritual, rebuilt and embellished with stonework in 1729 (the fifth year of King Yeongjo's reign). The Chungcheongdo Eupji (Gazetteer of Chungcheong Province) records that this placenta chamber was located in Musang-ri, Sannaildong-myeon, Cheongju-mok, 20 ri east of Cheongju — the area now known as Museong-ri, Nangseong-myeon. The form of the placenta chamber imitates that of King Sukjong's placenta chamber in Gongju: a two-tiered base stone stands at the centre, topped by a spherical placenta-chamber stone (taesilseok). Around its base, trapezoidal facing stones form an octagon, with corner pillars at each of the eight angles. At the centre of each of the eight sides stands a square stone post, linked by hexagonal coping stones to form a stone balustrade. In front of the chamber stand a tortoise-shaped base and a stele body, topped by a dragon-carved capstone, together forming the placenta-chamber stele. The front of the stele bears the inscription 主上殿下胎室 ('Placenta Chamber of His Majesty the King'), and the back bears 雍正七年十月十四日建 ('erected on the 14th day of the 10th month of the 7th year of Yongzheng'). King Yeongjo's placenta chamber was maintained by the state, with eight guards assigned to protect it. However, in 1928 the Japanese Governor-General's office, citing the difficulty of managing placenta chambers across the country, removed only the placenta jar and moved it to Changgyeonggung Palace in Seoul, badly damaging the site in the process. Afterwards, a private grave was built on the site of the chamber, and the villagers moved the placenta-chamber stele into the village. In 1982, Cheongwon-gun restored the placenta chamber, though without its roof stone. In addition, the Yeongjo Taesil Seongnangan Jobae Uigwe (Royal Protocol on the Construction of the Stone Balustrade of King Yeongjo's Placenta Chamber), which records in detail the circumstances of the chamber's construction and related matters, survives and is an extremely valuable source for research on the placenta chamber. It was designated a Treasure, as part of the Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty (2016-11), in 2016.

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Where it is

Region

Cheongju, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물