Okcheon Buwongunjowongilmyo Shrine and Myopyo

Jo Won-gil was a civil official of the late Goryeo period. His clan seat was Okcheon (the old name for Sunchang), his courtesy name was Seongjung, and his pen name was Nong-eun. He passed the civil service examination in 1369, the eighteenth year of King Gongmin, and held various offices including Geomgyo, an honorary post, and Sijung, a chief-minister post. Together with Jeong Mong-ju and Seol Jang-su, he supported the enthronement of King Gongyang, for which he was named a first-class meritorious subject and invested with the title Okcheon Buwongun. After the fall of Goryeo he refused to serve under Joseon and kept his loyalty, and together with Yi Saek and others he became known as one of the 'Five Recluses.' His tomb stands in Igeongok village, alongside the commemorative altar of the founding ancestor of the Okcheon Jo clan. It is a mounded tomb in which Jo Won-gil and his wife, Lady Jo of Okcheon-gun, were buried together; the layout and form of the tomb precinct closely resemble royal tombs of the Goryeo period, and in geomantic terms the site is known as an auspicious 'crab-shaped' location. The memorial stone was erected in 1391 by his son Jo Yu at the time of Jo Won-gil's funeral; when discovered, it had been set into the retaining stones around the platform in front of the tomb. The stone measures about 2m long, 50cm wide and 30cm thick. Since inscriptions appear only on the upper part of the stone, it is thought to have been set up as a bare stone slab, without a base stone or capstone, buried about halfway into the ground. Heavy weathering makes the inscription difficult to read, but a detailed rubbing has recovered 42 characters. The text records that on a day in 1391, the 24th year of the Hongwu era, Jeon-gong-panseo (a ministerial post) Jo Won-gil and Lady Jo of Okcheon-gun were buried together, and that his filial son, the former Bujeong (a Goryeo official post) Jo Yu, composed and wrote the inscription. The stone is regarded as important material for the study of Goryeo-period tomb precincts and epigraphy.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sunchang, Jeonbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물