Hyeonpung Gwak Clan Stele to a Filial Son and Grave, Cheongju

In Tap-dong, Sangdang-gu, Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, stand stelae honouring filial sons of four generations of the Hyeonpung Gwak clan — Gwak Yeo-chan, Gwak Jin-eun, Gwak Won-ho and Gwak Sang-jo — together with three Hyeonpung Gwak clan graves. Gwak Yeo-chan lived during the reign of King Sunjo. He lost his father at the age of four and devotedly cared for his mother alone; when she died he wore mourning dress and tended her grave for three years. His filial conduct became known, and in 1817 (the 17th year of King Sunjo) he was awarded a jeongnyeo, a memorial gate granted by royal decree to honour outstanding filial piety, loyalty or chastity. His jeongnyeo pavilion is a single-bay wooden, tile-roofed building with double eaves and a hip-and-gable roof, enclosed on four sides by a hongsalmun, a red spiked gate marking a site of royal commendation. Inside stand a plaque and a stele measuring 41 × 93 × 17 cm. The front of the stele identifies him as a filial son holding the court rank of Gasindaebu and the post of Deputy Commissioner of the Central Duty Council, and records that the commendation was ordered in the 17th year of the reigning king, a jeongchuk year. Gwak Jin-eun, Gwak Yeo-chan's son, carried on his father's filial devotion: when his mother fell ill he cut his own finger and used his blood to treat her. He received his jeongnyeo in 1828 (the 28th year of King Sunjo). His memorial gate honours husband and wife together, a wooden, tile-roofed building with a hip-and-gable roof; inside stand Gwak Jin-eun's filial-son stele, measuring 41 × 103 × 20 cm, and the filial-daughter-in-law stele of his wife, Lady Yi of the Incheon Yi clan, measuring 44.5 × 105 × 22 cm and carved from black stone (oseok). The inscriptions identify Gwak Jin-eun as a filial son of the Hyeonpung Gwak clan and his wife as the filial Lady Jeongbuin of the Incheon Yi clan. Gwak Won-ho, Gwak Jin-eun's son, built a mourning hut beside his parents' grave after their deaths and kept watch over it for fifty years, dying in the hut itself. He received his jeongnyeo in 1854 (the fifth year of King Cheoljong). His stele measures 42 × 118 × 26 cm, its base and body carved from a single stone. Gwak Sang-jo, son of Gwak Won-ho and grandson of Gwak Jin-eun, was commended as a filial son in 1884 (the 21st year of Emperor Gojong). A jeongnyeo gate was granted to him but no stele was erected; instead, a plaque bearing his name hangs inside the jeongnyeo pavilion built for Gwak Won-ho. The graves of the Hyeonpung Gwak clan comprise three generations — Gwak Yeo-chan, Gwak Jin-eun and Gwak Won-ho — arranged from top to bottom, with no stone furnishings beyond a mangju stone pillar and an offering table at each. These memorials were erected to honour the filial piety of the Hyeonpung Gwak clan across four generations, and the fact that the related relics — the filial-son pavilions, stelae, jeongnyeo gates and plaques — together with the graves survive in relatively complete condition in a single location is considered extremely rare and of significant value as cultural heritage.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheongju, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물