Ucheonseok U Paeng Grave, Chungju

These graves were built during the Joseon period, though the exact date of construction is unknown. U Cheon-seok rose to the post of munhasijung (chief state councillor) in 1280, the sixth year of King Chungnyeol of Goryeo, and once his burial site was fixed at Chungju it became the ancestral settlement of his descendants. The gravestone is presumed to have been erected in 1919. U Paeng, U Cheon-seok's second son, is buried behind U Cheon-seok's grave; his grave dates to the Joseon period, with the gravestone and stone civil-official figure dating from the time of construction, while the memorial stele was erected in 1980. U Cheon-seok's grave is a square mound of about 160 square metres, faced with four or five courses of retaining stones (hoseok) rising to a height of 90 cm. The square mound measures 263 cm across the front and 550 cm along the side, and includes a stone offering table (sangseok) and stone civil-official figures (munin-seok); to the left stands an older gravestone. The stone figures are carved with relatively fine craftsmanship, and the appearance of the two figures on either side is particularly unusual. U Paeng's grave is likewise a square mound, faced with four or five courses of roughly split stones (hwalseok) forming a retaining wall 60-100 cm high. It measures 340 cm across the front and 540 cm along the side, and its stone furnishings include a stone offering table, stone pillars (mangju-seok) and stone civil-official figures; its state of preservation is relatively good. As a square mound faced with four or five courses of roughly split retaining stones, it is distinctive in its manner of construction. The original text carved on the stones is as follows. On the front of U Cheon-seok's gravestone is carved "Grave of Lord U, personal name Cheon-seok, of the Danyang clan, Sijung of Goryeo," and on the left side, "Erected in the year gi-mi, on the first day of the eleventh month, by the seventeenth-generation descendant Do-ha Won-sang, the eighteenth-generation descendant In-ha, and the twentieth-generation descendant Tae-jeong." On the front of U Paeng's gravestone is carved "Grave of Lord U Paeng, Vice Commissioner of the Miljiksa of Goryeo, posthumously honoured as Sijung," with the same text as on U Cheon-seok's gravestone carved on its left side. Both graves were built along a slope using unworked natural split stones stacked in four or five courses, so that the retaining wall is higher at the front and lower at the back; square mounds bordered with natural, unworked split stones in this way are a rare style of grave construction in the region.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Chungju, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물