Yeonggwang Beopseongibamnimaehyang Stele

The Yeonggwang Beopseongibamnimaehyang Stele is a maehyangbi recording two separate maehyang rituals carried out on a single stone: one at the end of the Goryeo period (1371, the twentieth year of King Gongmin) and the other at the beginning of the Joseon period (1410, the tenth year of King Taejong). Maehyang is a folk Buddhist ritual of burying fragrant wood: the wood was buried for a long time at a point where fresh water met the sea, then later used as medicine or in Buddhist rites, and a maehyangbi (or a rock carving) recorded the date, place, and people involved in such a burial. The stele now stands beside the senior citizens' hall in Ipjeong village, Ibam-ri. It was discovered in 1985 during farmland reorganisation work, while a drainage channel was being repaired, and it was moved to its present location in 1987. Ipjeong village once bordered the sea, but an embankment was built around the time of the Japanese colonial period, and the surrounding area is now farmland. The lane where the stele once stood is said to have been called 'Bitdokgeori'; villagers who knew that seawater had once reached the edge of the village believed the stone to be a mooring post for tying up boats. The area is also known to be connected with Old Beopseong, the site that predates the establishment of the Beopseongpo grain depot. During the Joseon period this area belonged to Jillyang-myeon, and the 1789 household census register Hogu Chongsu lists it as 'Ibam-dong', one of the twenty-seven villages of Jillyang-myeon. The stele is an upright natural stone shaped into a square pillar. The face inscribed with the era name 'Hongmu 4' measures 120 cm in height and 40 cm in width, narrower at the top than at the bottom. This face was erected in the fourth month of 1371 (the twentieth year of King Gongmin of Goryeo); it records that the maehyang site lay 200 bo (a traditional unit of length) to the east, and it names the hwaju, the lay sponsor who organised the ritual. The content is brief and some characters remain undeciphered, but it preserves information on the time, place, direction, and participants of the ritual. The face inscribed with the era name 'Yongnak 8' measures 120 cm in height and 35 cm in width, a roughly square surface that is relatively even. It carries a greater number of characters than its size would suggest, the characters being small and closely set together. It records that in the tenth month of 1410 a maehyang stele was erected 200 bo to the south, and it lists the names of the participants and sponsors. The Yeonggwang Beopseong Maehyangbi records two maehyang rituals performed on the same stone 39 years apart, spanning the end of the Goryeo period and the beginning of the Joseon period. It is valued as an almost unique example of a single stele recording two separate maehyang ceremonies at different times, and for preserving the dates, locations, and participants of both rituals.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Yeonggwang, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물