Kim Hu Tomb, Sancheong

This burial ground, arranged in four tiers, contains six graves built between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, including that of Kim Hu, thirteenth-generation ancestor of the Sangsan Kim clan. Of these, the graves of the thirteenth generation, Hu, and the fourteenth generation, Jang, are square mounds, while the graves of the nineteenth generation, Gyeonggeun, and of the wife of the twenty-fifth generation, Gyuhan — a woman of the Pyeongsan Sin clan — are round mounds. Kim Hu's grave, at the uppermost tier, is a joint burial with his wife, of the Jang clan, forming a single mound; the corners of its coping stone are lightly raised at the tips, recalling the roof stone of a pagoda. Kim Hu lived at the end of the Goryeo dynasty, studied under Poeun Jeong Mong-ju, and rose to the senior fourth-rank post of Jikjehak, an erudite of the royal lecture hall. When Goryeo fell, he gave up his post and became one of the Seventy-two Worthies who withdrew into seclusion at Dumun-dong rather than serve the new dynasty. Among the six graves, those from the fifteenth century are square mounds, while those from the end of the sixteenth century onward are round mounds, offering an important clue to the end of the square-mound style that had been popular from the end of Goryeo into the early Joseon period, and to the point at which round mounds began to be built. The inscription carved on the retaining stone of Kim Hu's grave is in the nature of an epitaph, recording the deceased's life and achievements, his name, clan seat, descendants, and the date and location of the grave's construction. There are other examples of square mounds bearing dates or names carved on their retaining stones, but most of these were added later; this inscription, by contrast, was carved at the time the grave was built and contains all the elements of a proper epitaph, giving it important value as a historical source from its own period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sancheong, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물