Choe Chi-won Spirit-path Stele, Hamyang

A spirit-path stele is raised to the southeast of a tomb to record the lifetime achievements of a king or high official; this one honours Choe Chi-won, a scholar of the late Unified Silla period. Choe Chi-won (857–?) was the most representative intellectual among the newly rising class of yukdupum (sixth head-rank) status in late Unified Silla, and is also well known as a man of letters. At the age of twelve he travelled to study in Tang China, and seven years later, at eighteen, passed the state examination. He then spent two years in the Luoyang region, devoting himself to writing poetry. The occasion that made his name as a writer came during the Huang Chao Rebellion of 879: when the Tang general Gao Pian went to suppress the rebellion, Choe accompanied him as an aide and wrote the proclamation known as the "Tohwangso gyeongmun" (Proclamation Denouncing Huang Chao), which is said to have moved Huang Chao's heart. At the age of twenty-nine, in the eleventh year of King Heongang (885), he returned to Silla and was appointed an envoy to Tang. In the third year of Queen Jinseong (894), in an effort to correct disordered governance, he submitted to the queen more than ten proposals on current affairs and was appointed to the rank of achan, but his reform proposals were never put into effect. In the end, disillusioned and frustrated with the Silla royal court, he gave up office and travelled the country composing poetry, before ending his remaining years at Haeinsa Temple on Gayasan Mountain. He was later given the posthumous title "Munchang-hu." The stele has its body set upright on a flat, turtle-shaped base, topped with a capstone carved with dragon patterns. Its inscription records his achievements while serving as magistrate of Cheollyeong-gun, including building embankments and planting forests to prevent flooding in the area, and his work to comfort public sentiment. It was made in 1923, erected by the Choe clan to honour his achievements.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Hamyang, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료