Seok Bo-gun Grave, Chungju

The grave of Seok Bo-gun (Yi Bok-saeng) was first made in 1447, the 29th year of King Sejong, in Miari, Yangju-gun, Gyeonggi Province, but owing to urban expansion it was relocated on 25 February 1958 to San 46, Yangchon-ri, Sotae-myeon, Chungju. A stone lantern (janmyeongdeung) and grave marker (myopyo) made in 1872 were moved together with it. At the entrance to the burial ground stands a spirit-path stele, together with two further steles, a memorial pillar (manjuseok), a spirit-repose stone (honyuseok), an offering table (sangseok), an incense-burner stone (hyangnoseok), two stone lanterns, a boy-attendant figure (dongjaseok), a civil-official figure (munin-seok) and a stone sheep (yangseok), among other furnishings. The reverse inscription on the grave marker reads "re-erected in the ninth month of the fifth imsin year after the Chongzhen era," showing that this stele was erected in September 1872. The spirit-path stele itself was erected in 1990 and is fitted with a tortoise-shaped base (gwibu) and a dragon-head capstone (isu). One of the two steles was erected in 1964, complete with a capstone. Apart from one stone lantern, the remaining stone furnishings appear to have been put up around 1990, during a project to restore and tidy the grave. The burial mound is about 160 cm high and 450 cm in diameter, ringed by twelve guardian stones (hoseok, each 95 by 79 cm) carved in relief with the twelve zodiac animals. It is a joint burial with his wife, Lady Kim of Wonju, who held the title Hakseong-gun-buin. Seok Bo-gun, Yi Bok-saeng (1399–1447), was the ninth son of King Jeongjong of Joseon; his mother was Lady Yun of Haepyeong, holding the court rank of sugui. His pen name was Geommukdang and his posthumous title was Jeonghye. He rose to the rank of Myeongseon-daebu and was posthumously invested as Seok Bo-gun cum Yeongjong-jeonggyeongbusa. He was renowned for his devotion to filial piety and brotherly affection, and for a mastery of learning that earned him the name of a great man of letters. Together with his elder brother Sudo-gun, he accompanied and devotedly attended their royal father. He made frugality and reticence (geommuk) his guiding principle in life, so that people of the time called him "Master Geommuk" — the origin of his pen name. Because the grave was moved from Yangju-gun, Gyeonggi Province to its present site owing to a development project, only the more easily moved items, the steles and the stone lantern, were brought along with the remains; nevertheless, the site is judged to be well equipped with the stone furnishings proper to a prince's grave. Though not historically ancient, it is an important resource for studying the burial customs of the Joseon royal house.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Chungju, Chungbuk

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료