Historical Documents held at Gangjindeokosa Temple

The historical documents held at Deokhosa comprise 21 gyoji (royal certificates of appointment) issued to O Sin-nam, who is enshrined at Deokhosa, together with 13 further gyoji, 11 hogu-danja (household registers) and 5 deungjang (petitions) belonging to his descendants in the Pyeonghae O clan — O Mi-su, O Pal-won, O Sang-ji, O Hoe-yeong, O Do-sam and O Dae-hang, as well as Lady Yun, Lady Baek, Lady Seon and Lady Wi, each honoured with the title yuin. Also extant are records relating to the clan's communally owned paddy fields, its pine-forest association register (songgyean), and land survey registers (yangan) connected with Byeoksongsa Shrine. There is also a royal edict (gyoseo) issued to O Sin-nam in 1618 in recognition of his merit in suppressing bandits at Anheungnyang. These documents are currently kept at Deokhosa, a hyangsau (a local Confucian shrine where ancestral rites are held), but most of the surviving material is considered valuable for examining the overall history of the Pyeonghae O clan, who settled in Gangjin, Jeolla-do. The gyoji, gyoseo and household registers also make it possible to study the institutional history of the period. Among the gyoji are posthumous-rank certificates (chujeung gyoji) issued in 1629, under the legal code, to O Sin-nam's great-grandfather (O Mi-su) and grandfather (O Pal-won) on the basis of O Sin-nam's own official rank, as well as further posthumous-rank certificates issued in 1769 to the father, grandfather and great-grandfather of O Dae-hang — O Sin-nam's fifth-generation descendant — on the basis of O Dae-hang's official rank. O Sin-nam (1575–1632), who is enshrined at Deokhosa, is in particular regarded as a figure noted for his loyalty and integrity. Through the course of his life it is thus possible to trace the settlement of the Pyeonghae O clan in Gangjin, Jeolla-do, and the clan's subsequent changing standing within the region. The material relating to his descendants is also considered valuable for examining the clan's human and economic foundations during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Furthermore, the records are seen as a central resource for individual research on O Sin-nam and for tracing the Pyeonghae O clan's entry into, settlement in, and growth within the Gangjin region. By linking together a sixteenth-century figure noted for loyalty, a clan member, and the hyangsau where he is enshrined, the material is considered well suited to case studies in local history. It is also valuable as a source for the study of institutional history through the gyoji and gyoseo.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gangjin, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료