Jeunghyeongjopanseogimjunmin Spirit-path Stele and Spirit-path Stele Pavilion

This is a spirit-path stele (sindobi), a memorial stele set up before a tomb to commemorate the achievements of the deceased, together with the pavilion built to house it, dedicated to General Kim Jun-min (d. 1593), a military official of the mid-Joseon period, in honour of his loyalty. In 1583, the sixteenth year of King Seonjo, Kim Jun-min served as a military officer under Yi Je-sin, army commander of North Hamgyeong Province, and distinguished himself in the campaign to subdue the Jurchen. When the Imjin War broke out in 1592, the twenty-fifth year of King Seonjo, he became a righteous army commander and repelled Japanese forces in several engagements. The following year, serving as magistrate of Geoje-hyeon, he again led a righteous army in the Second Battle of Jinjuseong Fortress, fighting alongside Kim Cheon-il, the Changuisa (righteous army commander-in-chief), Hwang Jin, army commander of Chungcheong, and Choi Gyeong-hoe, right army commander of Gyeongsang, and died defending the fortress's east gate. After his death he was honoured as a Seonmu Wonjong meritorious subject, posthumously promoted to Minister of Punishments, and enshrined at Chungminsa Shrine. The stele is unusually large, consisting of a turtle-shaped base, a stele body and a flat capstone, differing in form from ordinary steles, which have a turtle-shaped base, a stele body and a dragon-carved capstone. The inscription was composed in 1910, the fourth year of the Yunghui era under Emperor Sunjong: the text by Gwak Jong-seok, the seal-script heading by Heo Chan, and the main inscription in standard script by Yi Myeon-jae. Both the seal-script heading and the standard-script inscription are elegantly and beautifully executed, and the text itself is a prose composition praising Kim Jun-min's deeds and his spirit of loyalty. The stele was erected in 1918 and stands within a pavilion bearing the plaque 'Chunguigak' (Pavilion of Loyalty and Righteousness). The pavilion is a tile-roofed building with a hipped-and-gabled roof, three bays wide and two bays deep, carved with lotus flowers, lotus seed pods, fish, cranes and butterflies, with murals painted on its walls. As a monument to General Kim Jun-min's patriotic spirit during the Imjin War, it is valuable heritage for studying the forms and development of steles and stele pavilions in the late Joseon period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jinju, Gyeongnam

Designation

Cultural Heritage Material · 문화유산자료