Late-Joseon signboard to return to Korea from Japan: KHS

Korean Heritage

Published: 19 Jun. 2024, 16:38

Late-Joseon signboard to return to Korea from Japan: KHS

"Johyeon Myogagun," a signboard with a poem engraved on it, written by Song Hun, the founder of Damyang School, will return to Korea sometime next month from Japan. [KOREA HERITAGE SERVICE]

A signboard with a poem engraved on it, known as sipan in Korean, written by Song Hun (1862–1926), the founder of Damyang School and father of independence activist Song Jin-woo (1890–1945), will soon return to Korea from Japan.

According to the Korea Heritage Service (KHS) on Wednesday, the signboard was donated to the country by a Japan-based Korean collector named Kim Kang-won. The heads of the KHS and the Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation (OKCHF) met with the collector, who runs an antique art business in Tokyo, Japan, at the Japan office of the OKCHF in Tokyo on Wednesday to hold a donation ceremony.

According to the KHS, Kim contacted the OKCHF last year, expressing his interest in donating the sipan. Kim had previously donated two other cultural heritage items — the "White Porcelain Epitaph Plaques for Kim Gyeong-on in Cobalt-blue Underglaze" and the "White Porcelain Epitaph Plaques for Yi Seong-rip in Underglaze Iron" — which he had purchased at a Japanese antique art market.

The donated signboard is called “Johyeon Myogagun,” or "The Rhyme for the Hall for the Tomb in Johyeon” in English. It features a poem known as chireon yulsi, a form of classical Chinese poetry that consists of eight heptasyllabic verses. It is written by Song Hun to mark the establishment of a new hall known as myogak, constructed to hold rituals next to a tomb in Johyeon. Johyeon is an old area, which currently is an area in Gwangdeok-ri in Damyang County, South Jeolla.

This archetypal late-Joseon signboard boasts a baseboard and frame adorned with chrysanthemum patterns on the left and right edges, as well as geometric cloud motifs along the upper and lower edges.

According to the KHS, Song Hun founded the Damyang School, a modern-style educational institution, to highlight the importance of modern sciences. The donated sipan is believed to have been created when Song Hun was socializing with local figures in a village in the Johyeon area of Damyang County.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]