The Whole Life of Yi Gyubo東國李相國文集年譜

The year of mu-ja.

The Duke was born on the sixteenth day of the twelfth month of this year, the day gye-myo. His given name was Gyubo (奎報), his courtesy name Chungyeong (春卿), and he was a man of Hwangnyeo county (黃驪縣). His father's name was Yunsu (允綏), and his office reached that of Director in the Board of Revenue. His mother was of the Kim house, a woman of Geumyang commandery (金壤郡). Her father's name was Junggwon (仲權), which he later changed to Sijeong (施政). He was a famed scholar of the near past, who passed the examination in a high place and whose office reached that of Captain of Uljin county.

Three months after the Duke was born, a cruel boil broke out over his whole body, and it would not be healed by any medicine. His father, in his anguish, went to the shrine on Mount Songak (松岳) and cast the tally sticks to divine whether he would live or die, and the answer was that he would live. He asked whether he would be healed by medicine, and the answer was that he would be healed only if no medicine were used. From then on they laid no more medicine on him. His skin was all broken open so that his face could not be made out. His wet nurse always spread wheat flour on both her arms before she would hold him.

One day the wet nurse was carrying him outside the gate, when an old man passed and said: 「This child is a son worth a thousand gold. How can you leave him cast aside like this? He must be carefully cared for and reared.」 The wet nurse ran and told his father, and his father, wondering whether the man was not a spirit (神人), had someone go after him. The road divided three ways, so he sent three men to follow him, but they all came back without having seen him.

His first name was Injeo (仁底). In the year of gi-yu, when he was about to go up for the provincial examination, he had a dream. Men who seemed to be country folk were all wearing black hempen clothes and drinking together in a crowd up on the hall floor. A man beside him said: 「These are the twenty-eight constellations.」 The Duke was startled and afraid, and bowing twice he asked whether he would pass the examination that year. One of them pointed at another and said: 「That Gyu star (奎星) knows it.」 The Duke went forward at once and asked him, but he woke before he had heard the answer, and it grieved him that he had not dreamed the dream to the end. Presently he dreamed again, and the man came and told him: 「You will surely take the first place, so do not be anxious. This is a working of Heaven, so only do not let it leak out.」 And so he changed his name to the one he bears now, and went up for the examination, and indeed passed in the first place.

The year of gi-chuk.

The year of gyeong-in.

The year of sin-myo.

This year his father went out as magistrate of Seongju (成州), and he followed him to his post.

The year of im-jin.

The year of gye-sa.

The year of gap-o.

This year his father was called to be a palace attendant, and he followed him and came to the capital.

The year of eul-mi.

The year of byeong-sin.

The year of jeong-yu.

The year of mu-sul. The Duke was eleven years old.

This year his uncle Yi Bu (李富), Associate of the Chancellery, boasted of him to the directors of the Secretariat, saying: 「My nephew is but of few years, yet he knows how to compose. What if we called him and put him to the test?」 The directors gladly had him brought, and set him to make a linked couplet. Just then they happened to be receiving paper sent in tribute from an outer district, and so they drew the character ji (紙), 「paper,」 for the rhyme. The Duke answered the sound of it and chanted: 「Down the road of paper goes Academician Mo (毛學士) on his long journey.」 The directors wrote it down with their own hands and set him to make the matching line, and he chanted at once: 「And ever in the wine cup is Master Guk (麴先生).」 The directors were all struck with admiration. They called him the Wondrous Child (奇童), and sent him off with words of comfort and encouragement.

The year of gi-hae.

The year of gyeong-ja.

The year of sin-chuk. The Duke was fourteen years old.

This year, for the first time, he put his name down at the Seongmyeong Study (誠明齋) of the school of Duke Munheon (文憲公徒) and studied there. At every summer session those who had already passed the examination would gather the students, score a line on a candle to measure the time, draw a rhyme, and have them make poems; and this was called a quick composition (急作). The Duke was chosen at the head of the list time after time, and the scholars then began to think him remarkable.

The year of im-in. The Duke was fifteen years old.

At the quick composition of the summer session in the sixth month of this year, there happened to be in the study one who had become a Hallim academician, and so 「Keeping Watch Alone in the Jade Hall」 was taken for the title, and the rhymes were drawn. The Duke's poem was this:

Keeping watch alone, the more I know the coolness of the hall, and the golden lotus lamps light the splendid chamber. Dew congeals on the immortal's palm, and I am startled at the autumn cold; the moon pierces the silken window, and I know the night is long. Before the seven-jeweled couch the palace water clock runs long; within the nine-flowered curtain the king's censer is fragrant. I finish drafting the opening of the edict, and the River of Stars grows bright; in the high sky I gladly see the auspicious light of the sun.

Ham Sun (咸淳) and the others, who had already passed the examination, were all unceasing in their admiration. They raised him to the first grade, and in that grade they placed the Duke alone, to show that he was beyond the rest.

The year of gye-myo. The Duke was sixteen years old.

In spring his father went out as magistrate of Suju (水州). The Duke stayed behind and went up for the provincial examination, but did not pass. In autumn he went to Suju and paid his respects to his parents.

The year of gap-jin. The Duke was seventeen years old.

The year of eul-sa. The Duke was eighteen years old.

In spring he came up from Suju and went up for the provincial examination, but did not pass. In autumn he went back.

The year of byeong-o. The Duke was nineteen years old.

In spring his father was relieved of his post, and he followed him and came to the capital.

The year of jeong-mi. The Duke was twenty years old.

In the spring of this year he went up for the provincial examination again, but did not pass. For four or five years before this the Duke had given his body over to wine and behaved without restraint, not holding himself in check, and had made the making of poems his only business, so that he had not practiced the examination style in the least. Therefore, though he went up for the examination time after time, he did not pass.

The year of mu-sin. The Duke was twenty-one years old.

The year of gi-yu. The Duke was twenty-two years old.

In the spring of this year he sat the provincial examination and passed in the first place. He composed in the ten-rhyme form, and the title was 「The Former Kings Made Carriages and Crowns to Set Forth the Noble and the Base, and Did Not Seek After Beauty.」 The Duke broke open the beginning and chanted:

In the far-off ancient days there were no carriages and crowns, so who was it then that parted the noble sort from the base? Only after these were made was it set forth, and beauty was never what was sought.

And another passage was this:

I have heard that the first to make them was the Yellow Emperor (黃帝); but as for going about on foot, how should Kong Qiu (孔丘) have done it?

The presiding examiner Duke Yu (柳公) was unceasing in his admiration, and in the end chose him for the first place.

The year of gyeong-sul. The Duke was twenty-three years old.

In the sixth month he went up for the examination of the Board of Rites and was chosen as an Associate Graduate (同進士). The Duke disliked the lowness of that grade and would have declined it, but his father rebuked him severely, and besides there was no precedent for such a thing, so he could not decline. Then, being very drunk, he said to those who had come to congratulate him: 「Though my place in the examination is low, how should I not be a man who will bring up disciples of his own three or four times over?」 Those who sat there covered their mouths and laughed in secret.

The Duke had never from the first exerted himself in the examination style, and so the rhapsody he made was rough and did not keep to the set form and the rules of sound. Besides, within the examination hall Bak Sun (朴純), the Royal Transmitter who bore the king's command, had received the wine bestowed by the king together with the presiding examiner, and then called the Duke to drink a cup of it; whereupon he grew very drunk, wrote in disorder, and was about to tear it up. Son Deukji (孫得之), who was sitting beside him, snatched it away and handed it in. The title of the poem was 「The Bearing Up of the King Is as Though a Turtle Bore a Spirit Mountain on Its Head.」 The Duke's fourth passage was this:

Grand, as though it rose up bearing the three mountains; and having hooked the six turtles, there is no fear of their running off.

And the fifth passage was this:

Bearing up the sky, it shows itself sheer and high; carrying the mountain, it rises up brimming over.

The examination officer Yi Jimyeong (李知命) was fond of these passages, and so in the end he was not turned away.

The year of sin-hae. The Duke was twenty-four years old.

In the eighth month of autumn he went into mourning for his father. He attached himself to Mount Cheonma (天磨山) and lived there, calling himself the White Cloud Hermit (白雲居士), and made the 「Poem of Mount Cheonma.」 This poem was lost and could not be put into the former collection, but was found afterward and put into the first volume of the latter collection. Its first passage says, 「The people of the world take only the height of the mountain,」 and goes on to tell why it was named Cheonma; that is the poem. Afterward too he always roamed on this mountain and made poems, such as 「Miscellaneous Pieces on the Northern Hill」 and 「Roaming Again on the Northern Hill.」

The year of im-ja. The Duke was twenty-five years old.

This year he made the 「Recorded Sayings of the White Cloud Hermit」 and the 「Life of the White Cloud Hermit,」 setting down with his own hand the traces of the life he had lived.

The year of gye-chuk. The Duke was twenty-six years old.

This year he made a poem of a hundred rhymes and presented it to Vice Minister Jang Jamok (張自牧). Duke Jang treated him generously, and whenever he called on him he always set out wine and drank with him. In the fourth month he got hold of the old History of the Three Kingdoms, and seeing there the doings of King Dongmyeong (東明王) he thought them remarkable, and made an old-style poem setting down how far beyond the common they were.

The year of gap-in. The Duke was twenty-seven years old.

This year he made the 「Discourse on the Tides」 and presented it to O Semun (吳世文) of the Eastern Pavilion. He made forty-three 「Poems on History of the Cheonbo Era,」 into all of which he worked notes. He also made the 「Record of the Tending of a Small Garden.」

The year of eul-myo. The Duke was twenty-eight years old.

This year he made a poem of three hundred rhymes in answer to O Semun of the Eastern Pavilion.

The year of byeong-jin. The Duke was twenty-nine years old.

In the fourth month there was an upheaval in the capital. His brother-in-law was banished south to Hwangnyeo, and in the fifth month the Duke took his sister and went there. In the spring of this year the younger son-in-law of his mother's house had gone out as magistrate of Sangju (尙州), and so in the sixth month he went from Hwangnyeo to Sangju and paid his respects to his mother. He caught a fever and chills, and though several months went by it was not healed, so that only in the tenth month did he come back. Those ninety-odd poems in the collection made on his roaming in the south are the ones he made at Hwangnyeo and at Sangju.

The year of jeong-sa. The Duke was thirty years old.

On a certain day in the twelfth month of winter, the Prime Minister Duke Jo, together with Minister Im, Minister Choe and Minister Choe, set their names down side by side and sent up a memorandum (箚子). They recommended the Duke and asked that he be posted to a place in an outer district and so held ready for the duty of composition in time to come; and the king at last granted it. The Royal Transmitter in charge of reporting such matters, a certain person, had long held a small grudge, and so at this time he took the memorandum away and did not pass it to the Board of Personnel, but gave out falsely that it had been lost. The Prime Minister too took the memorandum's not having been passed on for his excuse, and so no office was given.

There is a poem in the collection called 「Presented to Duke Jo Yeong,」 which says:

In days past I saw the silver cup sprout wings and vanish; and now I hear that the memorandum has suddenly risen as an immortal.

and there was not a scholar who did not sigh over it. He also made the 「Letter Presented to Grand Commandant Jo,」 appealing afterward about the reason for it.

The year of mu-o. The Duke was thirty-one years old.

The year of gi-mi. The Duke was thirty-two years old.

In the fifth month the thousand-petaled pomegranate flowers were in full bloom at the house of the Minister who was Director of the Royal Secretariat, and he called guests to look at them and then called the poets in as well. Yi Inno (李仁老), Ham Sun, Yi Damji (李湛之) and the Duke made poems.

Afterward, one day, the Minister said suddenly to those about him: 「I hear that four ministers of letters recommended a certain man and did not bring it off, and that there was besides one who took the memorandum away.」 And he went on: 「So this is how men of letters are jealous of one another.」 At this he first conceived the purpose of employing the Duke. In the appointments of the sixth month of summer he was posted as Recorder and concurrent Keeper of Documents of the Jeonju District. In the ninth month of autumn he went to Jeonju. What he made this year is fifteen or sixteen old-style and regulated poems.

The year of gyeong-sin. The Duke was thirty-three years old.

What he made this year is thirty-odd poems. In the twelfth month of winter he was dismissed from office and left Jeonju. When the Duke first governed the district, the assistant magistrate, a certain Commandant, was greedy and besides overbearing and willful. The Duke did not bend to him, and angered him several times in the business of his office. The assistant magistrate could not master his indignation, and besides wished to have his own way, and so in the end he wove up a crime out of nothing, as one weaves silk, and framed a slander.

When his road brought him to Gwangju (廣州), it happened to be the last night of the twelfth month. His wife's elder brother Jin Gongdo (晉公度) was serving there as Keeper of Documents, and took him in and sat up the night through with him at his own house. He gave him a poem, whose first passage, 「By chance I wet myself with a small stipend and held office south of the river,」 is this one.

The year of sin-yu. The Duke was thirty-four years old.

In the first month of spring he came back from Gwangju. In the fourth month of summer he went to Jukju (竹州) and brought his mother to the capital. Before this his brother-in-law had been posted from Hwangnyeo as Superintendent of Jukju, and his sister and his mother had gone to live at that post. In the fourth month of this year his mother wished to go back to the capital, and so the Duke brought her. The poem 「Roaming at Manseon Temple in Jukju」 is that. In the fifth month he made the 「Record of the Four-Wheeled Pavilion.」 In the sixth month he made the 「Record of a Journey South」 and the poem 「Going to the Capital from Jukju with My Mother」; those are they.

The year of im-sul. The Duke was thirty-five years old.

In the fifth month of summer he went into mourning for his mother. In the twelfth month of winter the Eastern Capital (東京) rose in revolt and raised troops together with the band of brigands of Mount Unmun, and the court sent out the three armies to strike them. At the army's camp they were pressing men of rank without post and men who had passed the examination into service to fill the office of drafting officer, but three men in succession all contrived to avoid it and would not go. When it came to the Duke, he said with resolve: 「Though I am weak and timorous, I too am a subject of this country. To avoid the country's hardship is not the part of a man.」 And so he went along with the army. At this the staff of the camp was glad and reported that he should be made Recorder of the Army and concurrent drafting officer, and so they gave scope to his purpose.

That month, when the road brought him to Cheongju (淸州), he made the old-style poem in eighteen rhymes 「Setting Down My Thoughts within the Camp」 and presented it to the several lords of the same encampment. Coming to Sangju he also made the old-style poem in fifteen rhymes 「On Seeing the Running Script of the Monk Geum.」

The year of gye-hae. The Duke was thirty-six years old.

The Duke was at the army's camp at the Eastern Capital. In the second month he made the 「Letter Presented to the Deputy Commander-in-Chief,」 discussing the burial of those who had fallen in the fighting. He made ten-odd old-style and regulated poems.

The year of gap-ja. The Duke was thirty-seven years old.

In the third month the army won and came back, and the Duke followed them and came to the capital. In the collection there are the lines:

When the hunt is over and merit is reckoned, who stands first? The man who all this while loosed the hounds and pointed them is not remembered.

The soldiers received many rewards, but the Duke alone did not, and so he could not but be moved by it, and made this poem.

The year of eul-chuk. The Duke was thirty-eight years old.

This year he made the 「Letter Presented to Minister Choe,」 seeking an office.

The year of byeong-in. The Duke was thirty-nine years old.

The year of jeong-myo. The Duke was forty years old.

In the twelfth month of winter he was posted as acting Rectifier of the Hallim Academy. The Duke had already buried himself from the world and shut his gate and did not go out. Yet year after year, whenever the Confucian officials of the Historiography Office, the Hallim Academy and the National School recommended men, they always put the Duke at the head of the list, and besides there were many about him who spoke in his praise. The Marquis of Jingang found it hard to go against the mind of the many and had a purpose of employing him, but was loath that there was no fitting opening.

Just then he was building a thatched pavilion, and so he had Yi Inno, Yi Wonno (李元老), Yi Yunbo (李允甫) and the Duke each make a record (記) of it. He then had the Confucian officials and the chief ministers grade the four pieces, and the Duke came first, so that his alone was put up on a board and hung on the wall. When the twelfth month came he was posted to this office. He made two poems called 「On First Entering the Hallim Academy,」 and also made the 「Record of Jijiheon.」

The year of mu-jin. The Duke was forty-one years old.

In the sixth month of summer the acting title in the Hallim Academy was taken off and he was appointed in full.

The year of gi-sa. The Duke was forty-two years old.

The year of gyeong-o. The Duke was forty-three years old.

The year of sin-mi. The Duke was forty-four years old.

The year of im-sin. The Duke was forty-five years old.

In the first month he was appointed Recorder and Adjutant of the Cheonu Guard. In the sixth month, when a place fell vacant among the concurrent posts of the Hallim Academy, he was appointed Rectifier of the Hallim Academy as a concurrent post without waiting for the appointments, and his original office was left to him as it was. He made two poems called 「Entering the Jade Hall Again.」

The year of gye-yu. The Duke was forty-six years old.

In the twelfth month the Minister who was heir to the Marquis of Jingang held a great night banquet and called the officials and the men of rank to come and take their seats. The Duke alone, holding a low office of the eighth grade, was called and included. When the night had grown deep the Minister said: 「I have heard it said that you run your brush, but I have not yet seen it. What if we put it to the test today?」 And then he had Yi Inno call out the rhymes, and they came to forty-odd rhymes. He took the candle for the title and had a famed singing girl grind the ink. When it was all done the Minister was unceasing in his great admiration.

The next day he took that poem and went to the chancery and reported it to the Marquis, asking him to call the Duke and put his gift to the test. The Marquis at first was not willing, and only after being told two or three times did he call him. When the Duke arrived the Minister said: 「This man, if he does not drink, cannot do as he would.」 And at once he sent a swift runner to his house to bring wine; but before it came the Marquis had already set out wine and pressed the cup on him. The Minister said again: 「This man must have his soberness and his drunkenness in the right measure.」 At this they counted the cups as they let him drink, and when he was well in drink they led him forward before the Marquis.

Before the Marquis was a brush case with ten-odd brushes in it. The Minister himself picked out a good one and gave it to him. Just then a peacock was walking in the courtyard, and so the Marquis took that peacock for the title and had Minister Geum call out the rhymes, and they came to forty-odd rhymes. The brush did not leave even the space of a blink. The Marquis sighed in wonder, and even shed tears. As he was about to withdraw, the Marquis said: 「If you wish for an office, then say at once what it is you have in mind.」 The Duke said: 「I am now of the eighth grade; if you give me the seventh, it is enough and more.」 The Minister made signs with his eyes several times, meaning that he should wish straightway for a post among the court officials.

That day the Minister came home and called the Duke and reproached him: 「Why was the office you asked for so low? Why did you not ask for a post among the court officials?」 The Duke said: 「It was my own wish.」 When the appointments of the twelfth month came, he passed over the seventh grade and was appointed Director of the Office of Provisions.

The year of gap-sul. The Duke was forty-seven years old.

The year of eul-hae. The Duke was forty-eight years old.

In the sixth month of summer the Duke made a poem seeking an opening to rise to a post among the court officials. The Marquis of Jingang took that poem and showed it to Song Sun (宋恂), the Registrar of the chancery, and said: 「This man is one whose purposes are high. He would not be asking for an opening; he has only bent himself for the moment in saying it. If I were to report it and appoint him a court official outright, how would he take it?」 Song Sun said: 「If that were done, his gladness could not be told in words. And it is what the many desire besides.」

When the warrant came down he became Right Rectifier of Omissions and Supervisor of Drafting. In the seventh month he made the poem 「On First Being Appointed Rectifier of Omissions.」 In the tenth month he made the 「Encomium on the Sacrifice at the Grand Shrine.」

The year of byeong-ja. The Duke was forty-nine years old.

The year of jeong-chuk. The Duke was fifty years old.

In the second month of spring he was appointed Right Grand Remonstrator and Supervisor of Drafting, and received the purple-gold fish pouch. In the autumn of this year he was made to leave his post over an official matter, and the Duke made the 「Letter Presented to the Marquis of Jingang.」

The year of mu-in. The Duke was fifty-one years old.

In the first month of spring he was moved to Left Grand Remonstrator, and the rest was as before.

The year of gi-myo. The Duke was fifty-two years old.

In spring the Duke was impeached and left his office. On a certain day in the twelfth month of the year before, among the memorials of congratulation on the Palgwan festival sent up from the outer districts there were some that had not been sent up in time. The Duke was about to impeach this, but Minister Geum firmly stopped him. When this month came, the Marquis of Jingang inquired into the reason for it and then impeached both the Minister and the Duke; the Minister was pardoned and the Duke alone left his office. In the fourth month he went out as Deputy Governor of the Gyeyang Protectorate and Inspector of the Army. In the fifth month he went to Gyeyang.

The year of gyeong-jin. The Duke was fifty-three years old.

In the sixth month of summer he was called to be acting Director of the Board of Rites, Diarist of the Royal Household, and Supervisor of Drafting. In the seventh month he came back from Gyeyang. In the ninth month of the year before, Duke Jingang had died and the Minister who was his heir had taken the government in his stead, and so this command came. In the twelfth month he was moved to acting Junior Minister of the Royal Stables, and the office of Diarist was as before. He made a memorial of thanks.

The year of sin-sa. The Duke was fifty-four years old.

In the sixth month of summer he was appointed Compiler of the Hall of Treasured Writings and Supervisor of Drafting. He made a memorial declining it and giving thanks.

The year of im-o. The Duke was fifty-five years old.

In the sixth month of summer he was appointed in full as Junior Minister of the Royal Stables.

The year of gye-mi. The Duke was fifty-six years old.

In the twelfth month of winter he was appointed Grand Master for Court Service and became acting Director of the Office of Works, and the office of Compiler was as before.

The year of gap-sin. The Duke was fifty-seven years old.

In the sixth month of summer he was appointed in full as Director of the Office of Works. In the twelfth month of winter he became the presiding examiner of the next year's provincial examination, and made a memorial declining it and giving thanks. In the twelfth month he was appointed Grand Master of Court Discussion and became acting Libationer of the National Academy and Academician Lecturer of the Hallim Academy, and the office of Supervisor of Drafting was as before. He made a memorial declining it and giving thanks.

The year of eul-yu. The Duke was fifty-eight years old.

In the second month of spring he presided over the provincial examination. He chose sixteen men, Yi Yusin (李惟信) and the rest, in the rhapsody and poem; fifty men, An Gyeomil (安謙一) and the rest, in the ten-rhyme poem; and three men, Gang Deukhui (康得希) and the rest, in the classics; and reported them to the king and put out the list. In the twelfth month of winter he was appointed Left Grand Remonstrator of the Chancellery, and the rest was as before. He made a memorial declining it and giving thanks. This year he made the 「Record of the Wonders of the Sixteen-Foot Image at Wangnyun Temple,」 and also, at the king's command, the 「Ridgepole-Raising Text for the Earthen Granary of Taechang.」

The year of byeong-sul. The Duke was fifty-nine years old.

In the twelfth month of winter he was appointed in full as Libationer.

The year of jeong-hae. The Duke was sixty years old.

The year of mu-ja. The Duke was sixty-one years old.

In the first month of spring he was appointed Grand Master of the Palace and Director of the Office of the Imperial Insignia, and the rest was as before. In the fifth month of summer, as associate examination officer, he presided over the spring examination hall and chose thirty-one men, Yi Don (李敦) and the rest, and four men in the classics, Guk Sugyu (鞠受圭) and the rest, and reported them to the king and put out the list.

The year of gi-chuk. The Duke was sixty-two years old.

The year of gyeong-in. The Duke was sixty-three years old.

On the twenty-first day of the eleventh month of winter he was banished far off to Wi Island (猬島). At the Palgwan festival banquet of this year, while he was in attendance on the king, there was something done contrary to the old rule, and this had been ordered by Chagong of the Privy Council. Wang Yu (王猷), the Acting Director of the Censorate, was angered and rebuked the officer in charge, who did not comply. Chagong reported falsely that Wang Yu had rebuked a chief minister. At that time the Duke and the Left Transmitter Song Sun were in the seats beside him, and so they were suspected of having abetted and egged on the business, and all were banished to far islands.

That day he went out and lodged at the Cheonggyo post station (靑郊驛). In the twelfth month he came to Boan county (保安縣) and stayed there twenty-six days waiting for a fair wind, and then went in to Wi Island.

The year of sin-myo. The Duke was sixty-four years old.

On the fifteenth day of the first month of spring his punishment was lightened and he was moved to Hwangnyeo county, his native place. On the twenty-second day his road brought him to Jukju, and he lodged at Manseon Temple (萬善寺). The Duke had once, in the year of sin-yu, roamed at this temple as a traveler and answered the poems of the several lords that hung on the board there, and the last passage of his was:

Green color of the hills, fare you well: I would lay down my office and come seeking you again.

Now, having fallen from office, he had come again, so that the poem was as good as an appointment made beforehand. He answered with two more poems.

In the seventh month of autumn he came from Hwangnyeo to the capital. In the ninth month, in preparation against the barbarian troops, he guarded the Bojeong Gate (保定門) though he held no office. In the collection, where it says:

Still it is better than a district of sweltering fog and a land of poisonous airs; I bend my waist and gladly face the people of a seaside village,

that is this. Though the Duke was without office, all the letters, memorials and dispatches for making peace with the Dadan (達旦) were entrusted to him.

The year of im-jin. The Duke was sixty-five years old.

In the year of gi-chuk the Royal Preceptor (王師) had passed away. When this year came his disciples reported to the king, and the Duke was set to make the inscription for his monument. In the fourth month of summer he recovered his former office and was appointed Grand Master of Uprightness, Director of the Palace Library, Academician of the Hall of Treasured Writings, Right Senior Attendant of the Gyeongseong Household, and Supervisor of Drafting. In the sixth month the capital was moved. The Duke could not build a house in this capital, and so he borrowed the western wing of the government lodge at Haeum (河陰) and lived there, and made two poems. In the ninth month of autumn he became Regent and Acting Commissioner of the Army of the Central Force.

The year of gye-sa. The Duke was sixty-six years old.

In the sixth month of summer he was appointed Grand Master of Silver and Blue Glory, Deputy Director of the Privy Council, Left Mounted Attendant-in-Ordinary, Academician of the Hallim Academy, and Royal Transmitter. His heir Ham had become Rectifier of the Hallim Academy, and so, to avoid their being close kin in the same office, it was changed to Academician of the Hall of Treasured Writings. In the eighth month, keeping watch at the Privy Council, he made four poems and sent them to Minister Kim of the Chancellery. In the twelfth month of winter he was appointed Grand Master of Gold and Purple Glory, Manager of Affairs of the Chancellery, Minister of the Board of Revenue, Grand Academician of the Hall for the Gathering of Worthies, and Director of the Board of Rites. Again he made a memorial declining it and giving thanks.

The year of gap-o. The Duke was sixty-seven years old.

In the fifth month of summer, as examination officer of the spring examination hall, he presided over the examination and chose thirty-one men, Kim Ganseong (金諫成) and the rest, and two men in the classics, Yi Bangsu (李邦秀) and the rest, and put out the list. In the twelfth month of winter he was appointed Academician of the Hall of Administration and Supervisor of the Compilation of the National History. At the king's command he made the 「Inscription for the Monument of the National Preceptor Jingak, Abbot of Songgwang Temple.」

The year of eul-mi. The Duke was sixty-eight years old.

In the first month of spring he was appointed Junior Tutor of the Heir Apparent. In the twelfth month of winter he was appointed Assistant Manager of Affairs of State, Grand Academician of the Hall of the Cultivation of Letters, Director of the Board of Revenue, and Grand Protector of the Heir Apparent.

The year of byeong-sin. The Duke was sixty-nine years old.

In the fifth month of summer, as examination officer, he presided over the spring examination hall and chose twenty-nine men, Bak Hui (朴曦) and the rest, and three men in the classics, Yi Geuksong (李克松) and the rest, and put out the list. In the twelfth month of winter he sent up a memorial begging leave to withdraw. The king kept that memorial within the palace and sent the palace attendant Kim Yeongcho (金永貂) to urge him earnestly and make him come out again. The Duke said that his illness was grave, and the Marquis of Jinyang too held him back with all his strength, on the ground that the age written in the registers was less than his own.

The Duke, having no choice, came out in the eleventh month to attend to business. Yet he was afraid and not easy in himself, and made poems several times to show his mind. The Duke did not count it the least good fortune that his age had been written down as less, but reported the truth of it and begged leave to withdraw with firm earnestness. Still he could not withdraw, and made the poem that always says:

Though I have a face, I dare not lift it; my shame is already no small thing,

and that is this. In the twelfth month he was appointed Acting Grand Commandant.

The year of jeong-yu. The Duke was seventy years old.

In the seventh month of autumn, at the king's command, he made the 「Lament and Book of the Posthumous Title of the Consort of the Eastern Palace.」 The Duke again sent up a memorial begging leave to withdraw with the greatest earnestness. In the twelfth month of winter he retired from office as Grand Master of Gold and Purple Glory, Acting Grand Protector, Vice Director of the Chancellery and Joint Manager of Affairs, Grand Academician of the Hall of the Cultivation of Letters, Supervisor of the Compilation of the National History, Director of the Board of Rites, Director of the Hallim Academy, and Grand Protector of the Heir Apparent. This year too, at the king's command, he made the 「Prayer of the King and His Ministers on the Carving of the Blocks of the Great Canon.」

The year of mu-sul. The Duke was seventy-one years old.

In the twelfth month of winter, at the king's command, he made the 「Memorial Presented to the Mongol Emperor」 and the 「Letters Sent to the Officials Jingyeong (晉卿) and Danggo (唐古).」

The year of gi-hae. The Duke was seventy-two years old.

At the king's command he made the 「Memorial Presented to the Mongol Emperor.」 In the twelfth month of winter he made another memorial like the one before, and the 「Letter Sent to Jingyeong.」

The year of gyeong-ja. The Duke was seventy-three years old.

The year of sin-chuk. The Duke was seventy-four years old.

Though the Duke had laid down his office and was at home, there was nothing he did not do in the way of the country's high writings and great documents, and the letters and memorials exchanged with other countries. In the seventh month of autumn he lay ill. Duke Jinyang heard of it and sent famed physicians to ask after his illness and look to him without ceasing. At this he took the fifty-three volumes of the former and latter collections that the Duke had made in his lifetime, gathered craftsmen, and had them carved on blocks and printed. He urged the work on with great haste, meaning to have it reach the Duke's own eyes and so console his heart. But the work was great and was not finished.

When the second day of the ninth month came, he suddenly left the place where he always lay and lay facing the west, setting his right side against the mat. When night came he passed away quietly. The king, hearing of his death, grieved deeply and had the officials provide for the funeral. He also had a close minister make a dirge (誄辭), to praise the end of his days fittingly. He then bestowed on him the posthumous title of Duke Munsun (文順公). On the sixth day of the twelfth month, the day gyeong-in, he was buried on the eastern slope of Mount Jingang (鎭江山).

All his life the Duke took no care for his household, and always took his pleasure in poems and in wine. Even lying on his sickbed he still did not cease to chant. He also delighted in reading the Shurangama Sutra, and with his back to the sutra he could recite it at once. When his end drew near he sent away his wife and his children so that they should not make a noise, and let go of the world of himself; so that he may be called an open-hearted true man and a gentleman.

Ah, I, Ham, had gone out at that time as magistrate of Hongju (洪州), and did not see his last moments. How should the grief of a lifetime be told in words?