Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) 東國李相國集 · Yi Gyubo · Compiled 1241 (Goryeo, 28th year of King Gojong); revised and enlarged 1251 · 2 passages · 96 Chinese characters · reading time 1 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 16 The collected writings of Yi Gyubo of Goryeo, gathered and cut in woodblock by his son Yi Ham in 1241 and revised and enlarged by his grandson Yi Ikbae in 1251. It holds poems and rhapsodies, memorials and reports sent up to the king, records written for temples and pagodas, stele and tomb inscriptions, letters and prefaces, and the state letters that passed to and from the Mongols during the invasions. The Lay of King Dongmyeong, which sings the founder of Goguryeo, stands in volume 3 of the first collection, and the daily life of a man who called himself the White Cloud Layman — with his wine, his zither and his verse — fills the later collection. The book closes with the last poem he wrote as his eyes failed and he laid down the brush, and with the dirge and tomb inscription others made for him after his death.
1The first poem
沙麓曾膺慶。銀潢早毓源。孫爲王后貴。子作上皇尊。白日璇宮鎖。彤床玉璽存。國人懷舊德。痛哭送鷖軒。
At Shalu (沙麓) she once received the blessed omen,
and a stream like the River of Heaven nourished her source early.
Her grandchild became the queen, and so is noble;
her son became the Senior Sovereign, and so is exalted.
In the bright daylight the jade palace is locked,
and on the vermilion couch only the jade seal remains.
The people of the realm long for her old virtue,
and wailing, they send off the gull-carriage (鷖軒).
Interlinear notes 1
大上皇母。受勑述。
She was the mother of the Grand Senior Sovereign. Composed at command.
Once she opened the Eastern Court (東朝) and became mother to the myriad people,
and apart from that she opened a quiet lodge and composed her spirit.
The star of Xuanyuan has veiled its light, and the sky is without color;
in the orchid hall the fragrance has faded, and even the grass is not in spring.
The inner precepts were already written by the hand of the vermilion brush-tube,
and the rear palace still recognizes the form in the jade-like robe.
Roaming as an immortal and attending upon the High Emperor, she must surely be glad,
yet the people of the world wipe their tears and cry out in grief.
Interlinear notes 1
以大上皇母罷東朝故云。
As the mother of the Grand Senior Sovereign she gave up the Eastern Court. That is why it is said so.