Letter of Congratulation Presented to Administrator of Chancellery Affairs (平章事) Lord Jo (趙公) at the New Year正旦賀狀 趙平章
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 · 1 passages · 84 Chinese characters · reading time 0.9 min
Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 32 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.
It is the beginning of the year, of the month, and of the day, and so we first record this fair season; and the height of virtue, of office, and of years gathers the more upon the gentleman.
In reverence I consider that Your Excellency of such-and-such office is first in repute among the ranks of the court and that Your name lies thick among the scholars. When the mountains sent forth a worthy man to the house of Zhou, he was early diligent in the mending of the dragon robe; and when the High Lord sent down Fu Yue (傅說) to Shang, he proved indeed the man for seasoning the broth. All officeholders take You for their model, and the four quarters pour out their hearts to You. Meeting now the head of spring, we pray that You may live yet longer.
We, bound to the keeping of a tally in one region, can only send our congratulations running from a thousand li away.
Interlinear notes 2
The base text reads 「嶽生甫於周家」. It may be read as Fu Hou (甫侯) of the "Songgao" ode in the Book of Songs, or, leaning on the 「補衮」 that follows at once, as Zhongshan Fu (仲山甫); the name was therefore not pinned down in this translation. — Translator
"The head of spring" stands in the base text as 「鱗時之首」. It points to spring because the "Monthly Ordinances" of the Book of Rites calls the creatures of spring 「鱗」. — Translator