Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 37

Sacrificial address praying for rain to the Dragon King, at Jeonju全州祭龍王祈雨文

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 · 115 Chinese characters · reading time 1.2 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 37 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.

一國之旱。則在朝者羞。一方之旱。則守土者罪。惟此南方。岐爲二界。羅帶于陬。全襟其會。何彼境之得滋。獨吾偏之未漑。天豈有私而爲是歟。殆因吾輩之政穢。天怒不可干兮。敢先黷于尒神龍。天之澤惟龍所導。龍之請天豈不從。在斯時而得雨。非吏之效。而乃龍之功。歲不至於飢歉。何報祀之不豐。

When the whole country is in drought, it is the shame of those who stand at court; when one region is in drought, it is the fault of him who guards that land.

This southern country has been split into two boundaries. Naju (羅州) girds one corner like a sash, and Jeonju (全州) sits like a collar at the place where they gather. How is it that the territory over there is wetted while ours alone is not watered? How should Heaven have any partiality in it, to do so? It must be that the governing of men like me is foul.

The anger of Heaven cannot be trespassed upon, and so I dare first to trouble you, divine Dragon, with my plea. The bounty of Heaven is what the dragon leads down, and if the dragon asks, how should Heaven not follow? If rain is had at this time, it will not be the merit of an official but the merit of the dragon. If this year does not come to a bad harvest, how should I not make ample the sacrifice of thanks?