Yetgeul › Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) › Former Collection, Book 38

Sacrificial address serving the gods of the mountains and of the sea together山海神合屈祭文

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 · 114 Chinese characters · reading time 1.1 min

Dongguk Isangguk Jip (Collected Works of Minister Yi of the Eastern Country) Former Collection, Book 38 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.

云云。不誼之人。天地所棄也。至誠之薦。山川其捨諸。爰有下都。敢成尤計。諭集幸災之遺盜。擅侵無罪之小城。緣此爲階。至今作梗。玆欲加於天討。垂已卽於戰場。主嶽主河。若有神之靈者。同心同體。宜借力以扶之。寔擧明禋。佇承陰相。致令秋毫不犯。東降吠主之徒。春雪未消。北首朝天之路。云云。

And so forth. The man who is not righteous is one whom heaven and earth cast off; and the offering brought with utmost sincerity — how should the mountains and the streams cast it off?

Hereupon there is the lower capital (下都), which has dared to carry through a guilty design. Coaxing together the remnant thieves who count calamity their good fortune, it wantonly raided a small and guiltless walled town. This became the occasion of it, and has been a trouble down to now.

Hereupon, wishing to send down heaven's punishment, we have already reached the field of battle. If there be spirits who have the mountains in charge and the waters in charge, then with one heart and one body may you fitly lend your strength and help us.

Hereupon we lift up a bright sacrifice and wait upon your secret help. Without the trespass of so much as a fine hair, let us receive to the east the surrender of the pack that barked at its master; and before the spring snow melts, let us set our heads northward upon the road that pays court to heaven. And so forth.

Interlinear notes 1

謂永州也。

This refers to Yeongju (永州).

‹ Text of the Chorye rite (醮禮) offered to Taiyi (太一)ContentsChorye rite for the Great Emperor of Heaven performed on New Year's Day ›Listen to this piece