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

Sacrificial address offered again before the Heavenly Spirit of Gyebyeon戒邊天神前復祭文

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 · 130 Chinese characters · reading time 1.4 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.

云云爲天所命。鎭百里之雄州。與國同憂。掃一方之劇賊。某等過承明勑。出討頑民。亮非人力之足憑。須借陰功之不測。故披丹府。再叩玄關。曾於夏初。義庇勃优頭落於劒下。未及歲杪。山角得光尾搖於穽中。傾巢穴以蕩焚。致方州之靜謐。皆所使也。吾何有焉。旣受賜之不貲。其在禮也宜謝。恭尋皎誓。聊薦菲儀。惟冀正聦。俯歆懇素。云云。

And so forth. Receiving the mandate of Heaven, you press down upon and guard this great district of a hundred li; sharing the state's cares, you have swept away the fierce brigands of this one region.

We, such-and-such, having presumed to receive the bright command, came out to strike the stubborn and wicked people; but in truth the strength of men alone was not to be leaned upon, and we needed to borrow the unseen merit that is beyond reckoning. Therefore we laid open our crimson hearts and knocked once more at the hidden gate.

Early in the first of summer the heads of Uibi (義庇) and Baru (勃优) fell beneath the blade, and before the year drew to its close the tails of Sangak (山角) and Deukgwang (得光) were shaking inside the pit. Their nests and dens were overturned, swept clean and burned, and the quiet of this one region was accomplished — all of it was at your ordering. What merit is there in me?

Having already received your bestowals beyond all reckoning, by ritual it is fitting that we give thanks. Reverently we seek out our bright oath and offer up, for what little they are worth, these meager sacrifices. We only pray that with your true hearing you will bend down and partake of our earnest hearts. And so forth.

‹ Sacrificial address offered jointly to the Eastern and Western PeaksContentsSacrificial address of thanks to the Great Spirit (大神) of Gyebyeon ›Listen to this piece