Choe San-du (崔山斗, 1482 – 1536) was a civil official of Joseon. His ancestral seat was Chogye (草溪), his courtesy name was Gyeong-ang (景仰), and his pen name (號) was Sinjae (新齋). Because the light of the Big Dipper descended at his birth, he was named San-du (山斗).
Life
He was born in Gwangyang (光陽), Jeolla Province, to his father, Choe Han-yeong (崔漢榮), who served as Hanseong Panyun (한성판윤), and his mother, the daughter of Han Gyeong-hoe (韓敬澮), who served as Gyori (교리). From childhood he possessed an extraordinary talent.
At the age of eight he composed poetry and prose, showing an outstanding aptitude for learning from an early age. At eighteen he went to the capital and studied under Kim Goeng-pil (金宏弼), and he also associated with Jo Gwang-jo (趙光祖), Kim Jeong (金淨), and Kim An-guk (金安國), among others.
In 1504 (Yeonsangun 10) he passed the jinsa examination, and in 1513 (Jungjong 8), at the age of 31, he passed the special civil service examination. He later served in posts including Jeojak and Park-sa of the Hongmun-gwan, Susan of the Hongmun-gwan, and Jeongeon of the Hongmun-gwan. In 1518 he became magistrate of Boeun. The Seungjeongwon selected 26 people to lecture on the Xingli Daquan (性理大全), and he was chosen first, entering the Hodang and undertaking sagadokseo (賜暇讀書) study leave.
Reform and counterattack
He shared the aims of the moral and reformist politics advocated by Jo Gwang-jo and others, and he criticized the Hungu faction, the corrupt existing power bloc. However, the emerging reformist faction to which he belonged lost the king's trust because of its excessively doctrinaire words and deeds and its rapid reforms, and it was counterattacked by the Hungu faction, the conservative bloc.
Exile
In 1519 (Jungjong 14) he was promoted to sainsa (舍人), but he was caught up in the Gimyo purge and exiled beneath Mount Nabok (蘿葍山) in Dongbok, Hwasun, Jeolla Province. Because of his excellent writing, he was known together with Yu Seong-chun (柳成春) and Yun Gu (尹衢) as one of the "Three Heroes of Honam" (湖南 三傑).
Many scholars visited his place of exile to study with him and receive his instruction. Among his outstanding disciples were Kim In-hu (金麟厚), a great scholar of the time of Injong who was known as Haseo, and Yu Hui-chun (柳希春), who was known as Miam. During his exile he traveled to and from Hwasun Jeokbyeok (和順 赤壁) and composed many poems.
After he was pardoned in 1533, he continued to live in that area, and through him the beauty of Hwasun Jeokbyeok (和順 赤壁) became known to the world; it has since been transformed into a famous tourist attraction.
Death
Fifteen years after his exile, in 1533, he became a free person, but three years later, in 1536, he closed his eyes at the age of 53. His grave was established in Bujeo-ri, Bonggang-myeon, Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province. After his death, in 1578 a shrine called Bongyang-sa (鳳陽祠) was built in Gyochon Village, Usan-ri, Gwangyang-myeon, Gwangyang County, where his ancestral tablet was enshrined. In 1670 he was enshrined at Dowon Seowon (道源書院) in Yeonwol-ri, Dongbok-myeon, Hwasun County, South Jeolla Province.
Family
- Father: Choe Han-yeong (崔漢榮)
- Mother: daughter of Han Gyeong-hoe (韓敬澮)
Related cultural properties
- Ok-hol (Jeollanam-do Tangible Cultural Property No. 40)
- The jade tablet (玉笏) said to have been specially bestowed by Jungjong is made of blue jade, 9 chi (27.3 mm) long and 1 chi 2 fun (3.7 mm) wide, and is engraved in regular script with the phrase 一人有慶 寶命維新, with the characters overlaid in gold. It is said that it was specially bestowed as an order to widely reform the king's mandate during the reign of Jungjong, and that it is the only one of its kind in the entire Joseon period, but this is not true.
- This jade tablet was made during the reign of Jungjong, and there is no record anywhere that it was granted to Choe San-du as a private gift (內賜) or special gift (特賜).
The jade tablet inscribed with the phrase 一人有慶 寶命維新 is not actually a jade tablet of that kind; it is the first jade slip (玉簡) from the jade book (玉冊) presented on the 19th day of the 10th month of Seonjo's 37th year, which bestowed the honorific title Sosong (昭聖) on Queen Inmok, Seonjo's second queen.
Because he did not want to pass the throne to Gwanghaegun, Seonjo, at the age of 50, after his first queen died, urged his ministers to find a second queen, and he took the 19-year-old Queen Inmok as his second queen, praying that she would bear a legitimate son. In the first year of the queen's reign she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Princess Jeongmyeong.
Undeterred, Seonjo did not leave Queen Inmok's quarters day or night, even skipping lectures, and she conceived another child with Princess Jeongmyeong in the same year.
In the ninth month of Seonjo's 37th year, a birthing office was established, and one month before the due date, a jade book was presented beginning with the phrase 一人有慶 寶命維新. The text was written by Heo Jeok? No: the text was written by Sin Heum, Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and one of the four great writers of the time, and the calligraphy in regular script was written by Doseungji (Chief Royal Secretary), a master calligrapher. Forty master craftsmen, including jade carvers, engravers (刻手), lacquerers (漆匠), and metalworkers, made this jade book from Namyang blue jade and presented it to Queen Inmok.
一人有慶 寶命維新 means: if the one person (the king) continues the precious life (寶命, the royal bloodline) anew (維新), it will be a happy event (有慶).
That is, if the new life of the king is carried on, it is a joyful event.
This text was engraved as the first line on the jade slip and presented to Queen Inmok. (Gyujanggak, Uigwe of the Seonjo Jaejonho Dogam)
[Loss of the jade book]
When Gwanghaegun became king, Queen Inmok's father, Kim Je-nam, was put to death on the slander of the Northerners (北人), especially Heo Gyun of Tale of Hong Gildong, that he had colluded with illegitimate sons to instigate rebellion. Prince Yeongchang and Gwanghaegun's elder half-brother, Prince Imhae, were also executed. In the first month of the 10th year of Gwanghaegun's reign, on the 30th day, she was deposed to Seogung, and her royal title Daebi and her honorific title Sosong and others were all revoked; the jade books were taken away, and she was confined in Seogung. (Gwanghaegun Ilgi, Gwanghae 10, first month, 30th day)
At that time, the jade book inscribed with the text of 一人有慶 寶命維新 was revoked and kept carelessly in the palace. Over several disturbances, including the Rebellion of Yi Gwal and the Manchu invasions of Joseon (Byeongja Horan), the palace was violated, and all of them were lost at that time.
Later, in the 1847 0s, the jade tablet owned by the Heo family in Suncheon was petitioned for by Choe Chang-o and one other person of the Chogye Choe clan to the magistrate of Gwangyang and others, requesting the return of the royal jade tablet (御賜玉牌) said to have been received by Choe San-du of the Chogye Choe clan. The Chogye Choe family holds it and records that the king bestowed it, but this is an oral tradition based on the mistaken belief that what was lost from the palace was received by Choe San-du from Jungjong.
Looking at the Uigwe of the Seonjo Jaejonho Dogam, the size and the upper and lower parts of the jade slip are fixed by piercing (穿) and fastening with a flathead nail, and on the upper and lower perforations there are traces of brass fittings, which indicates that it is certainly the jade slip. In particular, the regular-script calligraphy of this Dogam is nearly identical to the calligraphy of the jade slip now in possession, so it appears to have been written by the same person.
Footnotes