Seoul City to seek promotion of Samgukyusa to national treasure

“The front cover and the back cover remain intact. The book is in very good condition.”

This is what a man wearing black gloves had to say while touching the book whose color had faded into yellowish tone. The corners of the book displayed stains due to passage of time. He turned pages carefully one by one to ensure sheets that are worn out and have become thinner will not break apart.

“The book looks older than other copies of the same book, and it will become a material that allows us to confirm‎ typological errors found in other editions (printed with woodblock printing).” Two other men who were also wearing black gloves also took turns to hold up the book and carefully examined it.

The book they are checking out is "Samgukyusa," which was written by Buddhist Monk Ilyeon in the seventh year of the King Chungryeol from the Goryeo Dynasty (1281). Samgukyusa is one of the most famous books in Korea along with "Samguksagi" that contains official history of the Goguryeo, Baekje and Silla kingdoms. While Samguksagi contains political history of the three kingdoms, Samgukyusa carries fables and unofficial history that were not contained in official history, as the title literally indicates. Samgukyusa is also widely known for carrying the Dangun creation myth.

The Seoul metropolitan government said on Monday that it will have Samgukyusa Volumes 1 and 2 reviewed by its cultural property committee. The old books could have become historical treasure No. 1866 in March last year, after the bereaved family of the late history professor Sohn Bo-gi of Yonsei University who had kept them. Since then, his bereaved family applied for designation of the books as cultural property to the Seoul metropolitan government, and the city government and the Cultural Heritage Administration designated them as historical treasure through the review process last year. To register an article as cultural property, the applicant has to submit application to the metropolitan or provincial government, which in turns convenes a preliminary review meeting, before requesting to the Cultural Heritage Administration.

The Seoul city government and its cultural heritage committee members conducted onsite inspection at Yonsei University Museum to seek promotion of Samgukyusa Volumes 1 and 2 to a national treasure on Monday last week. The members who participated in the inspection estimated that Samgukyusa kept at Yonsei University Museum had been published about 100 years prior to the Samgukyusa Jeongdeokbon edition (1512), which was designated as national treasure (No. 306-2) in 2003.

“Since Samgukyusa copies that were published in the Goryeo Dynasty have never been discovered yet, chances are high that this version of the book is the oldest copy that remains today,” said Song Il-gi, library and information science professor at Chung-Ang University. “Since the book is kept in good condition, we expect that we will be able to correct wrong expressions or typos by comparing it with the Jeongdeokbon edition.”

The Seoul city will finalize its plan on whether to apply for designation of the book as a natural treasure after review by the cultural heritage committee. If the city government applies for designation as national treasure, the Cultural Heritage Administration’s cultural heritage committee will conduct review before deciding on whether to designate it as a natural treasure or not.

“We have received application for promotion to a national treasure for the first time since 2007 when we took application for Dal (Moon) Hangari (Jar) White Porcelain,” a source in the city government said, “Since this cultural heritage was already registered as a historical treasure, we will seek designation of the treasure as a national treasure through careful and adequate examination and review.”

송충현기자 balgun@donga.com