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| "Chungmingonggyecho," part of National Maritime Museum's collection, which turned out to be "Janggye byeolchaek. / Yonhap |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
A missing book on Admiral Yi Sun-shin (1545-1598) was located at a national museum by a scholar.
Ro Sung-suk, an expert on Yi, found that "Chungmingonggyecho," part of the National Maritime Museum's collection, is in fact one of the six artifacts related to the admiral's whereabouts unknown since the Japanese colonization era (1910-1945).
Ro, who made a complete translation of Yi's "Nanjungilgi," or war journal, said "Chungmingonggyecho" turned out to be "Janggye byeolchaek," which is a collection of 68 reports the admiral sent to the king during the Imjin War (1592-1598).
The book is a manuscript based on the original reports after Yi's death in 1662 and was passed down through Yi's descendents, along with "Imjinjangcho," another collection of Yi's war reports designated as a national treasure.
The document collection starts with Yi describing himself as the Commander of the Left Jeolla Province. The contents are Yi's war report to King Seonjo and Crown Prince Gwanghaegun from April 1592 to April 1594.
The last known evidence of "Janggye byeolchaek" was in the 1920s, when the Japanese General Government in Korea investigated relics related to the admiral.
Ro said photographic negatives of the Yi-related documents from the 1920s were stored in the National Institute of Korean History and he compared the photos with "Chungmingonggyecho" in coming to the conclusion that the contents of "Chungmingonggyecho" and "Janggye byeolchaek" are identical.
Now with "Janggye byeolchaek" found, five Yi artifacts remain missing _ a part of the original edition of Yi's diary "Nanjungilgi" from 1595, twin swords used by Yi, Yi's portrait stolen from the Chungmusa Temple, official documents sent from Yi to his subordinates and King Seonjo's royal edict naming Yi as the third state councilor posthumously.
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