Although the Tombstone for the Great King Kwanggaeto was found a century ago, some
considerable questions about the tombstone have not been answered yet. One of the reasons
for it is that weathering and liming damaged some inscriptions on the original tombstone.
Moreover, the rubbing-inscriptions of the tombstone from the time of the discovery were
rare. Especially, since those inside Korea are few, researchers in Korea face obstacles even
at the beginning. Within this situation, the discovery of ‘the Essential Copy from the
Original Tombstone for the Great King Kwanggaeto housed by Hye-Jung’ and the public
opening of it are meaningful.
The copy of Hye-Jung is the rubbing-inscription from the original Kwanggaetotaewangbi
(廣開土太王碑) which Hye-Jung Kim, the head of Kyunghee University’s Hye-Jung
Museum, purchased some 20 years ago at Beijing. The rubbing-inscriptions of the
Kwanggaetotaewangbi can be categorized into Muksugwakjeon-bon(墨水廓塡本), Rubbinginscription
from the original tombstone, and Rubbing-inscription after liming. The most
important Wonseok-takbons(原石拓本)can be sorted into light carbon ink rubbing-inscriptions,
dark carbon ink rubbing-inscriptions, and rubbing-inscriptions after lime removed.
Hyejeong’s copy is considered as one of the rubbing-inscriptions rubbed by Liyuncong(李
雲從), Beijing’s famous inscription-rubber in 1880’s. Hye-Jung’s rubbing-inscription is an
edited one, and does not include all 4 faces of the tombstone. However, it is a
Jinmuk-takbon(眞墨拓本) and contains the most important 1st and 2nd faces in very good
condition without any omitted inscription.
As Korea’s researches on Kwanggaetotaewangbi up until now relied on photo-copies of
rubbing-inscriptions of China, Taiwan, and Japan, they could not process deeply. The
public opening of a dark-carbon-ink rubbing-inscription, that is Hye-Jung’s copy, along
with a light-carbon-ink rubbing-inscription, that is Cheongmyeong-bon(a Copy housed by
Changsun Yim), is expected to be a turning point and is a joy of Korean academia.