This study aims to examine the current state of the relics related to Choi Chi-won and investigate the Chinese poems created based on them, shedding light on their literary patterns and meanings.
The study first identified Choi Chi-won's whereabout...
This study aims to examine the current state of the relics related to Choi Chi-won and investigate the Chinese poems created based on them, shedding light on their literary patterns and meanings.
The study first identified Choi Chi-won's whereabouts and attempted to understand the background behind the nationwide distribution of his relics prior to the process of revering him in Goryeo and Joseon. There were relics around his past and places where he rambled all over the country. By region, Gyeongnam had 59 relics; Gyeongbuk 27; Jeonbuk 18; Chungnam 8; Gyeonggi, Daegu, and Busan 3 each; Gwangju 1; and China 3. Choi's sentences, ideas, and achievements praised by future generations were combined with these relics and put on everyone's lips consistently. Eventually, the relics related to Choi were established as cultural landscapes and literary spaces. These spaces were expanded into meaningful spaces to create literature by future generations of literary men who followed and remembered his marks beyond mere personal areas.
The study then analyzed approximately 800 poems written on the spot by men of letters who expressed what they felt at these relics in Goryeo and Joseon, examining the reasons and literary meanings behind the consistency of him being on everyone's lips. These Chinese poems contained several direct and indirect common terms used to refer to Choi. They include "Gowoon," "Yuseon," "Haksa," "Seonsaeng," "Seon," "Choi Seon," "Siseon," and "Hak." These poetic words are the keywords to reflect Choi's ideas and the directionality of his life. The Chinese poems using these poetic words mainly praise his literary talent and depict his unworldly aspects oriented toward fairyland. The study examined the patterns of his poetic embodiment in three aspects, which are revering his literary and ideological status, examining his trailblazing spirit and longing for virtuous men, and calling attention to him as the master of cultural landscapes, investigating the characteristics of the Chinese poems related to his relics. First, revering his literary and ideological status stemmed from respect for his aspects as a remarkable writer and a man of thought encompassing Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Second, his unclear whereabouts in his latter years were combined with his literary achievements, elevating his relics to a utopia of his "trailblazing" spirit. This led to a longing for an ideal being among the future generations of literary people. Third, the study set the relics as cultural landscapes signified by the influence of nature and people and called attention to Choi's perception as the practical master of these landscapes through an analysis of Chinese poems.
Finally, the study traced the process by which his relics were established as literary creation spaces and examined their meanings and values. Choi's relics provided spaces where men of letters would communicate with people from the past and share their sensibility with contemporary writers across time. Future generations utilized them as a stage of literary creation to spread their indirect experiences. As a result, their literary works created a virtuous cycle in an acceptance-transmission-reproduction structure. The study demonstrated that Choi's relics served as tourist sites for future generations to go sightseeing and venues for them to share and communicate their literary sentiment.