Scholar who compiled the Daedong unbu gunok, often called Korea's first encyclopedia; pen name Chogan
| Life | 1534 ~ 1591 |
| Era | 조선 중기 |
| Clan | 예천 권씨 |
Gwon Mun-hae (權文海, 1534-1591) was a mid-Joseon official and scholar of the Yecheon clan, with courtesy name Howon and pen name Chogan (草澗). According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture and Wikipedia his father was Gwon Ji, his great-grandfather Gwon Seon and his grandfather Gwon O-sang. Born in 1534, he studied under Yi Hwang (Toegye) at about age 23, joining the same school as Yu Seong-ryong and Kim Seong-il. He passed the special civil examination in 1560 in the third class, though one Yecheon Gwon source gives a different year.
He held remonstrance posts at court and served as magistrate of Gongju, Andong and Daegu; a Daegu report notes his unusually long term from 1584 to 1591 at Daegu. He rose to Dongbu-seungji and Jwabu-seungji and died in 1591, the year he became Saganwon head. The date of death varies by source: Wikipedia says he resigned on the 23rd day of the sixth lunar month and died that year, while another gives the ninth of the twelfth month.
His great work is the Daedong unbu gunok (completed 1589, 20 volumes), an encyclopedia modeled on the Chinese Yunfu qunyu, arranged by rhyme and covering history, geography, figures, literature, customs and clan names from Dangun to his own time, drawn from 174 Korean and 15 Chinese works. Of three manuscript sets one was lost in the Imjin War and one in a fire; the last was kept at Jeongsan Seowon and printed with woodblocks between 1812 and 1836. The blocks and draft are Treasure No. 878.
He also left a diary, the Chogan ilgi (Treasure No. 879), covering 1580-1591, and a collected works, the Chogan-jip. He is enshrined at Bongsan Seowon. A Yeongnam Ilbo article says about fifty people impeached him for refusing to bend before the powerful, and recounts his filial devotion and an elegy for his late wife. In 1582 he built the Chogan Jeongsa, where he read and cultivated himself.
Three manuscript sets were made at the outset; Kim Seong-il borrowed one for a state printing and Jeong Gu another privately, but both were lost to the Imjin War and a fire. The remaining set was kept at Jeongsan Seowon; a seventh-generation descendant, Jin-rak, began carving the blocks, and an eighth-generation descendant, Hyeon-sang, completed 677 blocks in 1836. They are still kept in the Baekseunggak at the Chogan head house.
Chogan Jeongsa was first built in 1582 as a thatched hut, burned in the Imjin War, was repaired by his son Gwon Byeol in 1626 and burned again; the present building was moved west of the old site by a great-great-grandson, Gwon Bong-ui, in 1741 according to Daegu Ilbo (Gyeonggi Ilbo gives 1739). The pavilion and its pines are designated as the scenic site Chogan-jeong Garden.
The location of his grave was not confirmed in this survey.
His son Gwon Byeol is recorded; Yeongnam Ilbo says he had no children with his first wife, Lady Gwak, and had Byeol at 56 with his second wife of the Hamyang Park clan.