KJCKorea
Journal Central

Taishan is a mountain in Shandong province, China, where the Emperors of the Chinese dynasties held ritual ceremonies to confirm the legitimacy of reign, and it was recognized as the most sacred mountain since Confucius had climbed this mountain. It is Shijing that Taishan appeared as a material of literature, The poem, Mangak(望岳) that Tu Fu, a poet wrote when he went onto Taishan, had a lot of effects not only on the Chinese literati but also on the Korean literati. Taishan most frequently appears in the common idioms and proverbs that we use everyday, and is a poetic diction that often appears in the Chinese poetry written by the literati. Among the Korean literati, <UnchulTaishan(雲出泰山)> is the first poem to be written by Lee Saek(李穡), at the end of Goryeo, followed by Lee Min‐seong(李民宬), Seonwu Hyeop(鮮于浹), Oh Suk(吳 ), Lee Hyeon‐seok(李玄錫) and Seo Jong‐ tae(徐宗泰), who wrote this poem. In the Chinese poetry in Korea, Taishan was mainly quoted in monody and used as a poetic diction which is likened to be a decedent, who was high in personality, learning style, and virtue etc. It was called “Taishan Gitoe(泰山其 )” in 「Tangong(檀弓)」 of Liji , and was compared as a comparison of a scholar and a public figure after being compared with the death of Confucius. Also, it was transmuted in its meaning and used as a poetic diction to compare the meaning of something with great significance. This is due to Simaqian(司馬遷)’s letter to Linan(任安) saying that the completion of Shiji compared to Taishan is more precious and worthwhile than death, and in the Chinese poetry in Korea, the poetry is often used as a poetic diction which likens the act of ‘Salshinseongin(sacrifice oneself to preserve one’s integrity, 殺身成仁)‘. Furthermore, Taishan likened the higher grounds that cannot be tolerated, and it was mainly used in the poetry that encouraged progeny or junior scholars to set a bigger goal of scholarship in the poetry for the purpose of instruction. In the future, it will be a challenge for us to review how our ancestors shaped Taishan by excavating excursion notes which were written while traveling Taishan in person, including the Chinese poetry, in which Taishan was selected as a direct material.

Taishan(泰山), Confucius, luminary(泰斗), Shijing, Tu Fu(杜甫), monody(挽詩)