Jikji

Contents

The Jikji comprises a collection of excerpts from the analects of the most revered Buddhist monks throughout successive generations. Baegun compiled it as a guide for students of Buddhism, then Korea's national religion under the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392).

The text propounds the essentials of Korean Seon, the predecessor of Japan's Zen Buddhism.

The Jikji consists of two volumes. The metal-printed edition published in Heungdeok Temple is kept in the Manuscrits Orientaux division of the National Library of France, with the first page of the last volume (Book 1 in Chapter 38) torn off. A woodblock print of Jikji published in Chwiamsa Temple contains the complete two volumes. This is kept in the National Library of Korea, Jangsagak, and Bulgap temples and in the Academy of Korean Studies.

Printing

On the last page of Jikji, details of its publication are recorded, indicating that it was published in the third year of King U (July 1377) by metal type at Heungdeok Temple in Cheongju. The Jikji originally consisted of two volumes totaling 307 chapters, but the first volume of the metal-printed version is no longer extant.

A record indicates that in 1377, Baegun's students, priests Seoksan and Daldam, helped publish Jikji by using movable metal type, and the priestess Myodeok also contributed her efforts.

Although made using movable type, Jikji used printing methods different from those of Johannes Gutenberg.

The surviving metal type's dimensions are 24.6 × 17.0 cm (9.7 × 6.7 in). Its paper is very thin and white. The whole text is double-folded. The cover appears to have been remade. The title of Jikji also seems to be written in India ink after the original. In French, the cover on the surviving volume of the metal type edition records, "The oldest known Korean book printed with molded type, with 1377 as date", written by Maurice Courant.

The lines are not straight but askew. The difference in ink color thickness shown on drawn letter paper is significant, and spots often occur. Even some characters, such as 'day' (日) or 'one' (一), are written in reverse, while other letters are not printed completely. The same typed letters are not shown on the same paper, but the same typed letters appear on other leaves. There are also blurs and spots around the characters.

Rediscovery

The metal-printed Jikji became known to the world in 1901 through its inclusion in the appendix of the Bibliographie coréenne, compiled by the French sinologist and scholar of Korea, Maurice Courant (1865–1935). In 1972, the Jikji was displayed in Paris during the "International Book Year" hosted by the National Library of France, gaining it worldwide attention for the first time. The book was "rediscovered" by Dr. Park Byeongseon, a National Library of France librarian. Park died in 2011.

The Jikji was printed using metal type in Heungdeok Temple outside Cheongju-mok in July 1377, a fact recorded in its postscript. That it was printed in Heungdeok Temple in Uncheon-dong, Cheongju, was confirmed when Cheongju University excavated the Heungdeok Temple site in 1985.

Heungdeok Temple was rebuilt in March 1992. In 1992, the Cheongju Early Printing Museum was opened, and from 2000, it took the Jikji as its central theme.

The Manuscrits Orientaux department of the National Library of France preserves only the final volume of the Jikji.

On 4 September 2001, the Jikji was formally inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register. The UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize was created in 2004 to commemorate the creation of the Jikji.

Restoration

The restoration process of the lower volume of Jikji was completed in 2013, restoring pages 2–14 by January 2012 and pages 15–29 in January 2013. In March 2013, the Cheongju Early Printing Museum commissioned the Humanities Research Institute at Kyungpook National University to research further restoration processes to complete a full restoration of the two volumes of Jikji.

The completed restoration of the Jikji metal movable type was revealed at its Metal Type Casting Training Center. It successfully replicated the 31,200 characters in the upper and lower volumes of Jikji with a total of 78 plates engraved with 400 characters per plate. This restoration work was done by expert Im In-ho, who reproduced the printed type of Jikji using the wax casting method widely used at the time of the original creation of Jikji.

The wax casting method engraves letters by attaching the letters to beeswax that was procured by heating honeycomb. A mold of the letter is then made by wrapping it with soil and pouring molten iron into the spaces where the wax has melted.

Because only one incomplete copy of the metal-type printed Jikji remains, missing information was filled in by referring to the woodblock print version of Jikji, published a year after the metal-type printed version. The new restoration now includes the page of the lower volume that was lost in the copy at the National Library of France. The typeface replicates the type of Jabi Doryang Chambeop Jihae, which is known to have been produced at Heungdeok Temple in Cheongju around the same period. Characters not found in the Jabi Doryang Chambeop Jihae were created by combining strokes as printed in the lower volumes of Jikji.

In total, Cheongju city invested 1.81 billion won (approx. US$1.5 million) on the Goryeo-era metal type restoration project from 2011 to 2016.

Controversy

Towards the end of the Joseon Dynasty, French diplomat Victor Collin de Plancy bought the second volume of the Jikji in Seoul and took it to France, where it is now kept at the National Library of France in Paris.

In May 1886, Korea and France concluded a treaty of defense and commerce, and as a result, in 1887, official diplomatic relations were entered into by the treaty's official ratification by Kim Yunsik (1835–1922) and Victor Collin de Plancy. Plancy, who had majored in law in France and went on to study Chinese, had served for six years as translator at the French Legation in China, between 1877 and 1883. In 1888, he went to Seoul as the first French consul to Korea and stayed there until 1891. During his extended residence in Korea, first as consul and then again as full diplomatic minister from 1896 to 1906, Collin de Plancy collected Korean ceramics and old books. His official secretary, Maurice Courant, who had moved to Seoul, classified them.

Although the channels through which Plancy collected his works are unclear, he seems to have collected them primarily during the early 1900s. Most of the old books Plancy collected in Korea went to the National Library of France at an auction in 1911, while the metal-printed Jikji was purchased in that same year for 180 francs by Henri Véver, a well-known jewel merchant and old book collector, who in turn donated it to the French National Library in his will.

The right of ownership remains disputed, with the National Library of France maintaining that the Jikji should remain in France, while Korean activists argue it should belong to Korea. The National Library of France says that as an important historical artifact of all mankind, the Jikji should remain in France as it represents a common, worldwide heritage, and does not belong to any one country. In addition, they claim the Jikji would be better preserved and displayed in France because of the prestige and resources the Library possesses. On the other hand, Korean organizations claim that it should belong to its country of origin and carry historical significance for the Korean people. The Committee to Bring Jikji Back to Korea, led by American Richard Pennington, is one such organization in Seoul, South Korea, working to repatriate the Jikji back to Korea from France. The French President François Mitterrand promised to investigate ways to return various Korean books, including the Jikji, should the French TGV high-speed rail technology be exported to Korea. From April to June 2011, 297 volumes with 191 different Uigwe of the Kyujanggak (Oegyujanggak), were shipped back in four separate installments and subsequently kept at the National Museum of Korea. However, Jikji was not included, following opposition in France, including a protest lodged by the librarians at the National Library.