Matthew Jackson explores another of Korea’s contributions to world culture
The first printing presses were made out of wood. The process of woodblock printing emerged in the East during the 8th century.
For some time, the earliest woodblock print was believed to be a copy of the Diamond Sutra, discovered at Dunhuang in China by the British archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein, printed in AD 868.
In 1966, the Great Dharani Sutra of Undefiled Pure Radiance was discovered in the Shakyamuni Pagoda of Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju, Korea. The building in which it was enshrined was constructed in AD 751, implying that it predated the Chinese Diamond Sutra by at least 117 years.
In the midst of a storm of academic controversy, analysis revealed that the Dharani Sutra had in fact been produced even earlier than AD 751. This was seen initially from the appearance of certain words in the text known to have become obsolete by the mid-8th century.
An inscription found on a nearby sarira relic indicates that the Sutra was enshrined at the same time as the reliquary, dating it as far back as AD 706. Analysis has revealed that the inscriptions were made by the same person.
The printed letters of the Dharani sutra also compare favourably with the Chinese Diamond Sutra, as does the thin Hanji paper. It was an early sign of the innovations in the field of printing that were yet to come in Korea, including of course moveable metal type, which will be discussed in the next article.
The sutra forms part of National Treasure 126: Reliquaries from the Three-story Stone Pagoda of Bulguksa Temple
Korea has a fascinating history, and has made contributions to arts and the sciences which we are still discovering. I would like to learn more about these peoples. Can anyone direct me to a source to view korean woodblock prints from pre-1800?
Hello Gretchen,
Is it pictures that you would like to view online, or would you like to know museums in Europe where you can find them?
I think that Paris is the best place to see Korean manuscripts, but UK and Germany may also have them as well. Let me know what you are looking for and I can help you find out.
Best regards,
Matthew
Recently, American Printing History Association has updated the Printing History Timeline as follows. Here are a few important changes. (https://printinghistory.org/timeline/)
742–751 Dharani Sutra on Immaculate and Pure Light (Korean: 무구정광대다라니경, 無垢淨光大陀羅尼經) is the world’s oldest extant printing material, printed using woodblock in Unified Silla (統一新羅) Dynasty of Korea
868 The Diamond Sutra, a Chinese translation of a Buddhist text now preserved in the British Library.
1239 The oldest Metal-Movable-Type printed book is The Song of Enlightenment with Commentaries by Buddhist Monk Nammyeong Cheon (Korean: 남명천화상송증도가, 南明泉和尙頌證道歌). (The Goryeo (高麗) Dynasty of Korea)
1377 The world’s second oldest extant book printed with movable metal type (Korean: 백운화상초록불조직지심체요절, 白雲和尙抄錄佛祖直指心體要節, Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests’ Zen Teachings) published in Cheungju (淸州), Korea, now at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF). It is often abbreviated to Jikji (직지, 直指).