106 t h e a n n a l s o f k i n g t’a e j o
Commander-in-chief Ch’oe Yŏng, though he is upright, is a little too stub-
born. If not you, who is there who can take this golden ruler and straighten
state affairs?”
Thereafter, a man visited T’aejo at his private residence and presented
him with a mysterious book, saying, “I got this from inside a boulder on Mt.
Chiri.” The text read: “A man whose name is comprised of the characters 木
and 子^5 will descend to the earth riding a pig and restore the territories of
the Three Han [Korea].” The text went on to include words such as 非衣, 走
肖, and 三奠三邑.^6 T’aejo wanted to see the man who brought the book, but
the man had already disappeared when he looked for him by sending his
servant after him.
A book of divination kept in the Astronomical and Meteorological
Observatory contained certain sayings such as “One who sets up a tree
begets a son” (kŏnmok tŭkcha)^7 or “The Wang clan is finished, while the Yi
clan rises.” They remained hidden and were not disclosed until the last years
of Koryŏ, but now they have been shown to the world.
In addition, there was the phrase “early brightness” (chomyŏng). People
were unable to comprehend its meaning until the [new] dynasty was called
Chosŏn. Only then did they realize that “early brightness” meant Chosŏn
[morning freshness].
In the district of Ŭiju, there was a great tree that remained withered and
decayed for a number of years. However, one year before the founding of the
[new] dynasty, its branches began to sprout and then became covered com-
pletely with foliage. At that time people took it as a sign of the founding of
a new dynasty.
This also happened when T’aejo was out of public view at his private
home [meaning “before he rose to the throne”]. One day T’aejo paid a visit
to Chancellor Kyŏng Pokhŭng at his private residence, and the chancellor
treated him with great respect and hospitality, even introducing his wife to
him. He asked T’aejo to look after his children, saying, “My foolish chil-
dren will be under your care in the days ahead, and when that happens,- The Chinese characters 木子, meaning tree and son, respectively, indicate T’aejo’s
family name (Yi) when they are put together. - 非衣, 走肖, 三奠三邑: These Chinese characters, when combined together, indi-
cate three family names—裵 (Pae), 趙 (Cho), and 鄭 (Chŏng)—which belong to three dynasty-
founding merit subjects. - The phrase “kŏnmok tŭkcha” is an interpretation of the Chinese character Yi, which
is T’aejo’s family name.