Book VIII 523*
A pheasant flew into the southern yard of the Main Audience Hall (taejŏn)
of the new palace.
Sim Hyosaeng, governor of Kyŏngsang Province presented to the king a
rice stalk that had nine ears.
A pond was dug in the back garden of the new palace.
The Japanese marauders captured by Kim Yŏngnyŏl^21 were beheaded in
Sŏngdong.^22
This month, the construction of the Royal Ancestral Shrine and new royal
palaces is complete.
The main shrine (t’aesil) of the Royal Ancestral Shrine consists of 7
kan,^23 which are separate chambers (rooms) in the same hall. Inside the
shrine, there are 5 kan of stone chambers and a pair of 2- kan side rooms.
The merit subject shrine (kongsindang) consists of 5 kan; the spirit gate
(sinmun), 3 kan; east gate (tongmun), 3 kan; and west gate (sŏmun), 1 kan.
These buildings are [this shrine compound is] surrounded by a wall.
Outside are a 7- kan kitchen (sinju) for preparing sacrificial foods, a 5- kan
office for the officials in charge of ritual sacrifice (hyanggwanch’ŏng), 5- kan
corridors (haengnang)^24 on both the left and right sides, 9- kan walking cor-
ridors that run south, and a 5- kan purification hall (chaegung).
The new royal palace compound has a 7- kan main residence (yŏnch’im)
for the king, flanked by 2- kan sleeping halls on the east and west sides, and
a 7- kan verandah (arang)^25 running north. A row of servants’ quarters
- About a month earlier, Kim Yŏngnyŏl, military commander of Kyŏngsang Province,
captured twenty- one Japanese marauders who invaded the province. - A village in Kunwi District, North Kyŏngsang Province.
- Kan originally indicated a space or interval in a house or building. So here it means
either the division of the shrine structure or its width—that is, the space between two pillars.
It seems possible that each kan represents one room. - Haengnang normally indicates servants’ quarters on both sides of the gate. Nang (廊)
has two meanings: (1) a covered walkway between buildings (hence, a veranda, gallery, porch,
corridor); (2) a row of small rooms that line a courtyard wall. - Arang 穿廊 is a covered way or corridor or just a walkway, as it is unlikely that there
are any “rooms” here.