In the age of the great flourishing states of Koryo and the Li Dynasty, Korean people achieved various epoch-making inventions, contributing to the cultural development of the world. Most characteristic among them were invention of metal printing types in Koryo and that of an original Korean phonetic alphabet in the Li dynasty. More than 200 years before the invention of printing types by Gutenberg of Germany, Korean craftsmen in the medieval kingdom succeeded in molding metal types for the first time in the world history, demonstrating Koryo’s highly developed culture to the world. In Koryo, a state which existed in 918 – 1392 AD, the world’s first metal type was invented and put into use in printing already in the late 12 th century. Based on the highly developed wood-block printing technique which had already been in practice since the time of the Three Kingdoms in the 7 th century, Koryo craftsmen of the highest order made it possible to achieve this innovation in printing. As metal types were made in the process of casting molten metal in wooden, olds, the work required high techniques and precision; a slight difference in the condition of molten metal caused blowholes and the contraction of the metal.
The success in the technical achievement by the Koryo people is proved by a document written by the then great writer Ri Kyu Bo, who says in it that during the 8 years from 1328 when Koryo moved its capital from Kaesong to Kang hwa Island in the West Sea of Korea due to invasion by Mongolians, 28 copies of “Ko gum-sangjongryemun,” a book of famous quotations, were printed with metal types. A story on Confucius titled “Congkakao” and the Buddhist scripture “Chikchismguong” were printed with the cast types, respectively, in 1324 and 1317. Today, the Jira History Museum exhibits a metal type discovered in Kaesong City which was the capital of the Koryo kingdom. The type in the museum was unearthed in a place about 300 meters from Manwoldae, Kaesong, where the royal palace was located.
The Essay on Printing and its influence on the intellectual life
The history of printing dated back as early as 868 AD when the Chinese used it to produce the earliest dated printed book known as the “Diamond Sutra. ” However, it is believed that book printing may have occurred even before that. Around 1041, the movable clay type printing system was first invented by Bi Sheng in China. Later on, the metal movable type was invented in Korea in 1230. At around ...
The 8-mm-high metal represents a Chinese character. It is 10 mm by 10 mm and made of bronze mixed with lead, iron and aluminum. With these historical facts, it was proved that the widely accepted idea that metal types made in Holland in 1423 or those in Germany invented by Gutenberg in 1450 were the first cast types in the world is wrong. The cast types by Koryo craftsmen preceded 200 – 300 years these successes in European countries. Consequently, the UNESCO in 1972 made an international announcement that the “Chikchisimgyong” is the oldest metal typed printed book in the world and made the fact acceptable by exhibiting a copy of the book at the exhibition in the international book festival in the same year.
This invention was a great event in the development of medieval printing and a technical achievement of the highest order Korean ancestors had contributed to the development of printing.
