Hunmin jeong-eum (document)

Published in September 1446, Hunmin jeong-eum (Hunmin chŏng'um) (훈민정음; 訓民正音) ("The Correct/Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People") was promulgated to the Korean people the existence of an entirely new and native script, which was initially named after the publication, but later came to be known as Han-geul. It was written by King Sejong the Great and scholars of the Hall of Worthies (Jiphyeonjeon).

It is a basic text that contains a preface, the alphabet letters (jamo), and brief descriptions of their corresponding sounds. It is later supplemented by a longer document called Hunmin jeong-eum haerye. To distinguish it from its supplement, Hunmin jeong-eum is sometimes called the Samples and Significance Edition of Hunmin jeong-eum (훈민정음예의본 ; 訓民正音例義本).

The original publication is mostly in Han-geul, with Hanja interspersed throughout the 30 pages. However, all Hanja have their Han-geul counterpart written immediately below them; smaller than Hanja if they are in the headings or subheadings. The Han-geul were written in both ink-brush and geometric styles.

The printing block of the document seems to based on the handwriting[?] of several people, because the Hanja style, especially thickness of the strokes' "bones", varies throughout the document. Or less likely, it was a person who wrote it in several days using different ink brushes.

Like traditional Chinese writings, the characters of the document are written in horizontal lines, organized from right to left.

Kept in the Kansong Art Museum (澗松美術館), it is South Korean National Treasure number 70 and has been a UNESCO Memory of the World Register since October 1997.

External links

• Original document (http://www.gugeo.com/hmbook1.htm)
• Hunmin as a Memory of the World Register (http://www.unesco.org/webworld/mdm/1997/eng/korea_hunmin/koreanom): UNSECO web page