King Gwanggaeto’s Stone Monument Takbon Presented as Chinese Artifact

King Gwanggaeto’s Stone Monument Takbon Presented as Chinese Artifact. August. 09, 2004 22:00. by Won-Jae Park parkwj@donga.com.

*Takbon – copy from tapping on the paper with ink pad, it also means a rubbed copy of pictographs of tombstones or stone monuments.

The Tokyo National Museum in Japan held a special exhibition for a takbon of King Gwanggaeto’s stone monument, presenting it as a Chinese artifact, and on August 9, the Korean Cultural Center in Japan demanded a correction from the Japanese government.

The Tokyo National Museum put on exhibit - which started on August 3 and will end in two months - 31 artifacts, including a full-scale takbon of King Gwanggaeto’s stone monument, in a room with the sign “China’s Books,” and hence presented the takbon as a Chinese relic. The museum’s Web site, www.tnm.jp, advertised the exhibition as “China’s Books Special Exhibition King Gwanggaeto’s Stone Monument,” but it later erased the expression after receiving the Korean objection.

The Korean Cultural Center in Japan complained to Japan’s Ministry of Culture saying, “There is the possibility of misunderstanding King Gwanggaeto stone monument and Goguryo as part of China because the title of the room is ‘China’s Books’.”