Sataek Jijeok Stele, Buyeo

Also called: Sataekjijeok Stele

A stele raised under King Uija by the Great Minister Sataek Jijeok, who built a temple lamenting his old age — the only Baekje stele to survive.

Sataek Jijeok came from the Sataek clan, one of the eight great families of Baekje, and the Nihon shoki records him as a Great Minister (daejwapyeong) sent to Wa. The inscription says that in the gapin year (654), grieving that the body passes easily day by day and the months do not return, he dug gold to build a golden hall and cut jade to raise a precious pagoda. Its lament for the transience of life shows the influence of Laozi–Zhuangzi (Daoist) thought, so in exams it appears with the landscape tile and the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner as evidence of Baekje Daoism.

It was found in 1948 among stones piled by a road in Gwanbuk-ri, Buyeo. Its polished parallel prose and vigorous calligraphy show the refinement of Baekje aristocratic culture. It is a Treasure, kept in Buyeo National Museum.