{ "id": "epa51jerjr", "slug": "geumcheok", "title": "Geumcheok", "updated": "2026-10-15", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history" }, { "id": "society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.korea", "label": "Korea", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.korea" }, { "id": "society.history.asia.korea.kr-early-joseon", "label": "Early Joseon (1392 to 1592)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.asia.korea.kr-early-joseon" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-early-joseon", "label": "Asia (other) · 1000 to 1799: Early Joseon (1392 to 1592)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-early-joseon", "path": [ { "id": "geo.asia", "label": "Asia (other)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000", "label": "Asia (other) · 1000 to 1799", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia", "label": "Asian history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea", "label": "Korea", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea" }, { "id": "geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-early-joseon", "label": "Early Joseon (1392 to 1592)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.asia.t1000.society.history.asia.korea.kr-early-joseon" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Geumcheok (금척) is a golden ruler of Korean legend, bestowed by a divine being in dreams to symbolize Heaven-granted authority to rule, and attached to the founders of Silla and Joseon.", "snippet": "Geumcheok (금척) is a golden ruler of Korean legend, bestowed by a divine being in dreams to symbolize Heaven-granted authority to rule, and attached to the founders of Silla and Joseon.", "node": "society.history.asia.korea.kr-early-joseon", "markdown": "# Geumcheok\n\n**Geumcheok** (금척, \"golden ruler\") is a golden ruler of Korean legend and ritual, an object said to have been bestowed by a divine being in a dream and treated as a symbol of Heaven-granted authority to rule. The best-known traditions attach it to Bak Hyeokgeose, the founder of Silla, and to Yi Seong-gye (이성계), the founder of Joseon, whose dream of receiving the ruler became the basis of a court song, a court dance, and a state decoration.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007) In the [Joseon dynasty](https://www.edgepedia.org/joseon-dynasty) the narrative was also transmitted as the Monggeumcheok court dance.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007) • [2](http://waks.aks.ac.kr/rsh/dir/rview.aspx?dataID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001_DIC%4000011948&rshID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001)\n\n| Fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Meaning | Geumcheok (金尺) means \"golden ruler\"; in legend it symbolizes divinely granted authority to rule[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007) |\n| Silla legend | Bak Hyeokgeose received a golden ruler in a dream; measuring the dead revived them and measuring the sick cured them[3](https://m.dongascience.com/en/news/2802) |\n| Joseon song | Jeong Do-jeon composed the akjang \"Monggeumcheok\" for Taejo[2](http://waks.aks.ac.kr/rsh/dir/rview.aspx?dataID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001_DIC%4000011948&rshID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001) • [4](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0018784) |\n| Place name | Geumcheok-ri in Gyeongju takes its name (\"Golden Ruler Village\") from the legend of the ruler hidden in one of the tombs[5](https://english.khs.go.kr/chaen/search/selectGeneralSearchDetail.do;jsessionid=zXSWPixATno5SamnwHtecyPcIi3f8XoRf1e6vwvL1xLHHTuPlRz2N2Lbgy84QoT3.cha-was01_servlet_engine4?canAsset=&canceled=&ccebAsno=0000430000000&ccebCtcd=&ccebKdcd=&ccebPcd1=&enCcebAsdt=&endNum=&mn=EN_02_02&pageIndex=272®ion=&sCcebCtcd=37&sCcebKdcd=13&searchWrd=&stCcebAsdt=&startNum=) |\n\n## The golden ruler in Silla legend\n\nAccording to the legend told at the Geumcheok-ri tomb complex in Gyeongju, a divine being appeared in a dream to King Bak Hyeokgeose and gave him a golden ruler, which the king found in his hand upon waking. Following the divine being's instructions, the king measured a dead person with the ruler and the person came back to life, and measuring a sick person cured the illness.[3](https://m.dongascience.com/en/news/2802) In this orally transmitted form of the tale the golden ruler is not a symbol of rule but an object with healing and regenerative life-force.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007)\n\nThe Cultural Heritage Administration's account says the king ordered 40 mounds built; the village was later called Geumcheok after this Tomb of the Golden Ruler (Geumcheok Gobun).[3](https://m.dongascience.com/en/news/2802) • [5](https://english.khs.go.kr/chaen/search/selectGeneralSearchDetail.do;jsessionid=zXSWPixATno5SamnwHtecyPcIi3f8XoRf1e6vwvL1xLHHTuPlRz2N2Lbgy84QoT3.cha-was01_servlet_engine4?canAsset=&canceled=&ccebAsno=0000430000000&ccebCtcd=&ccebKdcd=&ccebPcd1=&enCcebAsdt=&endNum=&mn=EN_02_02&pageIndex=272®ion=&sCcebCtcd=37&sCcebKdcd=13&searchWrd=&stCcebAsdt=&startNum=) The king who interred it died suddenly, so which tomb holds the treasure has remained unknown.[3](https://m.dongascience.com/en/news/2802)\n\n## The Joseon song, dance, and ritual object\n\nThe geumcheok entered Joseon state ritual through Jeong Do-jeon (정도전), who composed the akjang (court song) \"Monggeumcheok\" (몽금척, \"Dream of the Golden Ruler\") to praise Taejo's virtues. Its content is that Taejo, before ascending the throne, dreamed that a divine being gave him a golden ruler and told him to govern the country with it.[2](http://waks.aks.ac.kr/rsh/dir/rview.aspx?dataID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001_DIC%4000011948&rshID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001) • [4](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0018784)\n\nThe song became a dance and then a physical object.[2](http://waks.aks.ac.kr/rsh/dir/rview.aspx?dataID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001_DIC%4000011948&rshID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001) • [4](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0018784)\n\n## Transmission in literature\n\nThe geumcheok narrative served to legitimize the acquisition of royal power: the golden ruler symbolized sacred authority to rule bestowed from Heaven, and the story of its bestowal made a founder's rise to the throne appear divinely sanctioned.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007)\n\nThe Yi Seong-gye version of the tale, in which a divine being descends in his dream, gives him the golden ruler, and tells him that his qualities, virtue, and popular support qualify him to rule with it, was transmitted through a series of Joseon texts: the Taejo Sillok (『태조실록』), the Yangchonjip (『양촌집』), the Sambongjip (『삼봉집』), the [Yongbieocheonga](https://www.edgepedia.org/yongbieocheonga) (『용비어천가』), the Daedongunbugunok (『대동운부군옥』), and the Mokjaejip (『목재집』).[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007) Beyond these, the narrative also circulated as the court dance Monggeumcheok, as the long narrative poem \"Mongsugeumcheok Songbyeongseo\" (夢授金尺頌幷序), as a poem \"Monggeumcheok\" in the Jukjisa (『죽지사』), and as the Geumcheok Grand Medal.[1](https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007)\n\n## Geumcheok-ri and the measure in history\n\nThe village of Geumcheok-ri outside Gyeongju preserves the legend in its name and in a cluster of Old Silla wood-lined chamber tombs. The Cultural Heritage Administration describes about 30 round and gourd-shaped tombs there, presumably for low-level Silla nobles of the period 57 BC to AD 668;[5](https://english.khs.go.kr/chaen/search/selectGeneralSearchDetail.do;jsessionid=zXSWPixATno5SamnwHtecyPcIi3f8XoRf1e6vwvL1xLHHTuPlRz2N2Lbgy84QoT3.cha-was01_servlet_engine4?canAsset=&canceled=&ccebAsno=0000430000000&ccebCtcd=&ccebKdcd=&ccebPcd1=&enCcebAsdt=&endNum=&mn=EN_02_02&pageIndex=272®ion=&sCcebCtcd=37&sCcebKdcd=13&searchWrd=&stCcebAsdt=&startNum=) a science-news account of the site describes a cluster of over 50 large and small wooden-chamber tombs with stone mounds, 32 of them confirmed, belonging to Silla royalty and aristocracy before the Unified Silla period.[3](https://m.dongascience.com/en/news/2802) The tombs were built between the late 5th and early 6th centuries and are known to belong to the powerful rulers of the area.[6](https://doi.org/10.12654/jcs.2022.38.3.04) A 2024 study of the Moryang-bu district finds that the Geumcheok-ri and Baemnae-ri tomb clusters show the Moryang-bu's character as an autonomous political unit, and that from the late 5th century the Moryang-bu elite built the same stone-lined wooden chamber tombs as the Silla royal house.[7](https://doi.org/10.37331/jkah.2024.06.114.135)\n\nAs an actual measuring instrument, the cheok (ruler) belonged to a traditional Korean length system in which 1 chon = 10 bun, 1 cheok = 10 chon, 1 jang = 10 cheok, and 1 in = 10 jang.[8](https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO199411919654899.page) Scholarship on ancient Korean measures has moved from treating the Goguryeo cheok as identical with the Eastern Wei cheok and used in all [Three Kingdoms](https://www.edgepedia.org/three-kingdoms), to viewing it as an independent Goguryeo unit used in Goguryeo and Japan for land measurement; Tang-dynasty large cheok excavated at Ssangbuk-ri in Buyeo and at the Lisung hill fort in Hanam show such rulers were used in Baekje and Silla during the 7th century.[9](http://dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/NODE02064725) \n\n## References\n\n1. 금척설화, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0008007\n2. 금척(金尺), 역주조선왕조실록, Academy of Korean Studies. http://waks.aks.ac.kr/rsh/dir/rview.aspx?dataID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001_DIC%4000011948&rshID=AKS-2013-CKD-1240001\n3. How King Muyeol Ushered In a New Royal Era for Unified Silla, DongA Science. https://m.dongascience.com/en/news/2802\n4. 몽금척, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. https://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Article/E0018784\n5. Ancient Tombs in Geumcheok-ri, Gyeongju, Cultural Heritage Administration. https://english.khs.go.kr/chaen/search/selectGeneralSearchDetail.do;jsessionid=zXSWPixATno5SamnwHtecyPcIi3f8XoRf1e6vwvL1xLHHTuPlRz2N2Lbgy84QoT3.cha-was01_servlet_engine4?canAsset=&canceled=&ccebAsno=0000430000000&ccebCtcd=&ccebKdcd=&ccebPcd1=&enCcebAsdt=&endNum=&mn=EN_02_02&pageIndex=272®ion=&sCcebCtcd=37&sCcebKdcd=13&searchWrd=&stCcebAsdt=&startNum=\n6. Journal of Conservation Science, 2022, vol. 38 no. 3. https://doi.org/10.12654/jcs.2022.38.3.04\n7. Characteristics of Silla's Moryang-bu and Geumcheok-ri tombs, Journal of Korean Ancient History, 2024. https://doi.org/10.37331/jkah.2024.06.114.135\n8. Review on the Ancient Korea Length, Weight and Volumetric Measures, Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life. https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO199411919654899.page\n9. Research Status and Issues of Ancient Korean Weights and Measures. http://dbpia.co.kr/Journal/ArticleDetail/NODE02064725\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › Asian history › Korea › Early Joseon (1392 to 1592)*\n\n*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/geumcheok", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/geumcheok.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Geumcheok\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/geumcheok. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Geumcheok](https://www.edgepedia.org/geumcheok)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/geumcheok](https://www.edgepedia.org/geumcheok). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Geumcheok\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/geumcheok. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Geumcheok is a golden ruler of Korean legend, bestowed by a divine being in dreams to symbolize Heaven-granted authority to rule, and attached to the founders of Silla and Joseon." }