Temple story · From the source text
A Plaque Written from a Sickbed
Kim Jeong-hui (Chusa)
Signature on the Panjeon hall plaque, Bongeunsa (1856)
Seventy-one, Gwa, written while ill. (七十一果病中作)
In 1856, the calligrapher Kim Jeong-hui, known as Chusa, then seventy-one, wrote the two characters 板殿, 'Panjeon,' for a plaque at Bongeunsa. The Panjeon houses scripture woodblocks, among them the Flower Garland (Avatamsaka) Sutra blocks carved that same year, and the plaque is thought to celebrate their completion. Freed from exile, he had been spending his days between his country house in Gwacheon and Bongeunsa, and he ended the plaque with the signature 七十一果病中作, 'Seventy-one, Gwa, written while ill,' Gwa being short for a pen name of his old age. He died later that year, and the plaque is said to have been written three days before his death. Its plain, almost clumsy strokes are often called 'child's script.' In front of the Panjeon, look for the two simple characters and the sickbed signature.