New Reading and Translation of Epitaph of Buyeo Yung

This paper aims to correct the wrong understanding of the epitaph of Buyeo Yung 扶餘隆 who was the crown prince of Baekje king Uija 義慈王. The paper finds out when and where the epitaph tablet was discovered and who possess it now as well as newly reads and translates it according to the original rubbing and photograph of the inscription. Summary of the study is as follows: The epitaph of Buyeo Yung was discovered in Beimangshan 北邙山, Mang Mountain (north of Luoyang 洛陽, China) actually in 1919 while it has been known that it was unearthed in 1920. However, it is not known exactly where it was excavated. Lid of the epitaph, which was housed in the Kaifeng Library 開封圖書館, is now in the Henan Museum 河南博物院 in Zhengzhou 鄭州. The body, which was in Guanlin 關林, Shrine for Guanyu 關羽 is currently in the Luoyang Museum 洛陽博物館. Who was the tomb owner was inscribed on the lid stone in 9 characters of Zhuanshu 篆書, an ancient style of writing Chinese characters, which are readable. The body of the epitaph has 670 characters of Kaishu 楷書, which are not easy to read, It has been known that the number of characters was 669 so far. On the body is lined off into 27 horizontal rows and 27 vertical columns. Therefore 729 squares are made and the last row is empty. The paper reads all 670 characters including damaged characters, which are impossible to decipher: 3 characters damaged at the excavation are read by guessing meaning from context: the other characters damaged after the excavation are deciphered according to the original rubbing that was made right after the discovery. The inscription is divided into 6 parts according to the new translation based on the new reading. They are as follows: where Buyeo Yung came from and who his ascendants were ; praise of his personality and talent as well as what he did after Baekje's fall ; what is written for being given of Posthumous name ; when and where his funeral was held ; admiration for him ; title of the epitaph, which is never seen before. Even though the paper tries to translate the inscription newly, there are some words whose meaning is not known, which still remains to be solved.