[Interview] Master Lim In Ho talks about movable metal type and our culture
http://cafe.daum.net/weeklymonday/iSZz
Movable metal type is considered one of the best inventions in the human cultural development. It made the mass production of books possible, through which knowledge and information was disseminated to the public faster and more broadly than before. We had metal type printing culture since the Koryeo Dynasty. As you know, Korea’s Jikji (1377) is the world’s oldest book printed by metal type.
In the Cheongju Metal Type Succession Education Hall, a master works to succeed the tradition of making metal type. His name is Lim In Ho, and he is a National Intangible Cultural Property No. 101. He met his teacher Oh Guk-jin in 1997 and was initiated into the art of metal type since then. He reproduced Jikji and about 40 metal types of Chosun dynasty in 2015 after struggling for five years. We met him in the Metal Type Succession Education Hall. He was passionately demonstrating how to make movable metal types to the citizens who visited there.
Q: Can you introduce the Metal Type Succession Education Hall?
A: This is a place prepared for people who want to know about metal types. We give a public demonstration to show the technique of producing movable metal types every Friday and the first Saturday of every month. Also, people can make things like small notes in a traditional Korean way and it will be very helpful to understand our cultural history.
Q: Can you explain about Jikji?
A: Although many people can have different opinions about it, I think Jikji is a book of luck for a couple of reasons. First, when it was made at the end of the Koryeo dynasty, the nation was not generally stable. Also, it was made in a different way from the existing types. Ancient East Asians believed that difference multiplies luck. For example, when you write the Chinese character luck in a different way, they believed, you will get much more luck. So, I think, two monks, Seokchan and Daljam made Jikji with the mind praying for good luck for the nation and the people. They believed this belief could settle the confusion and difficulty. This is actually not what is written in any records, but just what I felt while restoring Jikji for five years.
Q: What makes you continue your work
A: You know, it is dangerous to handle metal. When I was restoring Jikji once I mistakenly spilled one drop of molten metal at the end of my pants and they caught fire. I got burned on my legs, and I was to be in hospital the next day. However, do you know what is more important than my life to me? It is the feeling of achievement that I attain from metal types recreated by me. When I see types being made, I feel they are the most beautiful and precious thing in the world. I think I can exchange my life with this feeling of achievement.
Q: How can we spread the technique of producing movable metal types to the world?
A: Although it has already been advertised quite globally, I think the most efficient way is to put in textbooks worldwide. Now, many people in the world know about Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible before they know about Germany. Before people know about France, they first come to know about the Eiffel Tower. People experience the culture of a country first, and then about the country. I think our government should do this job, to introduce it in the textbooks of the world. They should know the significance of Jikji. I think they should not regard Jikji as just a cultural property of Korea. It is the cultural property of the world. It is the oldest metal type and it should be written in the world history that we already made metal types in 1377 and started the printing culture for the world and human beings.
Q: In what direction should the Hall develop in the future?
If this hall is to develop in the future, there is one thing to be solved first. It is about a successor to continue to develop the technique of the movable metal type. A successor should exist before the Hall does, shouldn’t it? If we don’t have a successor, we cannot move forward. This hall is important, but we must train and raise successors. That is the priority. We should also make them economically stable. At present, we just get some financial support from the government. I think I should solve these problems first.
Q: What do you want to tell our readers?
A: Actually, in our culture, there is a tendency to consider what someone else has is more important or better than mine. It is the culture, so to speak, of seeing another’s rice cake as bigger than mine. Many of us don’t know how great and beautiful our culture is. If we want our beautiful culture to last forever, we should learn about our culture and try to preserve it. if you don’t know how to love it and don’t try to keep it, it cannot last long. Therefore, I’d like to emphasize that readers should learn to love our own culture first.
12호2017년9월11일자(인쇄본).pdf