Daesanru is the hanging wooden plaque of a two-storied house built by Jeong Jongno (1738-1816, pen name Ipjae) as a place for learning and teaching in Usan-ri, Oeseo-myeon, Sangju. The term ‘Daesan’ means to face hills, whose implication presumably was taken from the phrase in “Yong-ye” of the Analects of Confucius, which says, “The virtuous find pleasure in mountains. [仁者樂山]” Zhu Xi elaborated this passage as follows: “Since the virtuous rest in rectitude and are stable and immovable like mountains, they take pleasure in mountains.”
The calligraphy of the hanging wooden plaque is written by Jeong Dongyo in the semi-cursive style. The script displays a well-balanced combination of contrasting qualities such as, strength and softness, slowness and swiftness, lightness and heaviness, and thickness and thinness. The immense variety of the brush strokes does not let in any hint of monotony. Notably the lower but wider presence of ‘山’ in the middle produces a refreshing effect on the spatial composition.