Jikji
Topic: Print Culture and the Modern World · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Print Culture and the Modern World"
Meaning
Jikji is a Korean Buddhist book about Zen teachings. It was printed in 1377 using movable metal type. This means separate metal letters that can be arranged, inked and reused. It is one of the world's oldest surviving books printed this way, made long before Gutenberg's press in Europe.
Example
Only the second volume of Jikji survives, and it is kept in the National Library of France in Paris. UNESCO added Jikji to its Memory of the World Register in 2001.
Don't confuse with
- Tripitaka Koreana: Korean Buddhist scriptures carved on about 80,000 woodblocks in the 13th century. Jikji used movable metal type, not woodblocks.
- Gutenberg's Bible: printed in Germany with movable metal type around 1450, more than 70 years after Jikji.