Wood species identification of documentary woodblocks of Songok clan of the Milseong Park, Gyeongju, Korea

This study was conducted to identify wood species of two printing woodblocks either from the Park clan's documentary or Ji-dang documentary of Songok clan of the Milseong Park, Songok, Gyeongju, Korea. Eighty-eight woodblocks out of the total 282 woodblocks were randomly selected to compare anatomical features for the identification of wood species, using a light microscope. As a result, seven wood species were identified, and all of them were diffuse-porous hardwood species. The most significant portion, i.e., 39.8% of wood species was Carpinus laxiflora Blume. Then, Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai, Acer mono Maxim, Prunus sargentii Rehder, Tilia amurensis Rupr, Diospyros kaki Thunb, and Betula costata Trautv was 25.0%, 15.9%, 10.2%, 3.4%, 3.4% and 2.3%, respectively, indicating that all diffuse-porous hardwood species had been used for the woodblocks. It was believed that diffuse-porous hardwoods had been used because they provided an easy of engraving complex Chinese letters, of acquiring these wood species in Gyeongju areas, and a high resistance to repeated printing.