The key to ensure the eternal prosperity of the kingdom depended on the continuous existence of benevolent rulers. Therefore, securing the dynastic lineage and educating potential rulers were considered matters of great importance. 

Amongst all the king’s offspring, the first-born son of the queen consort had priority to succeed the throne. In general, he was formally chosen as crown prince around age seven whereafter he was officially entitled to be the next sovereign. Therefore through means of a special educational program utmost effort was made to ensure the correct education of the Crown Prince. Boyang-cheong (輔養廳, Assistant Nursery Office) for the first-born prince was in charge of bringing up and educating the prince until around the age of three. As soon as the prince started to read, Ganghak-cheong (講學廳, Lecturing Office) took over and gradually intensified his lessons. 

Once the prince was invested with the official title of crown prince he underwent a specialized series of lectures (seoyeon, 書筵) on how to rule the nation. The lectures were run by Seja Sigang-won (世子侍講院, Crown Prince Tutorial Office) which stressed the cultivation of personality above all educational aims and emphasized filial piety as the most important Confucian virtue. The Seja Sigang-won also provided leadership training for the Crown Prince in order for him to develop a clear historical perspective and a great vision for the next rule. 

This plaque bears two large letters that reads “Chun-bang” (春坊, Spring Place), a nickname for the Crown Prince Tutorial Office where the plaque was hung. The red marks on the top right are the seal script characters “yepil” (睿筆), signifying the plaque was written by crown prince Hyomyeong (1809-1830) in 1829. He was the heir of King Sunjo who was posthumously enthroned as King Ikjong. 

In a four-character script in the middle “guide, open and enrich” (bodogye’ok, 輔導啓沃), “enlighten and enrich” (gye’ok, 啓沃) is derived from a phrase, “Open (or enlighten) your mind and open my mind (啓乃心啓朕心)” in ‘The Charge to Yue [說命] Part 1’, Book of History (Shujing, 書經). The phrase means transmission of one’s thought to another and was often quoted to suggest faithful assistance to the king or the crown prince.