Kyoung-joo: Seokkudam & Bulguksa

Okay, so it's getting to the point where I'm starting to be way behind on my blog posts and I don't have the time to tell you EVERYTHING that I'm learning. Which is unfortunate because it's all so fascinating. So I'll be brief with some of these posts, but I will be sure to include a few notable things.

After we visited the Wongsung tomb we had lunch (which was soft tofu stew - 순두부 찌게) and ice cream before getting in the car for some more driving up to the Buddhist temple called Seokkudam (석굳암). It was completed in 751 A.D. and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Every Buddha has 33 unique symbols that identify the figure as a Buddha, including the knobby hair, long ear lobes and androgynous features. The temple at Seokkudam has been found to match the Golden Ratio, and the halo behind the Buddha appears as a perfect circle to viewers but because of the curve of the dome on which it lies it is actually an ellipsoid; architecturally it features a circle motif. We also learned that in Buddhism there are Bodhisattva's (보살) who are people who reach nirvana only to remain in mortality to help others achieve nirvana.

We had to wait in line a long time to get up to the temple and see the Buddha - but as soon as we got out everyone was gone! We managed to get up to the temple at the same time as a massive wave of visitors. Luckily our next stop, which was further down the hill, was not nearly so congested. This temple is called Bulguksa (불국사). Within the temple are many different elements: one that we saw at various temples is the four drums symbolizing water, air, land and spirits/the dead (technically this last one is a bell). By ringing/beating all of the drums the monks call all sentient beings to meditation.

The two pagodas pictured above are the the tabotap (타보탑) and sokatap (소카탑) respectively. The tabotap means many treasure pagoda and although it is made of stone it is cut as if it were wood. The sokatap is Buddha's pagoda and inside was found the oldest printed paper in the world. Further into the temple are various shrines to different major Buddhas including Avalokitesvana and Vairocana (there was a third one but I can't remember who it is). Each Buddha can be identified by his mudra or hand symbol (ex: one hand clasping other's first two fingers/one hand clasped over the other; thumb and middle finger forming circles in a kind of yin-yang formation apart/same formation only the circles are interlocked). Also included in Buddhist temples throughout Korea are evidences of shamanism which permeate Buddhism because of its popularity with the masses. While shamanism believes in many different kinds of spirits, the biggest one is the sanshin (산신). Monks do not like the sanshin at all, and often times sanshin shrines that used to be featured in temples have now been either eliminated or drastically demoted in prominence. For example at Bulguksa the sanshin shrine that used to be there has now been turned into a "disciples hall" and the sanshin shrine is just a painting in a corner of one of the other Buddha shrines. Because everyone still wants to worship the sanshin, you will find areas where there are TONS of little stone towers made by stacking flat-ish stones on top of each other from bigger to smaller. Our group had fun stopping to make our own sanshin stones.

Kyoung-joo: tomb of King Wonsung

After recuperating on Sunday and going to the LDS branch here in Gimhae, on Monday we piled into a 12-seater van and headed off to Kyoung-joo which is in the SE in the area of where the Shilla (실라) kingdom used to be.

These photos are from the "supposed" tomb of King Wonsung (원성). As was typical of Korean kings during the late Shilla period, the tomb is guarded by statues depicting military and civil officials (in this case there were 2 military guys and 1 civilian). What was interesting about the warrior guardian was that he doesn't look Korea/Asian. His facial features, head dress, and the money pouch on his belt indicate that this statue was modeled after a Sogdian. Sogdians were Persian expatriates living in central Asia who were known for being big time traders (hence the money pouch). The fact that Sogdians are depicted at this tomb indicates the great trading power of Kyoungjoo in Korea. Dr. Peterson went on to tell us of a Sogdian in Korea who was so powerful, he is said to have been leader of a "thessalocracy" or "sea government" - when there was a power vacuum in Korea over who would be the next king of Kyoungjoo, he went all in to back one of the two major candidates for the throne. After helping to secure the throne for the new king, the Sogdian Jeongbogo (정보고) asked for an alliance with him through marriage to his daughter. Jeongbogo's lack of a suitable bloodline meant that he'd overstepped his bounds with such a request.

Anyways - what I found much more interesting than all of that was the zodiac depicted all around the actual tomb. There are 12 evenly spaced carvings, each one showing a warrior figure sporting the head of one of the 12 animals of the zodiac. In ancient times, Korea had 12 hours in a day and each animal corresponded to one of those hours. The horse - which is my year, or "dee" (띠) - matches the middle of the day/noon. Koreans have two different ways to name the years - you can either say the name of the animal, or use a kind of abbreviation:

Rat = jee (지)
Ox = chuk (축)
Tiger = een (인)
Rabbit = myo (묘)
Dragon = jin (진)
Snake = sah (사)
Horse = oh (오)
Sheep = mi (미)
Monkey = shin (신)
Rooster = yoo (유)
Dog = sul (술)
Pig = hae (해)

Goodbye Seoul - Hello Gimhae

By Saturday the 7^th of May we were on the road to Gimhae, stopping at a few historical sites along the way. We all piled into a rented charter bus without any idea how long and exhausting this trip would turn out to be. Initially we played a game called Samyukgu (삼육구) which literally means “3, 6, 9”. The goal is to count in Korean using sino-Korean numbers, each person in the group saying the next number at their turn. However, whenever a number comes up that includes a 3, 6, or 9 the person taking the turn must clap rather than say the number out loud. Numbers including more than one of these numbers must clap for every time the number appears in the digit (Ex: 36, 69 and 99 all require 2 claps). So as the game begins, it sounds like this: 

“Eel “ (1 =일)

“Ee”  (2 = 이)

*Clap* (3 = 삼)

“Sah” (4 = 사)

“Oh” (5 = 오)

*Clap* (6 = 육)

“Chil” (7 = 칠)

“Pal” (8 = 팔)

*Clap* (9 = 구)

“Ship” (10 = 십)

I think the highest we ended up getting to was around 60. It’s a great way to practice numbers but it’s easy to slip up and get out. Before too long we figured out that the best way to pass the time was napping – this we did a lot of since the ride ended up taking all day with our two stops.

The first stop was at the Independence Hall which includes 7 different museums and a huge monument at the front. It’s meant to symbolize the future unity of the two Koreas – now they are divided (at the tips of the prongs) but eventually they move closer together until they are joined. I’m not sure which side is supposed to be which Korea, but for the sake of South Korean pride, I’m going to venture a guess that the worn out side North Korea and the crisp structured side is South Korea. The museums depict Korea’s early history and independence from various invading/oppressive influences. Compared to museums in the states, Korean museums are very graphic! There were very disturbing displays regarding assassinations, comfort women, prisoners, riots, etc. It was all technically PG-13 but I was glad that our time constraints forced us to merely pass through these various museums. 

Afterwards the bus driver showed us an awesome place to eat nearby, and we feasted on kalbi – sangchusam (상추삼) style (aka using lettuce to make wraps filled with meat, rice and veggies).

Another couple hours of driving landed us at destination number 2 which was the print museum in Kyoung-ju (경주). We learned all about Korea’s being credited with the world’s earliest book published using metal moveable type in 1377 – much earlier than Gutenberg’s printing press. The book is called the Jikji (직지) and is a kind of digest of Buddhist concepts. The Jikji is actually a volume 2 and the other volume(s) are missing. In addition to creating the world’s oldest known metal moveable-type book, Korea also is credited with creating the world’s oldest printed document EVER, dated to before 751 A.D. The museum seemed to be more focused on showing off the Jikji, but I agree with Dr. Peterson that the museum should play up this second (and I think greater) accomplishment a lot more. There is only a brief timeline that addresses this significant and amazing fact. At the gift shop I purchased paper with which I was able to obtain a printing of part of a book written by King Sejong (from a replica of the original wooden block of course). I got to rub the ink on the paper myself and everything! It was pretty neat.

It was late by the time we got to the Gimhae hanokchon (김헤 한옥촌) but since we hadn’t had dinner yet we went to a nearby restaurant to have Gomtang (곰탕) which is kind of like ox tail soup.

Namsan Tower

*These photos were taken with my little point-and-shoot canon: I forgot to put the memory card back into the nikon dslr*

On Friday the 6th of May we had an appointment with Rob Sudwick (spelling?) and Paul Thomas of the U.S. embassy here in Seoul. It was a chance for those of us interested in the foreign service or international relations to discuss what it's like to work in an embassy. It was something different to here about contemporary Korean politics rather than ancient history, but it was difficult for most of us to stay completely conscious during the Q&A. But it was nice to be able to go to a nearby Japanese bistro and get some yummy tempura udon. YUM.

The rest of the day was free time - Dr. Peterson suggested some things for us to do, but after several days of intense museum touring and site seeing he wasn't too adamant about how we spent our time. One of my peers suggested going up to Namsan (남산) Tower and in the end only myself and one of Dr. Peterson's former students/study abroaders named David (who had tagged along for the embassy Q&A) went with Junil to Namsan. By the time the taxi dropped us off nearby it was raining pretty hard. David had to go pay rent and do some other errands he had forgotten and could only describe to us how to get up to the tower. We decided to take the scenic trail up the mountain that followed an old city wall - we got about half way up when the wall and trail ended and we were in some kind of parking lot for a hotel. Ultimately we got lost by heading in the wrong direction, which we corrected by backtracking with a taxi and then taking a bus up to the base of the last steep walk up to the tower.

Finally we made it to Namsan Tower (aka. N Seoul Tower) which reminded me a lot of the Space Needle. There were shops within and about the tower and there was an admission fee to ride the elevator to the observation deck. The elevator ride featured a very interesting video presentation on the ceiling which made it feel like you were being shot into space to the distant planet of N Seoul Tower (the ride back down was the same video only coming back to earth). Once we were up in the tower, the views were pretty awesome. Granted, it was a cloudy wet day and visibility was low but it was a neat experience.

What was especially interesting were the "locks of love" on the fences surrounding the tower. The idea is that you write the name of a significant other or family members on the lock and secure it to the fence. This is to ensure an eternal relationship with those that you've indicated on the lock. The tower gift shops sell locks and special tree structures have been built for the sole purpose of being decorated in locks. Many of the locks are very cute and include messages. Even the benches were designed to force couples who sit on them to lean in to each other.

While it was a fun and interesting experience getting to and seeing Namsan Tower, it was definitely something you only need to do once. But I was glad for the chance to get to know Junil better. There's something about a shared experience that helps to build a friendship. The day ended with five of us going to a restaurant near the temple home which is owned by a member couple. I ordered 오리 매운탕 (spicy duck soup) which was a first for me. It was definitely hot and duck isn't something I've eaten a lot of, but it was tasty. After we'd finished eating, the sister (자매님) came out and starting chatting us up - and talked to us for a long time. It was great language practice, and her stories were amazing, but we were at the restaurant a LONG time haha.

Children's Day

On the 5th of May we visited various Buddhist, historical and Confucian sites in Seoul. It was Children’s Day so the entire city was more active than usual.

Our first stop was a Buddhist temple in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the city. They had TONS of lanterns strung up and various activities for children (including a Korean clown and different kinds of arts and crafts). While standing outside the temple, Dr. Peterson explained the three treasures of Buddhism. They are: the Buddha (relics), the Dharma (scriptures), and the monastic order of the monks (상하). These treasures would come up again when we later visited Buddhist temples in southern Korea.

Nearby the temple was located a historical landmark – a post office actually – called the “central post office” or 우정총국. It was the first “modern” post office in Korea: “modern” meaning it dealt with domestic AND international mail. Korea had an established domestic postal system (aka Pony Express) long before Western civilizations or the U.S. Dr. Peterson went on to lament the poor description given on the plaque next to the post office. He explained that it failed to grasp the greater historical significance on top of presenting a biased account of the coup that was staged in the building during its inception ceremony dinner. Here’s the story (please forgive the brevity of this account as I am not nearly as knowledgeable or as good a story teller as Dr. P): The coup that took place was in 1884 and is known as Gamshinjeungyeon (감신정연). The Korean progressives wanted remove the reigning Min family, who were conservatives. The Progressives noticed the example of the Japanese Westernization movement and desired the same change for Korea. The goal was to kill the Min brothers who would be at the dinner held within the post office. Their strategy was to create a distraction by setting fire to a nearby thatched-roof house (which would pose a serious hazard to the whole neighborhood of thatched-roof homes) and in the ensuing commotion to put out the fire/escape, assassins would kill the Min brothers. On the night of the dinner, the Progressives worked to set fire to their targeted house, but because of straws high ignition temperature they were unable to light a successful fire. Eventually they set fire to a tile-roof house causing the dinner to end in a hubbub. In the end, only one Min brother was wounded but not fatally. The failed coup meant that Korea would not jump on the Westernization bandwagon with Japan. While the wounded brother’s injury was not initially fatal, subsequent medical treatment failed to successfully heal him – I’m not sure but I think the wound was probably infected. Anyways, King Kojong (코종) (his brother) worried his brother wouldn’t live and sought the professional help of the American physician Horace Allen. Allen was a surgeon as well as the chaplain at the U.S. embassy. After healing the wounded brother, Allen was asked by the king what he wanted for a reward. Allen asked that Western medicine be practiced in modern hospitals, which meant establishing a more modern school system for educating new Western doctors – and he added in churches on top of that (because he was a chaplain). This explains the prevalence of Protestant Christianity in Korea compared to other East Asian countries.

At the end of our day, Dr. Peterson took us to the Sun-gyun-gwang (선균관), the headquarters of Confucianism in Korea (at least that’s what I understood it to be). It was interesting to hear him talk about the importance of the gingko tree, which symbolizes the unity of opposites. Gingko trees are coniferous (like pine and fir trees) but unlike other conifers they are not evergreen. They are deciduous and lose their leaves each year. Dr. P also described the 3 bonds and 5 relationships of Confucianism. The 3 bonds are between:

• King and Subject
• Father and Son
• Husband and Wife

The 5 relationships include the 3 bonds, as well as:

• Older and Younger
• Friend and Friend

All of the 5 relationships except for Friend-Friend are vertical relationships: one is above the other. Friend-Friend is a horizontal relationship in which the parties involved are equals. The characteristics of the relationships are:

• King – Subject = righteousness
• Father – Son = intimacy
• Husband – Wife = distinction
• Older – Younger = order
• Friend – Friend = trust

After this visit we were allowed free time which I spent visiting the Seoul National Museum along with a few other students. For dinner we had chicken kalbi (닭 갈비) which was quite spicy (being in the restaurant meant breathing in spicy air) but really really good. It was neat to have the servers cook the food for you on a hot skillet in the middle of the table. Yes you should ALL be insanely jealous right now :D

Much love from Korea XO

Kyoungbok Palace

We kicked off our study abroad with a visit to Kyoungbok Palace (경복궁) where we discussed the concept of monumentalization and how Confucianism played a role in the organization of the royal court.

The large gate is labeled with the Chinese characters which translate to Heungyehmun gate (흥예문). The “예” is defined as “ritual, ceremony, etiquette, etc.” – therefore this is the gate is of “exaltation of ritual, ceremony, etiquette”.

The smaller gate is called Dongjeungmun gate (동정문) which roughly translates as “the gate for the concern of government”. Its three doors lead to three paths, the middle of which is considered the god’s way where the spirits can enter into the palace. No one is to enter through this middle door, but rather people must enter and exit via the two doors to the right and left. Upon entering the courtyard beyond this gate, you find rows of stone plaques spaced evenly from the two side doors all the way to the king’s throne hall. These stones indicate various ranks for court officials and mark where these people are to stand during official ceremonies. The stones to the east indicate civilian officials. Their uniforms bore cranes – one crane for most officials, two cranes for high ranking ones. The plaques to the west indicate military ranks, whose officials wore tigers as their symbol. During ceremonies, the organization of the officials would take on a triangular pattern: the closer the plaque to the throne, the higher the rank and the fewer the number of people who qualified to stand behind it. As the plaques move farther away, more officials fill in the lower ranks.

The officials obtain their ranks via exams. Unlike China, Korea allowed only those who were aristocrats (yahngban = 양반) to take the exams. You had to prove that you were related to ancestors who had passed exams as well. The exams were given every three years. Besides an exam for court officials, there was also a kind of miscellaneous exam called the chapgwa (찹과) which certified those who wanted to become doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc. While both groups were technically part of the aristocracy, those who took the chapgwa were frowned upon by the other aristocrats. They were called joong-een (중인) which translates to “middle class”. However, this wasn’t because they were lower in status, it was because they lived in the middle of Seoul.

Once we got free time a group of us were able to go to both the folk museum and the national museum. The folk museum displayed beautiful garments and art from early Korean history and the national museum displayed swords, official seals, imperial cars, and King Sejong’s (세정) crazy accurate water clock, just to name a few.

We ended the night with an American dinner of taco soup at President Roger’s house – a friend of Dr. Peterson’s and the branch president of the English branch in Seoul. His wife is half Korean, and we had a fun night having Family Home Evening, playing with his kids, and relaxing after a long day on our feet.