Seogyeongsa 서경사 西慶寺

An exotic building is downtown in Gyeongju 경주, the 1000-year old capital city of the Shilla Kingdom. During the Japanese colonial period, lots of Japanese shrines and Buddhist temples were built across the nation. They were not only for the Japanese in Joseon, the previous name of Korea, but for the colonial people, who were forced to worship the Japanese God in the shrines. Back then, Joseon was thought to be their permanent colony and they didn't hesitate to spend money on constructing splendid buildings to symbolize and boast of their power in Joseon.

The Japanese temple named Seogyeongsa 서경사 西慶寺 was built in Gyeongju in 1932, which was intended to propagate Japanese Buddhism in this area. It belongs to Soto school of Japanese Buddhism 조동종 曹洞宗. This temple was built out of materials like woods imported from abroad. The roof is decorated luxuriously and its tiles are tightly connected by copper wires. It has been known that Japanese turned this place into a police post afterward. It has a gloomy basement for examining and torturing anti-Japan activists for national independence.

After independence, this building was abandoned like a ghost house and became an office of fire prevention and control. But the discussion over its future has not reached any conclusion so far. Some people wished to pull down it to utilize the land, while others expect it to be conserved well because it is a historical symbol of the colonial age. Minor repair work has been done to maintain this old wooden building. Now it is used as the regional headquarter for marine corps veteran. Once in a while Japanese tourists visit and look around.

(*Updated January 18, 2010) *The top old photo shows the original image of the temple during the colonial era and the below ones the recent images back when regional headquarter for marine corps veteran used the building. After the local government had decided to conserve it as a culture property, the regional headquarter for marine corps veteran left it empty and moved. The restoration and conservation work has been completed recently.

around a Buddhist temple

When a Buddhist monk is dead, his corpse is commonly cremated instead of being buried and his ashes are sometimes kept in Budo 부도, a tomb made of stone.

Before drying persimmons in winter, they peel the persimmons and loop a piece of string around the base attached to the stem and then tie the persimmons to a long string. They should be ready to eat in four to six weeks.

A scene behind monks' residence, built in a traditional Korean style. Winter is the best season for drying persimmons and peppers in Korea. The red ones tied to the long strings are persimmons. Before drying, ripened persimmons should be peeled. Some peppers turn red, drying on a sack. 

Traditional soy sauce, soy bean paste and pepper paste are usually stored in the large clay jars because they are well fermented there.

첫눈 初雪 first snowfall

Yesterday, we had the first snowfall of the season, about 20 days earlier than in previous years. When I woke up in the morning, I saw that it had finally arrived during the night. However, the sun was quickly melting the snow. I hiked the nearby mountains and enjoyed the snowy landscape. Children always look forward to the first snow of winter. Two little children were building a snowman at the foot of the mountain. The first snow was as pure as the innocence of a child.

meju & radish leaves

Meju 메주 is made from fermented soybeans, dried in the sunlight and is also used to make Doenjang, fermented soybean paste. Soybean paste soup along with Kimchi 김치 is one of Koreans' favorite fermented food. Doenjang has a unique smell like cheese because it has the fermenting process.

Soybean paste soup with dried radish leaves is enjoyed in Korea during the winter. For radish, the leaves are known to be more nutritious than the root.

old path & relaxation

There used to be a big temple named Hwangryong Sa (황룡사, 皇龍寺) near this path about 1500 years ago, which is located in 경주 Gyeongju. A variety of building stones still remain and tell silently us its history. The picture on the right shows cornerstones collected around here.

Autumn is the best season for hikers in Korea. On the way to Mt. Guryongsan(구룡산, 九龍山) near Gyeongsan, I encountered black goats. They stepped aside to let me pass even if I didn't mean to disturb them to relax. The picture below was taken somewhere around the top of Mt. Guryongsan.

Seokpo

Seokpo 석포 is a remote town near Buncheon. It would be only a simple mountain village as others unless it has a zinc refinery. Recently Seokpo attracts tourists' attention because the natural atmosphere around it has been preserved well. You can enjoy wonderful hiking along streams with crystal clear water or mountain trails. The clear waters of Seokpo also offer lenok(열목어, 熱目魚). Lenok, which belongs to the trout family, is a large-sized species that is 70~100 cm(28~39 inches) long among freshwater fishes. The picture above shows the main street in front of Seokpo station.

autumn in the air

   

Fully ripened persimmons & autumn reflection

Time to harvest. A dragonfly sits on a reed.

그 시절

눈에 익은 지난 세월의 빛바랜 흔적은 오랜 친구처럼 반갑다.

세상이 아무리 변했다 하더라도 순박하고 따뜻했던 그 시절의

추억은 늘 소중하게 간직하고 싶다.

Invitation to Surrender 자수권유문 自首勸誘文

You no longer need to be in fear.

Your safety will be guaranteed if you surrender.

Police Commander of Gyeongsan Police Station

North Korean secret agents have acted illegally in South Korea. They were secretly sent from North Korea. Now it is impossible to see this kind of invitation anywhere in Korea. I wonder if the spies have been really rooted out or disappeared. I was so lucky to come across it in the outskirts of Gyeongsan. It was probably written at least 25-30 years ago, maybe longer ago than that.

Buncheon station

Buncheon 분천 on the bank of a beautiful stream is a very small village located to the northeast of Gyeongsan. It takes about 4 hours by train. The railway was primarily constructed to transport the natural resources like coal mined in the northern mountain areas. 

Korean cities have been slowly changing with the onset of economic growth, so it is getting harder to find any buildings older than 30 years in cities. But we can still feel and enjoy the past in remote village like Buncheon, whose station had been crowded with people, and small stores and restaurants on the main street in front of it had prospered when most of the people used public transportation. 

Many commuters got off the train in the morning here and transferred to buses for Uljin 울진, a major city on the eastern coast. But it is now an old tale because private cars have been popularized. Most stores were closed and villagers immigrated to cities. Only once a year, Buncheon is busy with people visiting here to spend their summer holidays. A nearby landscape streaming and valley has attracted tourists during the summer.

Trisuli bazar & Nuwakot

Trisuli Bazar is situated northwest of Kathmandu, Nepal and it takes about four hours by bus. This small town is a central place in remote mountain villages and used to be one of the key posts in ancient trans-Himalayan trade. Trisuli Bazar is on the west bank of Trisuli river. According to the Hindu legend, Lord Shiva made this river by his trident which means Trisul in Nepali. The town name comes from the river "Trisuli." At this peaceful town, you can meet native villagers having sunburned faces. Small shops, cheap lodges, and simple restaurants are also lined along the main street. Some trekkers start their journey to Langtang, Ganesh Himal and Gorkha from here.

It would be a nice and pleasant trip in the foothills of the Himalayas if you trekked along the historic route from Trisuli Bazar to Gorka. Recently it can be dangerous to travel around this area because many Maoist insurgents are active in these areas. But they are usually generous to foreigners and have never attacked them until now.

A historic fortress town, Nuwakot is also situated close to Trisuli Bazar. King Nara Bhupal Shah of Gorkha to the west of Nuwakot captured Trisuli Bazar before his death in 1743, and his son Prithvi Narayan Shah(1769-1775 A.D.), the unifier of modern Nepal, succeeded his father to the throne of Gorkha and held Nuwakot one year later. It has a special importance in the history of Nepal as King Prithivi Narayan Shah planned to invade and conquer Kathmandu, and launched several campaigns to unify Nepal from here.

Nuwakot offers panoramic views of the mountains and the surrounding rural scenery is also beautiful. There are a number of artistic buildings on the hilltop which recall the traditional architecture of the Kathmandu Valley.

southern Gyeongsan

The bridge above shows a section the newly constructed expressway linking Daegu to Busan. The below one is the railway connecting Seoul to Busan. Also, the vineyard is seen in the field. The tiles stacked up are in a Buddhist temple, whose roof has been renovating.

Thai Buddhist temple & palace

The land of smiles, Thailand, is a traditional Buddhist country, so it is easy to find and visit lots of temples everywhere in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. I realized architecture style of Thai Buddhist temple is really different from that of Korea. Thai temples look so high and big, but simple, and are not much decorated and the outside is painted white. Sometimes colorful glass pieces are partly used to decorate the temples. Nice gardens are usually seen around the main buildings.

No direct flights from Korea to Nepal often made a tourist spend one or two weeks in Thailand, the land of smiles. Thai people have really the warm smiles, take things easy and are kind to strangers.

Khaosan in downtown Bangkok is a very famous area for travelers and backpackers from around the world. Tourists also enjoy the nearby Chao Phraya river flowing through the heart of Bangkok and it is a great pleasure to walk along the river. Grand Palace is close to Khaosan, which is one of the most famous attractions in all of Thailand. The picture above depicts one of the old buildings around Grand Place.

Buddhist temple

Jeogchun Sa 적천사, a Buddhist temple, located in the south of Gyeongsan 경산 was established in 664 AD and has been renovated several times. Many Buddhist monks had lived and meditated here under the great Seon masters since its foundation.

When Japanese invaded Joseon in 1664 and marched north, they burnt and destroyed this temple totally. Later this temple was rebuilt at the same site.

There are usually four statues of fierce looking guards at the gate of Korean Buddhist temple, which derive from Buddhist tradition. Buddhists believe that these mystic guards prevent devils from entering temples from four directions and protect Buddhists from devils. The picture above is about 400 year old statues at the gate of Jeogchun Sa.

You can see some small statues trampled under guards' feet. They are described as Japanese pirates. Japanese pirates had brutally plundered the towns along the southern coast of Korea for a long time, so they were regarded as another form of devils.

cobalt mine in Gyeongsan

At the early 20th century, Japanese were constructing railway past 경산 Gyeongsan. The railway connected 부산 Busan, the major port of southern Korea and 서울 Seoul. Then, the country name was 조선 Joseon, not Korea. Joseon was the traditional kingdom and hermit country. People cared nothing either for western capitalism or for industrialization.

One of Joseon's neighbors, Japan was totally different though. They accepted the western culture actively and began to industrialize earlier than the other countries in Asia. The political situation around Joseon didn't allow it to remain peacefully any longer. Britain, Japan, China, Russia, America, and France were engaged in the diplomatic and military struggle for hegemony in Joseon. Especially the three countries surrounding Joseon, Japan, China, and Russia were more active and aggressive. Out of all them, Japan didn't conceal the conspiracy to colonize Joseon. Finally, Japan opened two wars against China and Russia and defeated them.

In 1910, Japan annexed and colonized Joseon against the will of the Joseon people. Many Japanese crossed the sea. Some also arrived at Gyeongsan by train. Japanese completed the construction of railway 5 years earlier before colonization. Japanese in Gyeongsan built their own houses and cultivated land to grow various fruits. Besides, they found cobalt in the mountain near Gyeongsan. Cobalt is a very important material for ammunition industry, which is used for manufacturing rifles and canons. Japanese built a large-scale refinery facility at the nearby cobalt mine. The refined cobalt was transported to Gyeongsan station by cable and to Busan by train. The final destination was ammunition factories in Japan. The picture above is somewhere in the ruins of refinery facility.

After Japan was defeated in World War Two, Korea was liberated from Japan on August 15, 1945, and Japanese living in Gyeonsan left all their properties including their houses, orchards and cobalt mine, and returned to Japan. But the situation was not acceptable and incredible to many of them, so they thought they would come back their old homes in Korea as soon as possible but their dreams didn't come true.

Time has passed. Now the lingering traces of colonial age still remain and show us what the delusion of Japanese imperialism was like.

rain gutter, peaches & lotus pond

Gutter made of zinc sheet is unusual, not traditional in Korea. It looks like that the owner of the house preferred them in this case, repairing gutter tiles.

Ripening peaches are seen in the orchards around Gyeongsan. Can you look for a red dragonfly in a lotus pond?

Pashupatinath & Vajrayogini

Pashupatinath Mandir is Nepal's oldest and holiest Hindu pilgrimage site and one of the most impressive places in Nepal. Bagmati river flows on the east of Kathmandu, which is one of the branches of Ganga or Ganges river. The river flows just in front of this site, the picture above.

Pashupatinath, dedicated to Lord of the animals(Lord Shiva), has Ghat used for ritual bathing and cremation. You can see cremation ceremony and corpses burning on the banks of the river. The ashes are cast into the river after the bodies are burned.

Sanku which was once an important trading post between Lhasa and Kathmandu is a very old and romantic Newar village and lies 23 km east of Kathmandu, Nepal. Vajrayogini Mandir dedicated to the tantric goddess Vajrayogini is nearby located in the north of the village. This Hindu temple was built in 1665 and is surrounded by the other small temple, old trees, and statues and so on.

summer scenery

Rainy Mountains & Ripening Grapes

Ladybug & Raindrops

The Korean War(June 25, 1950~ July 27,1953)

The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel, the dividing line between the two Koreas, invading the South. The United Nations forces from 16 countries, including the United States, Britain, Turkey, and Australia, supported the South against the communist North backed by China.

The photos show refugees moving to the south in the east of South Korea(July 28, 1950) and a war orphan crying on the street(Aug. 8, 1950).(Image files from National Archives and Records Administration, US)