Mt. Fuji

In 1904, Japanese invaded the Korean Peninsula and some came to settle in the very small seashore village called 구룡포, 九龍浦, Guryongpo, located at the east end of the Korean peninsula. Guryongpo got its name from the legend of nine dragons that ascended into the sky over the waters off the coastal village. 구 Gu means 9, 룡 Ryong dragon and 포 Po harbor. The coastal waters off Guryongpo had a rich abundance of fishery resources. As the number of Japanese residents increased, they became richer and the village grew bigger. Lot of Japanese-style houses, a wharf facility and a park on a hill behind the village were newly built and shops including even a small department store were opened. The hill has still a wonderful view of the harbor.

As most of the Japanese buildings were made of wood, soil and cement, some houses that had been weathered the last century collapsed, and the others have been repaired and rebuilt since independence from Japan in 1945. So the original features have been changed gradually. But the Japanese traces of the colonial era could be still found in the alley. Recently an exhibition house for visitors including Japanese tourists has been opened, which used to be a typical Japanese house. The above photo shows a door with etched glass panels that is exhibited in the upstairs. The door is said to have been installed in the the other Japanese house nearby. Japanese tourists and descendants of the Japanese settlers during the colonial era are so glad to see the glass panels, the exhibition guide said. It was said that the figure etched on the upper left side depicts Mt. Fuji 富士山.

Old photos taken during the Japanese colonial period in Guryongpo are hung on the walls along the alley and old household goods are also exhibited together with the history of Japanese residents in this village.

urban glimpses

winter

Banwolseong 반월성 in Gyeoungju 경주, the 1000-year old capital of Shilla Kingdom, used to be a fortress and palace whose ruins can be visited. The name, Banwol-Seong comes from its outline which was shaped like a crescent moon. Banwol means half moon and Seong fortress.

A tower of stone blocks, Cheomseongdae 첨성대, is located to the north of Banwolseong. Even if the purpose of the tower built in the 7th century still remains disputable, many historians agree with the conclusion that it was used as an observatory. Cheomseongdae was built in the reign of Queen Seonduk 선덕. A rapeseed field is located between the tower and Banwolseong.

It was very cold last Sunday. The cold wind blew across the rapeseed field. The vivid yellow of the rapeseed flowers couldn't be seen. The dried lush green leaves remind frequent visitors of the rapeseed flowers in full bloom last spring instead.

river

The two rivers, 낙동강 Nakdong-gang and 금호강 Gumho-gang meet near Hwawon resort. The smaller river, Gumho enters Nakdong, the longest river in the southern peninsula. From the pavilion on the top of the resort, people enjoy the surrounding landscape, including the mouth of Gumho river. The right side river from the pavilion is Gumho. 신천 Shinchun, the urban stream in Daegu is a branch stream of Gumho River.

Looking west across the river and bridge, you can see Dasan village in the background of mountains. When you cross the bridge, you can turn on the right at the end of the bridge, and follow the river bank road unpaved, which ends near Nogok-ri. The river bank was built to prevent floodwater from flowing out into the surrounding land in the rainy season. So there is nearly no traffic and it is also not easy to meet someone walking there. That road offers a peaceful and silent atmosphere filled with field and river views. While walking there, you can see some farms on the left side of the bank and smell oxen dung used primarily as a fertilizer. In fall, dragonfly, locust, and unnamed insects come into sight. Autumn has come again.

autumn

노곡리 Nogok-ri is an obscure village to the west of Dasan, which is located across Nakdong river from Hwawon resort, western Daegu. Nogok got its name from the place with plenty of fertile rice field. Before the bridge linking Hwawon resort and Dasan about 20 years ago was built, the villagers, mostly farmers, used to cross the river by ferry for a long time. The new bridge has changed the villagers' lifestyle a lot in the past years. New residents from the city came to live in this village surrounded by the fresh air and natural environment. About 150 households lived in the village in the past. Now about 120 households remain. Most young people have left the village to study or get jobs in the big cities, as in the other Korean rural villages. So old men remain in the village and cultivate the soil.

A big zelkova tree over 460 years old stands alone on the top of the front hill of the village and a small chapel is nearby. There are some benches around the tree. Behind the hill, Nogok-ri village is crammed into the narrow space between two hills. The top of the hill offers a quiet and peaceful landscape of the rice field. There was a primary school at the foot of the hill, but the number of pupils had been continuously decreased, so the primary school was finally closed last spring.

Autumn is the best season in Korea. The rice fields turn yellow. It is getting close to harvest in Nogok-ri.

take-out pizza

Discarded signboard saying "Take-out pizza restaurant", an electric pole that is covered with vines, and an apartment complex in the background...

pavilion & forest

Jain 자인 is a small and peaceful village to the east of Gyeongsan. It has a well-preserved natural forest called Gyejeong 계정. During Joseon dynasty, local residents used to lay memorial stone for the former governor after he finished his term and left his post, The memorial stones for the former governors in Jain are lined up at the entrance of Gyejung. The stones usually say that local residents expressed their gratitude for the former governors' commitment to fairness and justice during his term. The sub-county office pavilion built during Joseon dynasty is also located on the hill of the forest. It was moved from the place where it was first built in Jain area. This photo shows the view from behind the pavilion.

Gyejeong is also the place where Jain 자인 Dano 단오 General Han 한장군 Cultural Festival 놀이 is celebrated annually on May 5th of the lunar calendar. It is unique that the historical story of General Han who defeated Japanese pirates molesting the villagers in this region about one thousand years ago was made into the play, which was mixed with traditional 단오제 Danoje, Dano festival. Dano traditionally marks the beginning of summer, when rites of wishing for an abundant harvest for the year following planting in the spring were held. After General Han drove them away, he became a patron of Jain, villagers built a shrine in memory of him and traditional ceremonies have been held in every Dano festival. His grave is in the middle of the forest.

rural side

This photo shows that a cattle pen is located on either side of the house in a country village near 탑리 Tap-ri. The rural view like this in South Korea is not common in countrysides anymore. 한우, Hanwoo, Korean native cattle are the traditional native breed which was in the past usually bred to plow fields, make manure and pull carts. It has a coat color ranging from yellowish brown to dark brown.

Most farmers used to raise a very small numbers of the cattle. For some children living in country villages, grazing cattle on grass used to be their daily round after school.

sesame oil shop

탑리, Tap-ri is a small farming village located somewhere in the eastern inland of the peninsula. 탑 Tap means stupa or pagoda in Buddhism. In the center of the village, 5 story pagoda which is over 1000 years old stands on a small hill, looking down on the village.

An edible oil shop can be found in the nearby traditional market. Something is written on the windows of the front door as follows: 참기름 Sesame, 뜰기름 perilla, 식용유 edible vegetable oil and 간장 soy sauce. Many shops around it were renovated and rebuilt, but it seems like that this oil shop has not been changed since being opened first. The signboard says Tap-ri sesame oil shop. Two machines in front of the shop are expeller on the left and roaster. Two wooden chairs on the left look like the same ones that have been used by primary school students about 30 years before.

evergreen tea shop

A rustic coffee shop named 상록수 Sangroksoo meaning evergreen is on the roadside in 청하 Cheongha area near 보경사 Bogyung Buddhist temple. The notice on the door says that it is open for business and the room is air-conditioned. Some plants and flowers can be seen in the little garden in front of the shop. 다방 Dabang in Korean means a room for tea or coffee.

The room on the left side of the building was used as a pub named 상록수 Sangroksoo, now closed, and is available for rent.

two aromatic trees

Dalsung 달성 in Daegu valley had been a mud and stone-reinforced fortress since Silla 신라 dynasty(BC 57 ∼ AD 935). It had been a strategic hub in the valley. But its strategic importance had been diminished since Daegu fortress was built on the plain nearby, which was aimed to defend the valley people from Japanese invasion. In 1970, Dalsung was renovated to become a park and zoo.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, Japan had a deliberate intention to colonize Joseon 조선 and proceeded to occupy her. On Jan 12, 1909, Sunjong 순종, the last King of the Joseon Dynasty and Ito Hirobumi 伊藤博文, the resident-General of Joseon together visited Dalsung in Daegu. They planted two aromatic trees in memory that were brought from Japan. When they planted the trees, the ages of the trees were 33 and 66 years old respectively, which were the same as those of King Sunjong and Ito Hirobumi. The trees have grown bigger over 100 years and still stand side by side in the middle of the park, without any signs that indicate the event 100 years ago. A Chinese proverb says "Same bed, different dreams." Looks like their wishes regarding the future of the country were totally different. The tree planted by the King is on the right in the view from the park gate of Dalsung.

About 9 months later after their visit to Daegu, Ito Hirobumi was assassinated in north China by a Korean independence activist. King Sunjong's reign also ended when Japan annexed Joseon as a colony in 1910.

On the Way Home

A group of marathoners taking part in 2009 Daegu International Marathon race is running on the street of downtown Daegu. You can see a strangely dressed runner among them. The marathoner is a Korean Buddhist monk. He puts on the monk robe instead of a marathon wear, unlike the other marathoners, even when running.

Online news reports said that he resolved to start out in the marathon to spread Buddhism and has participated in marathon races including ultramarathon several times. He is now an abbot monk of a Buddhist temple somewhere in the southern region.

Something Forgotten

Japanese colonialists completed a single track railway in 1905, connecting 한양 Hanyang, the capital of 조선 Joseon dynasty and 부산 Busan, the largest port city on the peninsula. Hanyang is the previous name of 서울 Seoul. The railway had many curved sections so steam locomotives couldn't run fast and it took about 30 hours from Seoul to Busan. Five months later, steam express locomotives were introduced to shorten the running time, which was cut down to 11 hours.

Japanese imperialists opened a war against China in 1937, needed a railway to transport war materials faster so that they completed the double track railway later, completely separated from the first one. The second railway was a modernized one whose track was more straight.

The old first railway had been abandoned since the new one was opened to traffic. Since then, many sections of the railroad have disappeared due to urban and rural development, or new roads were built on the site of the old railway. Some tunnel on the railway is used for persimmon wine cellar whose name is wine tunnel 와인 터널, located near the pass between 청도 Cheongdo and 경산 Gyeongsan. Some section of the railroad with two tunnels, located near 밀양 Miryang, was paved and used as a car road. The single track railway is not wide enough for two cars to pass, so one of two cars heading in the other direction should wait at the tunnel entrance while the other one passes through it.

Raw Fish Slices

The restaurants specialized in sliced raw fish can be seen along the busy streets in harbors on the coasts of the Korean peninlsula. Sliced raw fish, 회, Hoe, is one of Korean favorite dishes, which is the same as Sashimi in Japan. The above photo shows a saltwater fish aquarium equipped in the front of raw fish restaurant located in some harbor, on the eastern coast. Aquarium is applied as a temporary storage to keep the live fish fresh until ready to serve. A landing net is used to catch the fish out of the aquarium, which is thinly sliced into bite-size pieces.

Sliced raw fish are served with red pepper sauce flavored with vinegar, Gochunaengi 고추냉이(Green horseradish), soy sauce mixed with vinegar and pine-nut meal, white cabbage, garlic, green chilli, sesame leaves. The aquarium fish of the restaurants along the coast are mostly wild caught. But to meet the needs, it has been known that some fish are transported from the hatcheries located along the western and southern coasts. Most inland raw-fish restaurants use fish raised in farms. The most popular main ingredients for sliced raw fish are flatfish, southern conger eel, armorclad rockfish, oyster, spiny turban shell, cuttlefish, octopus, abalone, yellowtail, snapper, mullet, halibut, gizzard shad and tuna.

Judgement

Once upon a time, there lived an old man who owned a wonderful horse on the frontier of China. One day, the horse jumped a fence and ran away. His neighbors came to comfort him. But he looked so peaceful and serene. He said, "Don't judge, who can say this may be good or bad?"

A few months later, the horse returned home and came back along with a group of horses. His neighbors came around again. The old man was congratulated by them, but he said: "Don't judge, who can say this may be good or bad?"

A few days later, his son went out riding on the horse, fell down from the new horse and had his leg broken. Everyone in the village came to comfort him again. However, the old man said, "Don't judge, who can say this may be good or bad?"

Some days later, the country where the old man lived got engaged in the war against its neighborhood, so all the young men in the village were drafted to fight in the war. Most draftees were killed in the battle. However, his son was not conscripted to fight in the war because he was a cripple. Everyone in the village said to the old man, "Your son is so lucky." However, the old man said, "Don't judge, who can say this may be good or bad?"

Winter Delicacy

Pacific herrings are dried on the seashore located in Yeongdeok region, a county along the eastern coast. Fish internal organs are removed and put on the bank of the sea. Seagulls gather to eat them.

For the regional people along the eastern coast during the winter season, enjoying little dried Pacific herrings together with dried laver, red pepper sauce flavored with vinegar, brown seaweed, white cabbage, garlic, green chili and onion used to be a local delicacy. Little dried pacific herrings are garnished with dried laver, green onion, and brown seaweed to get rid of the fishy smell. The fishes are usually eaten, wrapped in the dried laver or white cabbage, together with others prepared. Their skins are so tough that they should be peeled off first and the flesh cut into bite-size pieces.

Little dried Pacific herrings have recently gained considerable popularity across the country. But these days Pacific sauries are currently used instead of Pacific herrings which are not caught enough to meet the needs.