legend – lezhok

The next destination after Hwacheon is Yangyang country washed by the East Sea.

Yangyang is not a big country too, having a population of over 27,000 people.

The area was called Yangyang 襄陽 since 1416. The area has a long history since it was known to be a part of Ye-guk 濊國 (3rd-century BC to around early 5th-century). Later it has become a part of Goguryeo and the area of Yangyang was called Ikhyeonhyeon 翼峴縣 or Imunhyeon 伊文縣. It is surprising for me, but both variants are quite nice (if compare to what I have seen before, Hwacheon, Boseong), the literal meaning is Wing Hill or That Culture (it is too complicated to find a proper translation for this pair of characters as the second character have too many meanings). Later, the name of the area was changed several times. In 1222, after a successful defend from Mongolians, it was renamed to Yangju 襄州, where the first character yang means a defender. Later the name was changed again until it has got its present name, consisting of the same yang 襄 and yang 陽, one of the meanings is the sun.

The way to the sea lies through many spots with beautiful scenes. Views from Hangyeryeong.

Even it is just a small observatory with a few buildings, there are many special souvenirs and amazing views to have some meal.

Step by step I am coming closer to ….

Naksan! Naksan is used to designate a few spots in the area, the first one I am going to visit is Naksan Beach.

I was swimming there a lot, that is why I did not take many photos. It is quite an awkward feeling to swim in a sea in Korea, because the swimming area is limited, and I could say it is much narrower than that one could be found in Odesa, Ukraine, moreover, there are so many active lifesavers, what makes the swimming quite tense, all the time I have to check if anybody of them is not running to catch me. I still remember the sea bottom there, it was shallow on the right and unexpectedly deep (for South Korea) on the left, about 2 m deep.

The other place called Naksan is a temple. Naksansa 洛山寺 was built in 671 by a scholar-monk Uisang 義湘 (625–702) who was a close friend of the man I met before in Soyosan and Namhae, it is Wonhyo. The temple is named after Potalaka mount as an abbreviation of the Chinese transcription of from Sanskrit, 補怛洛迦山. By the way, Bomunsa Temple I visited before in Ganghwa before stands on Nakgasan Mountain 洛迦山 which also is named after Potalaka mountain. The legend of the temple foundation explains the reason this name was chosen for the temple.

One of the legends says, when Uisang returned from the Tang empire, he heard that Guanyin Bodhisattva lived in the cave at the east coast of Naksan. He went there to pray and after 7 days praying he has received crystal beads from magic general Sinjang 神將, after 7 more days a dragon from the sea appeared and gave Uisang cintamani (wish-fulfilling jewel), after 7 more days Guanyin Bodhisattva appeared and said, “at the place you sit, a pair of bamboo will spring up, build a temple there”. As it is believed Guanyin or Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva lived in Potalaka mount, this place was called after the mount.

The temple has lived over many events during almost 1400 years. The last notable event happened in 2005 when the temple was burnt due to fire that started in the surrounding forest. The charred remains of the temple recall that day.

In 1925 Uisangdae Pavilion was built on the spot where Uisang once meditated.

Buddhist statue of Haesugwaneumsang. It was built in 1977. The height of the statue is 15 meters, the pedestal is 2.8 meters high.

And a beautiful sunset. Like a painting.

An interesting path to walk for leaving the temple.

My trip around Yangyang is coming to the end, but there is one more very important thing to do…

To eat unlimited sushi!

The huge crabs in the weak lights I saw on the way home reminded me of a horror movie.

That is all about my travelling around South Korea, tomorrow I have a flight back to Ukraine!

This year I have visited Dongducheon and Incheon. My next destination is Gongju.

Gongju (公州 ) was formerly named Ungjin (熊津), was the capital ( 475-538) of Baekje kingdom (百濟 ), one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, together with Goguryeo and Silla.

After 1500 years, in 2004, it was proposed to move South Korean capital, Seoul, to Gongju. However, untill now, the capital relocation question remains unresolved.

Nowadays, Gongju is a quite small city, with a population of 130,000 people it is 66th biggest city in South Korea.

The date of the city foundation remains an enigma to me, nevertheless, this city is over 1500 years old! The former city’s name, Ungjin (Chinese derived pronunciation) or Gomanaru (Korean), means bear port. There’s quite an unusual legend about the city’s name. As for me, bear associates with power, strength, anger, and so on. There’s a bear’s anger in this story too, but, everything has started from love. Koreans were good at making dramas even 15 centuries ago.

Ungjin Legend

Once, a woodcutter crossed a river to go Yeonmisan mountain (燕尾山) to chop wood. Suddenly a big bear appeared and caught the man and brought him to a cave. Since that time, the bear was taking care of the man and providing the man food. Every time the bear was going for hunting, the cave’s entrance was locked with a big stone. After a few years of living together, the man and the bear have got two children (unfortunately the history doesn’t explain how did it happen).

Once, the bear didn’t lock the entrance and the man run to the river. When the bear came back home, the man reached the opposite side of the river. The bear showed the man their children and begged him to come back. But the man coldly went away. The brokenhearted bear took the children, jumped into the river and they died there.

Since then, every time a ship passes the place, there is a storm and troubles, so, a shrine was built to comfort the soul of the bear.

There’s a Russian proverb – насильно мил не будешь – a person can’t fall in love with you (or like you) if you use force for this purpose; Chinese analogue says, 強扭的瓜不甜 – if you have to use force to break a melon off the vine, it won’t taste sweet. The bear’s life ended up not sweet.

Gongju National Museum

A big copy of seoksu (石獸) stands in front of the museum. Seoksu is a stone animal statue in the image of a beast, placed at or within a tomb or palace. This statue is special because it is the first stone figure excavated buried with Baekje kings.

And this is the original statue of seoksu.

Some of the items shown in the museum were excavated from the tomb of King Muryeong: the ornament of the crown of Baekje, gilt-bronze shoes, coffins, seoksu and so on.