Korean Gardening

Yesterday, I spent some time touring one of Seoul's five palaces - Changdeok Palace. It's not the most important palace, but it is certainly the best preserved and the most beautiful. While most palaces in Seoul can be toured freely, this one can only be toured with a guide. Standard tours covering the administrative buildings and some of the Rear Garden leave every 3o minutes from midmorning to sunset in Korean, 5 times a day in Japanese, 3 times a day in English, and twice a day in Mandarin Chinese.

I took the special tour of previously closed-off sections of the Rear Garden. It runs only 3 times a day, does not run in winter, and is available only in Korean. So come along with me - because if you come out to Seoul on your own, you won't understand a word of what the guide tells you.

This is only a small selection of dozens of photos I took. I can't overwhelm you again. For more, see my personal blog.

Donhwa Gate, the front (south) gate of the palace. This palace was first built in 1405, destroyed by the Japanese invaders in 1592, and rebuilt in 1610. Most buildings date from 17th and 18th Centuries.

By comparison, the main palace, Gyeongbok, a kilometer or so to the west, was also destroyed by the Japanese in 1592, but never really rebuilt until the 19th Century - and even then, when the Japanese came again in 1910, they destroyed much of the palace again to build their imposing Governor General building. Gyeongbok is being restored right now; the Japanese Governor General building was torn down in the 1990s.

Paintwork details of Donhwa Gate. Christy, I know you love this color scheme!

A 3-lane pathway. The middle lane is crowned, and only the king could walk on it. Violators were punished by flogging. The lady in the hat with a microphone in front is my guide. I walked in the king's footsteps (without being flogged) to get to the Rear Garden, which is also commonly known by its Japanese-era name, the Secret Garden, as well as a less common name, the Forbidden Garden. The Rear Garden was used by the king as a working vacation/meditation area, though historical dramas suggest that he dated concubines there too.

Korean gardens use mostly natural elements, but artificial elements do exist. Notice the waterlily-covered square pond, with the circular island in the center with a pine tree on it. In Korean cosmology, the sky is round, and the earth is square; you can see it right in South Korea's national flag.

Behind the pond is a two-story pavilion used by the king to meet with advisors. The small gate at the bottom of the hill is called the Gate of Fish and Water, so called because the king and his advisors were as inseparable as fish and water. Naming these pavilions and structures was a very fine art in itself.

These structures were built at the same time John Hancock signed the Declaration of Independence and George Washington was busy fighting the redcoats: 1776.

Gate of No Aging, carved from one single giant piece of rock. In royal Korea, ensuring a long, prosperous life for the king was paramount, as the government would stop completely upon the death of a king until a new king could be inaugurated. Today, if the President died in office, the Prime Minister would continue to run the government - but that was not the case in royal Korea.

Despite this gate, as I mentioned before, the average Joseon king didn't live to see his 44th birthday. The most beloved king, Sejong (4th out of 27 kings) who invented the Korean script, died in his early 50s. Gojong (26th), who started as a teenage king in the 19th Century and eventually became a ripe old emperor, was one of the few exceptions.

There are replicas of this gate everywhere. One exists at Gyeongbok Palace's subway station.

This is what a traditional Korean house looks like without its paint.

A very unusual pondside pavilion, in the shape of a fan.

Even the sign on this pavilion is unusual; it's in the shape of a leaf and is green, unlike other signs which are rectangular and white or black.

This being a rather large and hilly garden, pavilions were strategically placed wherever the king would need to take a rest.

Stones where the crown prince would practice his royal walk. A Korean king walked with his feet spread out at an angle, his stomach out in front, and his hands held in the back. Because at rest, the feet made out the shape of the Chinese numeral eight (八) (ankles together at the top, toes spread apart), this walk is called the Figure Eight Walk.

Thatched roof is a hallmark of commoners in Korea, never the nobility, much less royalty. This is the only thatched roof structure in all of the palace. Note the rice growing in front; the king cultivated rice here himself to set an example for his subjects, though it was really a propaganda ploy, as the hard work was all done by the servants. Similarly, the queen planted mulberry trees and harvested silk elsewhere in the garden.

I finished the tour, then headed for nearby Jogyesa, the head temple of the Jogye order which controls 90% of South Korea's Buddhist temples. Near Jogyesa, there are plenty of shops selling Buddhist motifs, monk uniforms, and more. One of the shops had this lovely portrait of our beloved transgender matron saint, Kwan Yin. I went to another shop and bought a 3-inch standing golden statue of androgynous Kwan Yin, for 20,000 won (USD $20). Other artwork for sale included the Maitreya Buddha - both the Korean pensive variety and the Chinese happy variety.

Again, refer to my personal blog for photos of Jogyesa itself, as well as some discussion on the politics of Buddhism and Christianity in South Korea.

Walking further from Jogyesa, I came upon this bell pavilion. On the lower level, three guards stand. On the upper level, there is a bell, which used to ring twice a day to announce the opening and the closing of the city gates. Today, the bell rings only once a year - at the strike of midnight on New Year's Eve, when it's rung 33 times. This makes this spot Seoul's answer to Times Square in New York.

Seoul's main street, Jongno (Bell Street), refers to this bell, and runs east-west in front of this pavilion. Jongno was once known for its streetcars, which were retired in 1968 and replaced with Seoul's first subway line in 1974.

I finished the day with a hamburger lunch at Lotteria next to this pavilion; Lotteria is a local fast food chain that competes with McDonald's and Burger King. I always make the point of visiting local fast food chains whenever I visit a foreign country, as well as a McDonald's, to get a feel for how the menu is localized. For example, both Lotteria and McDonald's sell burgers that use Korean marinated beef, "bulgogi," as the patty. It was also nice to listen to some Mariah Carey as I ate; despite all the anti-American feelings over W's policies and mad cow disease, Mariah Carey is still a very popular figure here. It was, however, odd to eat beef while carrying a statue of Kwan Yin, an icon of vegetarianism...