A Medallion and an Old Korean Coin; Odds 'n' Ends

After Youngjoon and I finished Jongmyo, we went to a McDonald's near Tapgol to eat. On the way there, we found a numismatics merchant, where he bought me two little gifts that I chose: an excellent British medallion commemorating the silver anniversary of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip, and a very old Korean coin with a hole in it. The hanja (Chinese characters) apparently include the character (for) "won." That was nice of him.
--
Chae Young is helping me to save small amounts of money here and there by making sure I turn off the lights and the hot water switch in my apartment when not in use. She's thrifty, and I respect that about her. She's disciplined with her money so that she can spend more of it when she wants to on better things.
--
I lost my favorite student on Wednesday, the last day of term. She told me that she's going to the Canadian-something-or-other hogwan just down the street. This I take a bit personally, because I taught her in Sept-Oct. and in Mar-April. I would like to talk to her mother and ask her why they are taking her to a different hogwan, so I could improve my performance if necessary. I will miss talking to Hye In between classes like I did when she had other teachers.
--
I just found out that I'm going to be teaching a class of adults at 7:30am in the morning, something I requested for financial reasons. The class will go for one hour, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, for two months.
--
Today I noticed that Chessbase published my second letter to them. I was one of few dissenters who took umbrage at GM Susan Polgar's defending of Bobby Fischer in a manner that involved her making some very uncharitable comments about a journalist named Jeremy Schaap. You can see my letter, (use the Find control) way down on this page.

And that brings me (finally!) up to date, now after several posts. I'm in the middle of a four day holiday, and I enjoyed updating my blog today with the sunlight streaming in the window.

Jongmyo Royal Shrine

Jongmyo Royal Shrine is large park where special buildings house the "spirit tablets" of Joseon dynasty kings, queens, and meritorious subjects. Jongmyo and Changgyeonggung Palace are adjacent to each other, although they are separated by a highway; they are joined via an overpass; entrance to one thus gets you entrance into the other. As I mentioned in my last post, I came here this time with Youngjoon. I came here with Ian a long time ago, but I didn't have my camera, and we were in a hurry.

The history of the place is quite interesting. Jongmyo was founded by King Taejo, the first king of the Joseon dynasty, in 1395 shortly after he moved his capital to what is now Seoul. He brought along the anestral tablets of four generations of his predecessors to get started. The buildings were burned down in the Japanese invasion of 1592, but were rebuilt in 1608. Memorial services were held several times a year for the deceased here for centuries. Nowadays there is only one ceremony, held annually, and apparently it's this Sunday. Jongmyo is designated "Intangible Cultural Property # 56." The first building filled up with the dead royal figures, and so an additional building was made for this same purpose during the reign of King Sejong. At that time, the spirit tablets of the four ancestors of King Taejo were moved into the newer building. One of the two main buildings has been called the longest independent building in South Korea.

As you can see, the building design is severe and minimalist. A courtyard surrounds each of the two long-room structures. The doors for each cell are always closed, except perhaps during a special annual ceremony. The place exudes quietness and reflection. In fact, I was reminded of Roy Henry Vickers' artworks showing the abandoned longhouses of his people in BC, Canada. At various points there are signs whose English parts read, simply, "solemnity." It is indeed a solemn place.


Introductory Sign at Jongmyo


Jongmyo buildings





Long Building at Jongmyo


Walking path in the park

At certain points in the park you can hear traditional Jongmyo memorial music being piped through speakers. It is a quiet and beautiful kind of music.

At the southern (main) entrance, there is a stone monument which has for centuries directed people to get off their horses out of respect for the dead:








Pond near the Entrance

Sundial Base

Stone Base for Sundial

In my last post on Changgyeonggung I posted a picture of a replica of a famous and beautiful sundial called "Angbuilbu"--"upside down cauldron." This is the stone base that was made for it. It's a fact of life that in South Korea the monuments have been moved around a lot, but it's odd to me that "they" separated the sundial from its stand. Anyway, I saw it the day when Youngjoon and I went to Tapgol and to Jongmyo, but I can't remember where I saw it. Hence, this individual post.

Tapgol Park (again)

Last Saturday Youngjoon, a former "middle school" student at LTRC, and I went to both Tapgol Park and Jongmyo. It was my third time to Tapgol, and this time I was determined to get more pictures. Just like last time, I was hampered my camera's narrow angle, but I hope you'll be able to get a good impression of the park anyways. I had an experience in this park that summed up the entire Korean people's way(s) of dealing with foreigners in this park. Read on for more!

In Tapgol, there is a lovely row of life sized bass relief carvings showing patriotic scenes of surprising brutality in an extremely graphic manner. A young woman leader of the resistance against the Japanese, whose name escapes me, at the moment (despite being in an auditorium at Ewha Girls' High school yesterday named in her honor!), was tortured and killed in a prison run by the Japanese during the colonial era. She and others are commemorated in the series of reliefs. This next one photographed well (because of the angle of the sun), but is not very graphic.


One such Bass Relief

Taken together, the reliefs emphasize that this was a nation born in blood and suffering, and, indeed, martyrdom in the true sense of the word.


Declaration of Independence Monument

You can see several grandfathers at the base of the statue that supports an insription that is the Declaration of Independence of Korea, a document that is visionary and forgiving of past faults. It was in front of this monument that my little incident unfolded. I wanted a picture of Youngjoon and I in front of it. I saw many old men, but was unsure about asking them to use a digital camera (based on past experiences with shaky hands). So I asked a well-dressed man in a suit and tie. He was middle aged, an adjoshi, the male counterpart of an adjumma. He grumpily refused and made an ugly face, and walked away. And right there you have a classic case of Korean xenophobia and anti-Americanism (he couldn't have known that I was Canadian). Seeing this, one of the haraboji, that is, one of the grandfathers, smiled and graciously offered to take the picture. And right there you have the classic Korean openness to foreigners which never fails to touch this foreigner's heart. And the man took the picture well, too! This little incident also shows a demographic divide. The generation that lived through the Korean war still thinks of Americans as benefactors. Their hated enemy is Japan. The adjoshi, on the other hand, is part of a generation that hates America and fears it. Where were the young people? Well, there just aren't any young people in Tapgol Park.

After all that, you might be surprised that I'm not showing the photograph the old man took for me. The reason, of course, is that I'm not sure I should be posting a picture of a student whom I've identified by name (I haven't used his family name, however). Anyway, on to the apolitical historical places in the park!


National Treasure #2 (detail)

This "Tap" (pagoda), is the eponymous piece in the park, dating to the 15th century during the Joseon dynasty. Like many of the National Treasures, it is not native to its present location, belonging formerly to the Wongasa temple. This great structure has a living relationship with the people: it was being venerated by prostrating laypeople and monks while I took this picture. National Treasure #2 was much too tall to be photographed by my little camera, so this is the best I can give you. The whole thing is massive, contains a lot of artistically carved scenes, and is enclosed in a special glass case. Again, I remind readers that a pagoda (the English word is Japanese!) is a symbol of Buddha consciousness. I suppose there's an irony that in this park you have a political statuary reminding in the most "in your face" manner the citizenry of past Japanese war crimes, together with a symbol of a religion whose goal involves attaining freedom from the dualities of light and dark, good and bad, etc. In the main, the impression I have is that Korean Buddhism tends towards nationalism, which might be considered a bit odd. Doubtless there are others who have some academic background in the study of Buddhism, and I hope that they will feel free to leave comments, as should anyone else (t r o l l s excepted).


National Treasure #2 cont'd (detail)


Sign for National Treasure #2

In the next picture you can see the top of a stela whose turtle-base I took a picture of in my last post on this park. It is Treasure #3, and commemorates the building of Wongasa temple. It also dates to the 15th century.


Stela in Tapgol


Stela sign

Depressing Dongdaemun

I've noticed that for the past many months I often can sense my feeling of well being drop with me down the escalator in Dongdaemun Station as I return home from work. I transfer here between the #1 and the #4 everyday. The thought dawned on me that the terrible architecture and the singularly poor maintenance are partly responsible for this.


Bad architecture--Yuck!


Depressing Dongdaemun Station

The lights used to be on the ceiling, but some months ago they were torn out and put on the side. The work was never finished.


More Depressing Dondaemun Station

In fairness to Seoul, I should mention again how handy the subway system is, and the fact that this is easily the worst station I've been in. Many of the stations are quite nice, while most are your average subway stations--but with little to no litter in the tracks.

White Elephant in City Hall

White Elephant with Buddha on Top

City Hall, is not only a building, a subway station, but an area. Here a giant paper white elephant is lit up against the night. When I took this picture some days ago, there were fireworks here, too, but I don't know why. I think this is a sort of Advent Season, as the "Buddha's Birthday" (a national holiday here), is coming up soon. Like Jesus' birthday, nobody really knows a historical day. I've been looking forward to the Buddha's Birthday for some time, now. I want to visit a temple on that day, and hopefully I can see many shining lanterns against the night sky.

Anyway, when I was in the City Hall area yesterday, I noticed that wind had knocked the elephant over. I hope it's all fixed up now.

My Local Temple

My local temple with stupa-styled roof

This is my local Buddhist temple. Despite often wanting to go in, I'd never done so in all the months I've lived here, until last Sunday. Yes, this is the place where my attempt to sit in the half-lotus position resulted in muscle contortions and great pain for many hours!

The monk there didn't seem particularly happy with my presence at first. I think he suspected me of not bowing, but of course I bowed. However, I bowed initially from a stranding position. Hmm, that's what the problem was. I should have bowed initially in that full motion that begins vertically and ends prostrate with ones hands placed just above one's ears. Anyway, I bowed out of respect, and then we struck up a conversation.

More interesting to me was the presence of the stupa--an early grave of a saint, or building ousing a reliquary. On the outside of the building, you can see the stupa top in the roof. On the wall in the prayer hall (which is upstairs, by the way), you can see a beautiful white stupa in a lovely photograph. And, next to the Buddha, below, you can see a model of a stupa.


Buddha and Stupa

This is interesting to me because the stupa predates the pagoda (Korean "tap"), itself a predecessor of the common statue of the Buddha, as a symbol of Buddhist consciousness.

Calf Getting Better

Well, I had a terrible sleep last night, as I had to keep changing positions because of the pain, and a cough and cold. Today, however, I'm pleased to report that my calf (and the area at the back of the knee), can stretch out. Last night I did many little stretches with my right leg. There's still some pain, and I don't have full use of that leg yet, but I'm feeling good enough to say that tomorrow I can go to work; I had been dreading calling in sick, and potentially losing my pay. Fortunately, now I won't have to do this. I will, however, stick to my plan of doing nothing and going nowhere today, to give the leg some time to heal up.