Moving South: Gong Ju Region- South Korea

July 4th, 2012

Today we began the field trip component of the trip and ventured south. The landscape is very picturesque with many tree filled rolling hills. This is a picture of me in Gong Ju right next to King Muryeong's underground tomb. At first glance, you might think, "the scenery is very pretty" or "oh how fun to see another country." Living in the modern world we have the luxury to take and have thousands of pictures of ourselves and we can document everything we do. Back in King Muryeong's day and not even that long ago people did not have this luxury. To them having a picture was something special, something you wanted to document and show future generations. A burial site is even more special than just a picture because a great amount of effort was put into making this final resting place. We learned about the importance of carefully selecting a final burial site and the objects that needed to be present to consider it good enough for a king. This careful and precise planning is very important because they wanted to ensure that the king's legacy was honored and would be respected for many generations. When we study history, we think about historical figures and judge them by what they either accomplished or did not accomplish in their life. Even in our own families, we look at family ancestors and think about all they accomplished. Some parts of our family stories are fantastic, some are so so and there are some we would rather forgot. Not everything will always be perfect, but that's the best part of life... we can always change our story by changing our actions. We can build a legacy that we want our future generations to remember. King Muryeong became a king at a late age in life, forty, but he recognized the importance of legacy and accomplished a lot during his reign. The parts of his story that everyone remembers are the positive things he did for his people. When people of this region saw the stone bust of King Muryeong that was located outside his tomb many people must have and probably still feel pride in all he accomplished during his reign. While I won't have an elaborate grave site, be a queen or have a large sculpture of myself, I will have pictures. Snap shots from my life that document the legacy I am creating. Just like in the ancient world, we have to be intentional because if we do not make an effort to document and reflect on the past our legacy it could be forgotten. I want to remember and share with future generations my story and my family's story. My challenge to you is to learn your family story, share it with other family members and think about how it has impacted you as a person. Learning from the past is the only way to success in the future!

Gongsanseong Fortress in Gong Ju, South Korea

It was originally a mud castle, but most parts of it was renovated to a stone castle during the Joseon Dynasty. This fortress was a capital during the Baekje period. It contains many relics. It is a historic site in Korea.

Tomb of King Muryeong

This tomb was discovered in 1971 when archeologists were working on the Songsanri tombs. The discovery of this tomb provided concrete evidence of the historical dates and artistic achievements of Baekje period (18 BCE- 660 CE). This tomb was created for King Muryeong (461-523) and his wife. The tombs in this area are dedicated to royal family ancestors during the period of 475-538.

The tombs are built underground. Artisans used granite which is native to this land and it was made to look like bricks like the Chinese used. When these artisans made the tombs they had to carefully select the site and prepare the tomb site. Most of the tombs have the four guardians either painted on the wall and/or using figurings. The four guardians are animistic figures: Blue Dragon, White Tiger, Red Phoenix, and the Black Tortoise all which are to be placed on the four sides of the tombs to protect it from evil spirits. This practice came from China's Han dynasty. At the very front of the tombs is a stone sculpture of the king and serves as marker for the tomb. It also indicates the dates and funeral procedures used. Inside the tomb are many relics.

Gongju National Museum

This museum displays mainly relics from the period when the capital of Baekje was Gongju. It contains many relics from King Muryeong's reign.


Early Printing Museum

Jikji is one of the oldest metal type printed book (1377) still in existence. Metal type set was first used in Korea even slightly before Gutenberg's press. The difference between the two is that Korean type would only print 4-5 papers at a time before the tray had to be reset, whereas Gutenberg's metal type was locked securely into place and could then print thousands of pages. We learned about the various ways artisans created metal type (sand and wax methods). Then we created a book. First we made some ink prints using both metal and wood carvings, created our pressed cover, made homemade paper, and then sewed it all together. Wow! That was a big production and took over an hour of fast paced effort. In the end, it turned out pretty well.