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Jeju Island, a volcanic island, located south of the Korean peninsula, is an enormous rock. Halla Mountain is the main cone. There are several secondary cones. Arriving here by plane from Busan, I checked into my hotel room and then immediately made way way by local bus to Seongsan Ilchulbong. |
Seongsan Ilchulbong was formed by volcanic eruption about 5000 years ago. Originally it was an island. Eruptions desposted ash down the slopes. Some of it eroded more quickly thereby creating deeply ravined slopes and verticle rocks. As it eroded, it became smaller and the deposted material eventually connected it to Jeju Island.
From a distance the climb to the top of the caldera looks a formiable challenge. The path to it seems to be going up an almost verticle slope. As I approach, it starts looking less formiable. A well designed wooden walkway has been built. Each section only has twenty of so steps before coming to a rest platform. There are also several observation platforms transforming what could have been an arduous slog into a pleasant stroll.
There are many verticle rocks on the Seongsan Ilchulbong. A very prominate one is called DeungGyeongDio Rock (Lamp Rock). It is associated with a Seongsan Ilchulbong formation legend.
According to the legend, Goddess Sulmundaehalmong carried dirt, which she used to build the island, in her skirt by day. At night she would sew tears produced by the days labour. To provide light she hung her lamp upon the rock, the DeungGyeongDio Rock.
People living in the village of Seongsan bow four times when passing it. Two bows are for General Kim Tong-Jeong for sacificing his life protecting Korea from the Yuan Dynasty and the end of the Goryeo Dynasty. It is believed that he used to jump around the rock to maintain physical and mental fitness.
Being on the rime of the caldera is like being on the rim of a large shallow bowl. The surface, like the slopes, is heavily vegetated. Some of the plant species are unique to the caldera.
From this vantage I gazed eastwards out to the Pacific Ocean or westwards down onto Seongsan.
Many female divers, known as Haenyeo, live in Seongsan. They live by diving to collect seaweed, mollusks and other sea life from the ocean. Girls start training when they are eleven, beginning in shallow water and working up to deeper depths. Training would take about seven years. Today, because of better education and increased economic opportunities their numbers are rapidly declining.
The experience, on this chilly November afternoon, is enhanced by the relative lack of people. I was once again overcome by the same "I don't want to leave" feeling I had at the summit of Cradle Mountain. But, of course, I knew I had to leave. Staying until the onset of dusk I made my way down the walkway and back to Jeju City.
On this my second and last day on Jeju I had a choice; to visit Halla Mountain; or visit the Peace Park and Stone Park. Perhaps influenced by the previous days visit to Seongsan Ilchulbong, I chose the latter.
Travel mistake: not giving myself enough time.
The Jeju 4:3 Peace Park opened to the public on March 28th, 2008. It was created to remember those who were injured or lost their lives during an uprising which broke out on March 3rd 1948 on Jeju Island. The uprising lasted over a year and killed several thousand civilians.
Inside there are many exhibits, with explanations in both Korean and English, which attempt to explain the causes of the uprising and its unfortunate path.
The park is a part of the reparations package for victims as recommended by the Jeju 4:3 Committee, commissioned in 2000.
Being a volcanic rock it is not unexpected that stone played an important part in the island's culture, both in everyday affairs and religion. The Jeju Island Stone Park, was built to celebrate this culture. To enter, is to enter a relm that is partly history, partly myth.
So on a chilly Novembers day, after paying the 4000 Won entrance fee, I enter this stone land of history and and myth. Entering a path bordered on both sides by stone slabs I walk towards a stone that looks like an abstract representation of the human face. There are many stones like this on Jeju, maybe they are source of much of the island's mythology.
Stones were used for housing, fishing, stock raising, millstones for grinding grain, containers used for water and food storage and for gate posts. A gate post consisting of three of four holes where placed alongside house entrances. Wooden crossbars were then threaded though the holes, preventing animals from entering dwellings.
Stones used to mark prehistoric burial sites were called dolmans. Some marked specific graves while others marked common burial sites. On Jeju they were classified on the basis of where the bodies were placed and the number of supporting stones.
Stone objects were worshipped and used to define boundaries. Reality and myth combine in the dolnarubang. Stone statues 1.82 metres in height they were placed face to face at the sides of castle gates as guardian dieties to offer protection and prosperity. They were also believed to keep the areas they watched free from evil spirits and misfortune. They defined castle boundaries and acted as guides to entrance and exit points.
Reality totally gives way to myth with the legand of Grandma Seolmundae. She was a large lady, so large the she used Mt Hallan as a pillow and her feet rested in the sea. She was also very fertile, giving birth to five hundred sons. When famine ravished the land she send out her sons to find food. While they were away she began to prepare a large meal of porride using the caldera of Mount Halla as a pot. During the preparation she sliiped, fell into the porridge and drowned. The sons upon they return partook of the porridge. It was the most delicious porridge they had ever tasted.
The youngest son, who came home last, disovered bones in the pot which he immediately realised were his mothers. Struck with grief, he severely admonished his brother and ran out of the room crying. He ran, ran as far as he could but eventually turned into stone. His bothers, racked with guilt also eventually turn to stone. Now they stand on the side of Mt Hallan, the five hundren generals. A replica of some of the five hundred generals is displayed in the Stone Park.
At the time of my visit, in 2015, the museum was closed and the stone houses had no artifacts inside them. But I think it will be worth a revisiting when it is completed.
