The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
The Korea Times
amn_close.png
amn_bl.png
National
  • Politics
  • Foreign Affairs
  • Multicultural Community
  • Defense
  • Environment & Animals
  • Law & Crime
  • Society
  • Health & Science
amn_bl.png
Business
  • Tech
  • Bio
  • Companies
  • World Expo 2030
amn_bl.png
Finance
  • Companies
  • Economy
  • Markets
  • Cryptocurrency
amn_bl.png
Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Columns
  • Thoughts of the Times
  • Cartoon
  • Today in History
  • Blogs
  • Tribune Service
  • Blondie & Garfield
  • Letter to the Editor
amn_bl.png
Lifestyle
  • Travel & Food
  • Trends
  • People & Events
  • Books
  • Around Town
  • Fortune Telling
amn_bl.png
Entertainment & Arts
  • K-pop
  • Films
  • Shows & Dramas
  • Music
  • Theater & Others
amn_bl.png
Sports
  • Hangzhou Asian Games
amn_bl.png
World
  • SCMP
  • Asia
amn_bl.png
Video
  • Korean Storytellers
  • POPKORN
  • Culture
  • People
  • News
amn_bl.png
Photos
  • Photo News
  • Darkroom
amn_NK.png amn_DR.png amn_LK.png amn_LE.png
  • bt_fb_on_2022.svgbt_fb_over_2022.svg
  • bt_X_on_2023.svgbt_X_over_2023.svg
  • bt_youtube_on_2022.svgbt_youtube_over_2022.svg
  • bt_instagram_on_2022.svgbt_instagram_over_2022.svg
  • Login
  • Register
  • Login
  • Register
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
  • 1

    Seoul Metro begins real-time translation service for foreign tourists at Myeong-dong Station

  • 3

    JYP to host annual audition in January

  • 5

    Korean economy to start shrinking by 2050 if low birthrate unaddressed: BOK report

  • 7

    Space race heats up between two Koreas after Seoul launches spy satellite

  • 9

    NK warns 'physical clash, war' on Korean Peninsula a matter of time, not possibility

  • 11

    No. of elementary school freshmen expected to drop below 400,000 next year

  • 13

    Uncertainty lingers over Ven. Jaseung's death

  • 15

    Spaniard accused of helping N. Korea evade US sanctions arrested

  • 17

    INTERVIEWMirinae Lee's '8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster' offers fresh perspective on Korean history

  • 19

    Tensions rise as opposition demands special probe into first lady

  • 2

    INTERVIEWEcolab helps Korean partners profit from ESG management

  • 4

    Ronaldo walks off to chants of 'Messi! Messi!' as his team loses 3-0 in Riyadh derby

  • 6

    Son-dol: a cold day for a ferryman and a merchant

  • 8

    ANALYSISHas N. Korean leader's daughter been confirmed as heir apparent?

  • 10

    INTERVIEW'Lifeline for migrant workers in Korea' - Rev. Kim fights for foreign employees' rights

  • 12

    Korean battery firms face higher costs for access to US subsidies

  • 14

    Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra dazzles audience at Korea International Festival

  • 16

    INTERVIEWKorea to work with US, Japan to fight climate change

  • 18

    Israel widens evacuation orders as it shifts its offensive to southern Gaza amid heavy bombardments

  • 20

    N. Korea's spy satellite operation office begins mission: state media

Close scrollclosebutton

Close for 24 hours

Open
  • The Korea Times
  • search
  • all menu
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Photos
  • Video
  • World
  • Sports
  • Opinion
  • Entertainment & Art
  • Lifestyle
  • Finance
  • Business
  • National
  • North Korea
Opinion
  • About the past
  • Korea: deConstructed
  • Parchment Made of Sheepskins
  • Workable Words
  • Dialogues with Adoptees
  • Imbricated Chaos
Tue, December 5, 2023 | 07:25
Walking in the Footsteps of the Past: Mount Gyeryong - “Chicken Dragon Mountain”
Posted : 2021-04-11 11:15
Updated : 2021-04-11 14:45
Print PreviewPrint Preview
Font Size UpFont Size Up
Font Size DownFont Size Down
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • kakaolink
  • whatsapp
  • reddit
  • mailto
  • link
A view of Mount Gyeryong in 2010 / Courtesy of David Mason
A view of Mount Gyeryong in 2010 / Courtesy of David Mason

By Robert Neff

While traveling to Nonsan in the autumn of 1884, Foulk jotted down in his journal that the hills had ended and he was provided with a view of "Keryong san" (Mount Gyeryong). It is a shame he did not translate the name into English ― Chicken Dragon Mountain ― as his parents might have found it more interesting. Perhaps Foulk was unaware of its translation and how it came by its name ― the mountain's ridgeline is said to resemble a dragon with a chicken's comb upon it.

He did not travel to the mountain but noted: "Sick people carry pieces of iron and tiles to it and leave them there to cure themselves. If these are taken away, the taker gets sick instantly."

Mount Gyeryong is often referred to as one of the most sacred in Korea and possesses a great deal of spiritual power ― but Foulk, being a somewhat non-religious man, found little interest in its healing powers. And, somewhat surprisingly, Foulk did not seem too interested in the political importance the mountain held.

The mountain "is foretold to be the site for the next capital" and the name of the next dynasty would be Chung. When Songdo (modern-day Gaeseong in North Korea) was being replaced by Seoul as the new capital of Joseon, the people sometimes referred to their revenue rice as "Yi rice" ― named after Joseon's Yi Dynasty. According to Foulk, "the whole people [of this community] commonly talk of revenue rice as [Chung] ssal (rice)."

It is a shame Foulk did not consider the site important enough to visit, for surely his description would be valuable to modern scholars. For the most part, the mountain was relatively ignored by Western media until 1921 when an article appeared in an American newspaper.

A view of Mount Gyeryong in 2010 / Courtesy of David Mason
A sanshin stone altar at Mount Gyeryong in 1998 / Courtesy of David Mason

A view of Mount Gyeryong in 2010 / Courtesy of David Mason
The path leading to the Pool of the Male Dragon in 1998 / Courtesy of David Mason
A view of Mount Gyeryong in 2010 / Courtesy of David Mason
The Pool of the Male Dragon. Some women believed bathing in this phallus-shaped pool could help guarantee they would have a son. / Courtesy of David Mason
According to the article: Mount Gyeryong, "the lonely mountain of Korea" was experiencing a real estate boom that rivaled those of oil towns in the United States.

"On a tiny piece of land on the mountain side are now encamped 2,562 persons forming 523 households, while hundreds more are gathered at the base, bidding high prices for the privilege of buying a bit of land among the favored."

Walking in the footsteps of the Past: Foulk's 1884 trek around Nonsan
Walking in the footsteps of the Past: Foulk's 1884 trek around Nonsan
2021-04-10 09:33  |  About the past

A great Korean prophet "whose writings have been preserved in the ancestral mausoleum of the one-time imperial family of Korea, long ago prophesied that Mount [Gyeryong] would be chosen as the religious center of the sect which he founded and as the future capital and metropolis of the peninsula."

The article went on to claim that the prophecy had recently received a great deal of publicity and thousands of Koreans were flocking to the mountain in hopes of purchasing land where one of greatest cities of the world would soon be built.

The prophesized capital never materialized but it did ― and perhaps still does ― have a political role. In the late 1970s, it served as a military headquarters ― the steep slopes providing excellent protection from artillery and missile barrages and it became closed to the general public.

Prof. David A. Mason was told "the Army forcibly requisitioned all the land of the entire Shindo-an Valley, expelling around 15,000 shamans, monks farmers and others off the land, and destroying hundreds of shrines & temples."

Mason, who has been to the mountain and the handful of religious sites that remain, added:

"I feel that this was a remarkable and tragic act of cultural destruction, and it always makes me sad to think of it. I wish that the spiritual culture was still flourishing there!"

Some suggest the military's use of the mountain wasn't only due to its strategic location and natural defenses ― they suggest that perhaps President Park Chung-hee was attempting to utilize the prophecy to legitimize his own dynasty.

The destruction of so many of the religious and historical sites on this most sacred mountain in Korea leaves a bitter taste in Mason's mouth.

"I regret that this happened and hope that someday there will be a full public accounting of it."

A view of Mount Gyeryong in 2010 / Courtesy of David Mason
Two dragons hold a gong at Gap Temple in 2012. / Courtesy of David Mason

My great appreciation to David A. Mason for allowing me to use his pictures. His great website
san-shin.net is filled with pictures and information of not only Mount Gyeryong but many other spiritual and historical sites around the Korean Peninsula. You can find his page on Mount Gyeryong here.



Emailrobertneff103@gmail.com Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
wooribank
LG group
Top 10 Stories
1Seoul Metro begins real-time translation service for foreign tourists at Myeong-dong Station Seoul Metro begins real-time translation service for foreign tourists at Myeong-dong Station
2[INTERVIEW] Mirinae Lee's '8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster' offers fresh perspective on Korean history INTERVIEWMirinae Lee's '8 Lives of a Century-Old Trickster' offers fresh perspective on Korean history
3Go Dae-su: Queen Min's giant female bodyguardGo Dae-su: Queen Min's giant female bodyguard
4Korea on alert over another urea shortage crisisKorea on alert over another urea shortage crisis
5N. Korean hacker group Andariel steals S. Korean defense secrets N. Korean hacker group Andariel steals S. Korean defense secrets
6Park Sae-eun receives French order of merit Park Sae-eun receives French order of merit
7Debate grows over broadening of state insurance coverage for drug rehabilitation Debate grows over broadening of state insurance coverage for drug rehabilitation
8Samsung's sports marketing called into question after Bluewings' relegation Samsung's sports marketing called into question after Bluewings' relegation
9President names new finance, land ministers in Cabinet shake-upPresident names new finance, land ministers in Cabinet shake-up
10Camarata Music celebrates Christmas Camarata Music celebrates Christmas
Top 5 Entertainment News
1Popular talk show 'Strong Heart' returns with new format Popular talk show 'Strong Heart' returns with new format
2How Lee Ung-no pioneered East-West fusion through brushstrokesHow Lee Ung-no pioneered East-West fusion through brushstrokes
3[REVIEW] Preview gala sets stage for grand premiere of 'La Rose de Versailles' musical REVIEWPreview gala sets stage for grand premiere of 'La Rose de Versailles' musical
4JYP to host annual audition in JanuaryJYP to host annual audition in January
5Taipei Philharmonic Orchestra dazzles audience at Korea International FestivalTaipei Philharmonic Orchestra dazzles audience at Korea International Festival
DARKROOM
  • It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

    It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

  • 2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

    2023 Thanksgiving parade in NYC

  • Appreciation of autumn colors

    Appreciation of autumn colors

  • Our children deserve better

    Our children deserve better

  • Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

    Israel-Gaza conflict erupts into war

  • Turkey-Syria earthquake

    Turkey-Syria earthquake

  • Nepal plane crash

    Nepal plane crash

  • Brazil capital uprising

    Brazil capital uprising

  • Happy New Year 2023

    Happy New Year 2023

  • World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

    World Cup 2022 Final - Argentina vs France

CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jin
Digital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.kr
Tel: 02-724-2114
Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844
Date of registration: 2020.02.05
Masthead: The Korea Times
Copyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.
  • About Us
  • Introduction
  • History
  • Contact Us
  • Products & Services
  • Subscribe
  • E-paper
  • RSS Service
  • Content Sales
  • Site Map
  • Policy
  • Code of Ethics
  • Ombudsman
  • Privacy Statement
  • Terms of Service
  • Copyright Policy
  • Family Site
  • Hankook Ilbo
  • Dongwha Group