Seoul museums and Shaman walk
Alanna and I went to Seoul for a weekend in mid October to see a bit more of the massive city. Our first major stop was the War Museum, which of course largely dealt with the Korean War, or as Koreans call it, the 6.25 (June twenty-fifth) War. The war started when North Korea attacked the South on June twenty-fifth, and the front of the museum has a memorial containing a clock that was stopped by the initial attack.
The first thing we noticed as we approached was a giant statue that seemed to be a celebration of gays in the military, but on closer inspection was actually about two brothers who fought on opposite sides of the war. It is actually seems quite insulting to North Koreans since the younger brother is so much smaller than his South Korean sibling, but the true story that it is based on says the younger brother really was just a kid, so I guess it is okay. Inside the (intentionally) cracked dome that the brothers stand atop are plaques to all of the countries who gave support to the South in the war, and a list of what they sent over.
Around the grounds were numerous tanks, airplanes, and other weapons of war. Inside there were halls documenting Korean battles and weaponry from the Stone age onward. Of course Admiral Yi Sun-Sin's turtle ship was represented. I focused on the area about the Korean civil war and I learned a lot about the conflict, which I hadn't really studied before. Did you know that part of what made the North Korean government (and their Chinese backers) think that the war would be successful was a misunderstanding of American policy. America released a map of their priority regions of their sphere of influence that didn't include Korea, so the North thought that America would just let it happen. It turns out the map was talking about something more specific and would have included Korea on a list of places that they would fight to protect. Also, without American intervention the North would almost certainly have won. They conquered nearly all of the peninsula almost immediately. Actually, both sides held a huge percentage of the peninsula at one point or another during the war.
The next day we went on Lonely Planet's recommended Inwangsan Shaman hillside walk. The walk starts at the prison I talked about on a previous post about Seoul and winds up past a Buddhist temple to a shamanistic one. The Buddhist temple, Inwangsa, is fun because it is mixed right in with the houses of the neighborhood. Note that the temple (sa) is on the mountain (san) of the same name. The shaman shrine Guksadong was originally on Namsan, the central mountain that overlooks Seoul. It was taken apart and secretly reassembled at this less central location during the Japanese occupation to save it from destruction. The shrine was full of a feast offered to the spirits, including a whole pig. Women were saying prayers and making offerings inside. The hillside also had part of Seoul's city wall (now pretty much all reconstructed or frequently restored to the point that it might as well be new), some rocks that some people think look like skulls or monks, and a Buddhist rock carving. The latter was interesting particularly for being surrounded by fence and razor-wire, which was quite a counterpoint to the Buddhist message and peacefulness. On the way down we saw a burned out building that was once part of the temple complex.
After that Alanna went to the prison museum and I went to the Seoul National Museum of Korea, since each of us had seen the museum the other was going to. The National museum was celebrating 100 year's since Korea's first museum and had an exhibition about it. They also had a mascot of a Confucian scholar wandering around and a brass band who sounded mighty impressive in the echoing chamber of steps between the museum's two rather nice buildings. My favorite parts inside the museum were the towering intricate many storied pagoda in the main hall (with close up views from higher floors), a room full of larger than life Buddhas, and cases with Vajra (those Buddhist 'weapons' for removing temptations and impurities). Outside was an aptly named Pagoda Garden. Standing among the many towers from across Korea's history there was also a "Stone Case for the Navel String and the Placenta." It seems that the birth leftovers were kept in lucky places to aid the child.
The first thing we noticed as we approached was a giant statue that seemed to be a celebration of gays in the military, but on closer inspection was actually about two brothers who fought on opposite sides of the war. It is actually seems quite insulting to North Koreans since the younger brother is so much smaller than his South Korean sibling, but the true story that it is based on says the younger brother really was just a kid, so I guess it is okay. Inside the (intentionally) cracked dome that the brothers stand atop are plaques to all of the countries who gave support to the South in the war, and a list of what they sent over.
Around the grounds were numerous tanks, airplanes, and other weapons of war. Inside there were halls documenting Korean battles and weaponry from the Stone age onward. Of course Admiral Yi Sun-Sin's turtle ship was represented. I focused on the area about the Korean civil war and I learned a lot about the conflict, which I hadn't really studied before. Did you know that part of what made the North Korean government (and their Chinese backers) think that the war would be successful was a misunderstanding of American policy. America released a map of their priority regions of their sphere of influence that didn't include Korea, so the North thought that America would just let it happen. It turns out the map was talking about something more specific and would have included Korea on a list of places that they would fight to protect. Also, without American intervention the North would almost certainly have won. They conquered nearly all of the peninsula almost immediately. Actually, both sides held a huge percentage of the peninsula at one point or another during the war.
The next day we went on Lonely Planet's recommended Inwangsan Shaman hillside walk. The walk starts at the prison I talked about on a previous post about Seoul and winds up past a Buddhist temple to a shamanistic one. The Buddhist temple, Inwangsa, is fun because it is mixed right in with the houses of the neighborhood. Note that the temple (sa) is on the mountain (san) of the same name. The shaman shrine Guksadong was originally on Namsan, the central mountain that overlooks Seoul. It was taken apart and secretly reassembled at this less central location during the Japanese occupation to save it from destruction. The shrine was full of a feast offered to the spirits, including a whole pig. Women were saying prayers and making offerings inside. The hillside also had part of Seoul's city wall (now pretty much all reconstructed or frequently restored to the point that it might as well be new), some rocks that some people think look like skulls or monks, and a Buddhist rock carving. The latter was interesting particularly for being surrounded by fence and razor-wire, which was quite a counterpoint to the Buddhist message and peacefulness. On the way down we saw a burned out building that was once part of the temple complex.
After that Alanna went to the prison museum and I went to the Seoul National Museum of Korea, since each of us had seen the museum the other was going to. The National museum was celebrating 100 year's since Korea's first museum and had an exhibition about it. They also had a mascot of a Confucian scholar wandering around and a brass band who sounded mighty impressive in the echoing chamber of steps between the museum's two rather nice buildings. My favorite parts inside the museum were the towering intricate many storied pagoda in the main hall (with close up views from higher floors), a room full of larger than life Buddhas, and cases with Vajra (those Buddhist 'weapons' for removing temptations and impurities). Outside was an aptly named Pagoda Garden. Standing among the many towers from across Korea's history there was also a "Stone Case for the Navel String and the Placenta." It seems that the birth leftovers were kept in lucky places to aid the child.
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