Category Archives: history

Buddhist culture East Sea Gyeongju hiking history Stories, legends & people Temples & shrines tips for tourists

Going to the River: Girimsa Temple (기림사) and Yongyeonpokpo Waterfalls (용연폭포)

07/23/2012 – 23:40
Yongyeonpokpo Waterfalls, Girimsa Temple, Gyeongju

Yongyeonpokpo Waterfalls, Girimsa Temple, Gyeongju

About a month ago a friend on on Facebook asked where around Gyeongju you can “go to the river.”  Unfortunately I’ve been a bit distracted with writing my Master’s thesis over the last month, but I hope to post on a few places to “go to the river” around here while there’s still some of the summer left. There are actually a number of nice swimming holes and lovely picnicking spots by the rivers around Gyeongju which we go to almost every weekend, if the weather’s nice. read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comment (0)
Cycling Routes Gyeongju history Ruins & remains Sites to see Statues & carvings Temples & shrines tips for tourists

Gyeongju Cycling Courses and Maps

06/22/2012 – 23:16
Gyeongju Cycling Map

Gyeongju Cycling Map

Gyeongju is really a great place for cycling.  The countryside around Gyeongju is fairly flat and dozens of cement farm roads weave their way through scenic rice paddies and rustic villages.  Cycling’s also the fastest way to visit the dozens of ancient Silla tombs, temples, relics and ruins scattered outside of the city.  Not to mention, you can rent bikes for the day at both the train and bus stations and the bikes are usually in fairly decent shape too.   When I first started this blog I’d planned on posting a lot more on different cycling routes in the area.  Unfortunately, aside from one or two early posts, that never really happened.  To be honest, I’ve probably been on a bike once since my son was born two years ago (a sad fact I hope to soon change). read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (5)
Buddhist culture Events Festivals Gyeongju hiking history holidays photography Statues & carvings Temples & shrines tips for tourists

Buddha’s Birthday at Sinseonsa (신선사) Temple on Mt. Danseoksan (단석산)

05/29/2012 – 13:36
Miruk Grotto at Sinseonsa Temple, Mt. Danseoksan, Gyeongju

Miruk Grotto at Sinseonsa Temple, Mt. Danseoksan, Gyeongju

Like many things in Gyeongju, I’ve been meaning to write about Mt. Danseoksan for a while, but I’ve been too busy to get around to it.  However, celebrating Buddha’s Birthday, or Seokga Tansinil (석가탄신일), yesterday at the ancient stone grotto of Mirukgul (미룩굴) on Mt. Danseokan has given me the best reason I’m probably going to get.  Located about 10 km south-west of Gyeongju City, Mt. Danseoksan is officially part of Gyeongju National Park and is famous for its history, legends and natural beauty.  Literally meaning “Split Rock Mountain,” Mt. Danseoksan is, in fact, named after one such ancient story involving the famed Silla general Kim Yu-sin. read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (5)
Downtown Gyeongju history photography tips for tourists

Downtown Gyeongju: Photo Slideshow Part 1

04/21/2012 – 21:35
Downtown Gyeongju

Downtown Gyeongju

This post probably won’t win me any awards from the Korean Tourism Organization, but once upon a time I was a Fine Arts student.  So after the last few weeks of beautifully blossoming cherry trees, please forgive me if I’m in the mood to post something a bit more urban and gritty.  Here’s the first part of a slideshow of I’ve put together of Gyeongju, so you can scroll down or click on the photos for the slideshow viewer.  I wanted to break in my new Nikon D5100 last month and went for a stroll downtown, so most of the photos here are from that shoot.  Also I’ve thrown in a few older pictures that, for some reason or another, haven’t made it up on the blog yet. read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , | Permalink | Comments (7)
history Korean culture Stories, legends & people videos

More Dangsan Namu (당산나무): KTV Documentary in 4 Parts

02/29/2012 – 10:43

Since we’ve been on the subject of Dangsan Namu (당산나무) lately, I posting a KTV documentary I found on Youtube about Korean Dangsan Namu.  The documentary is in 4 parts, though unfortunately only the first and second seconds have English subs.  Even so, parts 1 and 2 are enough to a give a sense of the rich variety of legends surrounding the Dangsan Namu in Korean folklore.  Part 2 even includes details on the traditional village ceremonies honoring the Dangsan Namu on Daeboreum (대보름), which I talked about a few weeks ago.   Unfortunately my Korean’s not good enough to make much sense of the Korean narration in parts 3 and 4, but I’m including them below anyways.  If any Korean speakers would like to chime in with a summary in the comments section, I’d definitely appreciate it ;-) read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (2)
Events Festivals Gyeongju history holidays photography Shamanism Temples & shrines

Photos: A Dangsan Tree (당나무) on Daeboreum (대보름)

02/13/2012 – 15:57
Dangsan Tree on Daeboreum Holiday in Gyeongju

Dangsan Tree on Daeboreum Holiday in Gyeongju

If you’ve checked your calendar recently, you might have noticed that last Monday night was a full moon.  In fact, it was the first full moon after Seollal (설날), or Lunar New Years , here in Korea, which marks it as the holiday of Daeboreum (대보름).   Daeboreum has been traditionally celebrated with a massive bonfire , music, and dancing, making it one of my favorite Korean holidays.  In fact, I’ve already posted twice on Daeboreum, with both photos and video of the Gyeongju’s Daeboruem bonfire a few years back, so I won’t say too much here about the holiday itself. read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comment (1)
Downtown East Sea history Hwangnam-dong Namsan-dong Ruins & remains Sites to see Statues & carvings Temples & shrines videos

Gyeongju Videos on the Korean Heritage Channel

01/20/2012 – 00:01

 

The other day I was rummaging around on Youtube for videos to fill out a playlist on Gyeongjublog’s fledgling Youtube Channel and I stumbled across some amazing videos on something called the Korean Heritage Channel.  I know I use far too many superlatives on this blog already, but this channel features some of the best promotional videos I’ve seen produced on Korea.   Some might say that’s wouldn’t be too difficult considering the schmaltzy overdubbed travel schlock typically broadcast on Arirang.  However these videos are of a different class entirely.  They’re each brief 2 to 3 minute long vignettes of rich HD footage tastefully edited together with traditional music and subtitled commentary.  read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (2)
Arts & crafts Buddhist culture Gyeongju history Statues & carvings Stories, legends & people Temples & shrines Wierd Gyeongju

Weird Gyeongju: The Wooden Fish Knocker of Bunhwangsa (분황사) Temple

01/15/2012 – 20:03
Wooden Fish Knocker, Bunhwangsa Temple, Gyeongju

Wooden Fish Knocker, Bunhwangsa Temple, Gyeongju

As one of the few architectural structures left standing from the Silla Dynasty, Bunhwangsa (분황사) Temple is one of the “must see” historical sites in Gyeongju.  Built in 634 C.E. by order of the legendary Queen Seondeok (선덕여왕), Bunhwangsa is most famous for its three-tiered pagoda.  Originally built as seven or nine tiers, the pagoda was badly damaged during both the Mongolian Invasions of the 13th century, when the neighboring Hwangnyeongsa Temple (황룡사) and nine-story pagoda were burned to the ground, and again during the Hideyoshi Invasion of 1592.  Curiously, the pagoda was built in “imitation brick” style, meaning that Silla workmen actually took the time to carve stones into the shapes of bricks to imitate the brick pagodas then fashionable in China.  Seems to me like it would’ve been a lot easier to make it out of actual bricks, but I’ll leave the debate over that minor detail up to the historians. read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comment (1)
Gyeongju history Stories, legends & people

A Pictorial Timeline of Gyeongju History

07/03/2011 – 23:47
Photo of 3-Tiered Pagoda of Bunhwangsa Temple (from www.gjucc.co.kr)

Photo of 3-Tiered Pagoda of Bunhwangsa Temple (from www.gjucc.co.kr)

As part of another project I’ve got in the works at the moment, I put together a brief timeline of the history of Gyeongju which I’m posting it here with some photos. I hope that clearly and concisely portrays the dramatic thousand year rise and fall of the Shilla Dynasty and is subsequent rediscovery and preservation in the 20th century. It’s far from complete, but I’ve tried to include links to posts that flesh out the details a bit more. Heck, if folks think it’s good enough, I might even include it as a permanent page to be updated as I post more links. In the mean time, let’s start way back at the beginning: read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comments (2)
Gyeongju history Korean culture links Sites to see tips for tourists Top 10 videos

Top 10 YouTube Videos on Gyeongju and the Shilla Dynasty

06/24/2011 – 23:28

It’s been a while since I’ve done any “Top 10″ and since I’ve been busy with final exams and grades, I don’t have any proper articles ready to go this week.  Instead, I figured I’d post on the 10 best YouTube videos I could find about Gyeongju. Believe me, it was a lot harder than it sounds. For all the time I spent fast forwarding through dozens vacation slideshows of Bulguksa and boring A.P. History projects, I might as well have written an article. In any case, I did in fact find 10 YouTube videos that are well worth watching (in spite of their occasional flaws). So, in no particular order, first up is the official UNESCO World Heritage promotional video on Bulguksa Temple and Seokguram Grotto. It’s pretty:

read more »

Print Friendly
Share
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink | Comment (0)

Next Page »

Next Page »

Content Protected Using Blog Protector By: PcDrome.