I've already explained the importance of these tombs in my larger scheme of things, but they are worthy of exploration in their own right. In fact, they're great. And the stories about them are great too.
King Seongjong's Burial Mound.
According to the guidebook, Seolleung is the royal tomb of the 9th Joseon Emperor, King Seongjong (1457 - 1494) and his third wife Queen Jeonghyeon (1462 - 1530). Seolleung became King when he was 12 and died young. Very Tutankhamun, yes?
His first two wives aren't buried with honour in this park however. First Wife died young and childless, second wife - who sounds fascinating - the powerful Lady Yun was deposed and disposed in circumstances not explained, and thus he picked his Third Wife from among his harem of concubines and it seems it was third-time-lucky although it was Lady Yun's son Yeonsangun who inherited the throne, although not for long because he was couped out of power by Third Wife's son, Jungjong.
All so very Byzantine, these Joseans Emperors, aren't they!
King Jungjong's burial mound.
Anyway, the 11th Josean Emperor King Jungjong (1488 - 1544) is also buried in this park but it was such a long story getting him there. His first tomb was well away from his parents in an entirely different area, chosen by him so he was next to his beloved late Second Wife Janggyeong (his First Wife Dangyeong was disposed of during the coup that got rid of Yeonsangun, and I'm guessing it was because she chose the wrong side of the dispute, but she was reinstated as Queen after her son came to power) however long after he died his Third Wife Munjeong decided she wanted to be buried next to him instead and so kept saying the current burial site wasn't propitious and the gods wanted him moved ... and thus the tomb was moved to a new site ... which constantly flooded but Munjeong wouldn't let him be moved back again.
And after such mean-spirited machinations you'll be pleased to know that after her death no one would bury her alongside her husband and today no one knows where she is buried. Yayyyyy!
So that's the story of these tumult burial mounds, but let's now see the best of our photographs, if I can ever find them.
Totem Guardians.
Our new friends.
These are the entirely gorgeous gentlemen we met in the deepest forest who all spoke excellent English and were telling us all about the history of the burial mounds, including how the Japanese during their invasion and occupation dug up these mounds and took all the treasures from them and it was something that Korea had never been able to forgive ... and they said that on the very day that Japan told Korea that if North Korea's latest missile went in South Korea's direction they were all set up and ready to shoot it out of the sky for them. And when I said that to these lovely gentlemen I was told it wasn't enough and they'd never forgive Japan until they got the Josean Treasure back.
It's very difficult downloading photos this way so I'll go through them all later and decide if there's any you'd really want to see. For now, I'm off.
However I do have to say that seeing these tombs was a genuinely lovely hike through the forests when the trees were just starting to burst into bloom. I'd recommend it as a great way to spend a day in Seoul.
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