Korean
gardens attempt to recreate the natural landscape with hills, streams and fields.
They are usually small in scale, but strive towards an ideal harmony of nature
and man. The principal idea is to blend the structures into nature with the
least possible disturbance of the environment, because, in the Korean mind,
nature is already a perfect and absolute entity that regenerates and sustains
life.
In the long tradition of garden making in Korea, adding man-made elements to
the purest of spaces is considered a violation and something to be approached
with utmost care and reservation. The essential idea behind the Korean art of
garden-building is to make it look more natural than nature itself. In many
cases, what appears to be the work of nature turns out, at a closer look, to
be the result of very conscious efforts. Korean gardens are characterized by
a submission to nature in an attempt to attain beauty and function.
Korea has a long history of gardens. The oldest records date to the Three Kingdoms
period (57B.C.-A.D. 668) when architecture showed notable development. An important
early history of the Korean nation, Samguksagi (History of the Three Kingdoms)
provides numerous pieces of evidence of royal palace gardens.
The
earliest record of a garden in the book is attributed to the Goguryeo Kingdom
(37 B.C.-A.D. 668). It says that in the sixth year of the regin of King Dong-myeong,
the founder of Goguryeo, mysterious peacocks swarmed into the courtyard of the
royal palace. In the second year (414) of the reign of King Jangsu, the same
source claims that curious birds flocked into the royal palace, another indication
that the palace had a garden to attract such birds.
The book implies that Baekje (18 B.C.-A.D. 660) had gardens of higher aesthetical
standards by saying that, during the reign of King Mu (r.600-641), a pond was
made to the south of the royal palace with the source of water supply located
8km away. Willow trees were planted along all four banks of the pond, which
had in the center a miniature island named after a legendary mountain in China
where Taoist immortals were said to dwell. Remains of the pond are found today
in Buyeo, the old capital of Baekje. It is called Gungnamji, or the Pond South
of the Palace.
There
is also the record that in 655, King Uija had the palace of the Crown Prince
extensively renovated and a pavilion named Manghaejeong, or the Sea Watching
Pavilion, built to the south of his palace. The sea here is assumed to have
meant the Gungnamji pond surrounded by willow trees, located to the south of
the main palace.
In Silla (57 B.C.-A.D. 935), the founding monarch Bak Hyeokgeose built a palace
in the capital city of Geumseong, which is today's Gyeongju, in 32 B.C., according
to the Samguksagi. The book also says that, during the reign of King Cheomhae
Isageum (r.247-267), a dragon appeared from a pond located to the east of the
royal palace, and willow trees that lay to the south of the sp. city rose by
themselves.
The best preserved among all ancient palace gardens is Anapji pond in Gyeongju,
which was recently drained for excavation and restoration. Built as part of
the detached palace of the Crown Prince during the reign of King Munmu (r.661-681),
the artificial pond had five buildings along its shore stretching 1,330 meters,
each situated to command a full view of the pond. Of the five, three pavilion-like
structures have been restored.
Anapji
has curved embankments on the northern and eastern sides, somewhat resembling
the shoreline of a river. The southern end is perfectly straight while the western
side is angular. All of the four sides are lined with dressed stones. In the
middle of the pond are three small islands alluding to Taoist sanctuaries.
In an entry dated A.D. 674, the Samguksagi records that" a pond was made with
mountain-islands, flowering plants were grown, and rare birds and strange animals
were raised in the palace." It is believed that plants such as orchids, peonies,
lotus and azaleas, and birds and animals like swans, peacocks and deer were
kept in the palace. On the shore and around the islands are simulated beaches
made of rocks.
When Anapji was drained and excavated in 1975, many relics dating from the Unified
Silla period (668-935) were found. They included a wooden frame which is believed
to have been designed to grow lotus in a limited area in the pond. The entire
floor of the pond was covered with pebbles to keep the water clear. On the whole,
Anapji and the surrounding garden were designed in a microcosmic style to symbolize
the dwellings of Taoist fairies. The entire area was so arranged as to create
the effect of a landscape painting.
Another
important Silla garden in Gyeongju is the one at the site of a detached palace
in the southern valley of Mt. Namsan. At the site of its Poseokjeong pavilion,
believed to have been built in the eighth century, is a water channel in which
wine cups floated around during royal feasts. The channel defines an abalone-shaped
area. The garden seems to have been a lovely sight with thick bamboo groves,
beautiful streams and dense woods of pine and zelkova trees.
During Goryeo (918-1392), the pleasure-seeking King Uijong had various beautiful
pavilions constructed in a royal villa in 1157 as part of a project to build
a simulated fairyland. He ordered one of the pavilions to be covered with fine
celadon roof tiles, which was criticized as an excessive luxury by offcials.
The
art of garden making in the Joseon period (1392-1910) is best exemplified by
the Huwon garden of Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul. Comprising some 300,000 square
meters of the entire 405,636 square meters of the palace property, the garden
is tastefully laid out with picturesque pavilions and halls, lotus ponds, fantastically
shaped rocks, stone bridges, stairways, water troughs and springs scattered
among dense woods, all essential elements of a traditional Korean-style garden. | | Garden seen from Hwallaejeon pavilion at Seongyojang in Gangneoung. |
|
Amisan Garden in the back of Gyotaejeon, once the royal bedchamber of Gyeongbokgung
Palace, provides another attractive example of Joseon palatial gardens. It has
four brick chimneys adorned with beautiful patterns, stone water holders and
fantastic rocks placed among the plants on the terraced flower beds.
Not far from Amisan Garden, in the northern section of the palace, a two-story
hexagonal pavilion named Hyangwonjeong stands in the middle of a lotus pond.
A beautiful wooden bridge spans the pond to the pavilion.
| A lotus pond is one of the most important structures in Korean garden. Hyangwonjeong. |
| In
Damyang-gun, located in Korea's south-western Jeollanam-do province, a woodland
garden named Soswaewon (Garden of Pure Mind), built by a 16th century nobleman,
offers a fine example of Joseon literati gardens combining Confucian idealism
and Taoist naturalism. Approached by a long, arched gateway of a thick bamboo
grove, the garden has a rapid stream burbling down a rocky valley by pavilions,
a lotus pond and a water mill. It is adorned with a variety of trees and shrubs
including paulownias, plums, pines, maples, plantains, gingko trees, orchids,
chrysanthemums and lotuses-all favorite plants among ancient Koreans for both
their appearances and symbolic meanings. The idyllic atmosphere of the place
inspired many writers and poets. |
In Gangneung, Gangwon-do province, near the east coast, Seongyojang, or the
Mansion of Ferry Bridge, maintains much of the stylishness of the Joseon elite
home garden of the early 19th century. The mansion is comprised of the outer
quarters for the men of the family, the inner quarters for women and children,
and the servant quarters, each surrounded with low stone walls with little landscaping.
There is a square lotus pond near the entrance, with a pavilion perched on the
shore and a miniature mountain-island in the center, in a style reminiscent
of a lotus pond in the Huwon garden in Seoul.