Spent the second last night of my 2007 trip to Korea in a smallseaside town called Gyeokpo. It was easy enough to board the bus from Naeso-sa on the southern side of Byeonsanbando on the west coast of Korea and only slightly more challenging to find a yeogwan that suited my taste ( sea view, of course!) and budget ( under 30,000 won). photo credit: Kim Byung-joonThe weather was..

Aside from former PresidentChun Doo-hwanwho spent a few years in Baekdamsa, Manhae, a.k.a. Han Yong-un ( 1879-1944) is the other person with close associations with this remote temple in Gangwon-do. He was one of the 33 signatories for the historic document which contained Korean's declaration of independence from Japan. He spent some time in Oseam, a hermitage unde..

More details about this Friday’s seminar at SOAS Friday, January 29th, 5pm, room G50 (main building) Jung-Shim Lee, Leiden University Han Yongun’s posthumous novel Death: Questioning a monk’s nation-building project Abstract: This paper will explore how a Korean monk Han Yongun produced Confucian-inspired nation-building ideas in his novel Death (Chugǔm, 1924). Han Yongun (韓龍雲, 18..

Schoolmaster's SijoEven the youngest here can answer this simple question!Why doesn't he know? Why can't he understand? Fifty winters ago, I was him. How quickly I've forgotten what I learnt. The KNTO webpage now has an on-line art gallery featuring works by Kim Hong-do ( also known as Danwon) and Shin Yun-bok, the painters featured in the SBS 2008 drama production, Painter of the Wind. Danwon i..

As another farewell nod to Damyang, I'd like tofeature an excerpt from a poemby Yun Sŏndo (1587 - 1671). One of the most prominent poets in Korean literature,Yunhasbeen compared to his contemporaries like Shakespeare, Basho and Cervantes. His poem, Song of Five Friends, is often quoted in anthologies of Korean poetry. Here are three versions of verse five from that..

Early morning;r i s e the sun from one side,however shyly hiding behind floating cottons... water vapors. Tiny little thing,we don't see,but it's there,we accept it would be always be,but it's there because.wind b l o w i&nb..

You ask how many friends I have? Water and stone, bamboo and pine.The moon rising over the eastern hill is a joyful comrade.Besides these five companions, what other pleasure should I ask?...Yon Son-do (1587-1671)Similar to the Japanese poetic form Haiku, Sijo is a Korean form of poetry, traditionally consisting of three lines of 14 – 16 syllables each with a total of 44 – 46 syllables per p..