Robert Neff has authored and co-authored several books, including Letters from Joseon, Korea Through Western Eyes and Brief Encounters.
Walking in the Footsteps of the Past: Mount Gyeryong - “Chicken Dragon Mountain”
A view of Mount Gyeryong in 2010 / Courtesy of David Mason
By Robert Neff
While traveling to Nonsan in the autumn of 1884, Foulk jotted down in his journal that the hills had ended and he was provided with a view of “Keryong san” (Mount Gyeryong). It is a shame he did not translate the name into English ― Chicken Dragon Mountain ― as his parents might have found it more interesting. Perhaps Foulk was unaware of its translation and how it came by its name ― the mountain's ridgeline is said to resemble a dragon with a chicken's comb upon it.
He did not travel to the mountain but noted: “Sick people carry pieces of iron and tiles to it and leave them there to cure themselves. If these are taken away, the taker gets sick instantly.”
Mount Gyeryong is often referred to as one of the most sacred in Korea and possesses a great deal of spiritual power ― but Foulk, being a somewhat non-religious man, found little interest in its healing powers. And, somewhat surprisingly, Foulk did not seem too interested in the political importance the mountain held.
The mountain “is foretold to be the site for the next capital” and the name of the next dynasty would be Chung. When Songdo (modern-day Gaeseong in North Korea) was being replaced by Seoul as the new capital of Joseon, the people sometimes referred to their revenue rice as “Yi rice” ― named after Joseon's Yi Dynasty. According to Foulk, “the whole people [of this community] commonly talk of revenue rice as [Chung] ssal (rice).”
It is a shame Foulk did not consider the site important enough to visit, for surely his description would be valuable to modern scholars. For the most part, the mountain was relatively ignored by Western media until 1921 when an article appeared in an American newspaper.
A sanshin stone altar at Mount Gyeryong in 1998 / Courtesy of David Mason
The path leading to the Pool of the Male Dragon in 1998 / Courtesy of David Mason
The Pool of the Male Dragon. Some women believed bathing in this phallus-shaped pool could help guarantee they would have a son. / Courtesy of David Mason
According to the article: Mount Gyeryong, “the lonely mountain of Korea” was experiencing a real estate boom that rivaled those of oil towns in the United States.
“On a tiny piece of land on the mountain side are now encamped 2,562 persons forming 523 households, while hundreds more are gathered at the base, bidding high prices for the privilege of buying a bit of land among the favored.”
A great Korean prophet “whose writings have been preserved in the ancestral mausoleum of the one-time imperial family of Korea, long ago prophesied that Mount [Gyeryong] would be chosen as the religious center of the sect which he founded and as the future capital and metropolis of the peninsula.”
The article went on to claim that the prophecy had recently received a great deal of publicity and thousands of Koreans were flocking to the mountain in hopes of purchasing land where one of greatest cities of the world would soon be built.
The prophesized capital never materialized but it did ― and perhaps still does ― have a political role. In the late 1970s, it served as a military headquarters ― the steep slopes providing excellent protection from artillery and missile barrages and it became closed to the general public.
Prof. David A. Mason was told “the Army forcibly requisitioned all the land of the entire Shindo-an Valley, expelling around 15,000 shamans, monks farmers and others off the land, and destroying hundreds of shrines & temples.”
Mason, who has been to the mountain and the handful of religious sites that remain, added:
“I feel that this was a remarkable and tragic act of cultural destruction, and it always makes me sad to think of it. I wish that the spiritual culture was still flourishing there!”
Some suggest the military's use of the mountain wasn't only due to its strategic location and natural defenses ― they suggest that perhaps President Park Chung-hee was attempting to utilize the prophecy to legitimize his own dynasty.
The destruction of so many of the religious and historical sites on this most sacred mountain in Korea leaves a bitter taste in Mason's mouth.
“I regret that this happened and hope that someday there will be a full public accounting of it.”
Two dragons hold a gong at Gap Temple in 2012. / Courtesy of David Mason
My great appreciation to David A. Mason for allowing me to use his pictures. His great website
is filled with pictures and information of not only Mount Gyeryong but many other spiritual and historical sites around the Korean Peninsula. You can find his page on Mount Gyeryong
.