Al. Anne Hilty et - Jeju Island: Reaching to the Core of Beauty

Jeju Island

Reaching to the Core of Beauty

KOREA ESSENTIALS No. 5

Jeju Island: Reaching to the Core of Beauty

Copyright 2011 by The Korea Foundation

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

First Published in 2011 by Seoul Selection

B1 Korean Publishers Association Bldg., 105-2 Sagan-dong,

Jongno-gu, Seoul 110-190, Korea

Phone: (82-2) 734-9567

Fax: (82-2) 734-9562

Email:

Website: www.seoulselection.com

ISBN: 978-1-62412-038-1

INTRODUCTION

Jeju is an island of mystery.

Most Koreans today think of Jeju as Honeymoon Island or the Hawaii of Korea, projecting their fantasies onto what they imagine to be a tropical paradise. As many confess to having been there only once or not at all, it remains for the mainland an island of mystery. Steeped in mythology, shamanic ritual, and legend, with a dialect so distinct from the language of the mainland that linguists question whether it represents a separate language entirely, this island of 18,000 gods does its part to provide an aura of otherworldliness.

Now the recipient of UNESCO designation in three categories of natural science, the location of the World Conservation Congress in 2012, a test bed for numerous environmental soundness initiatives, and a finalist in the international New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign, Jeju is also renowned for its ecology. Forged by volcanic activity, the island has a wealth of natural phenomena and a 5,000-year history of human civilization in harmony with nature.

The Jeju woman is legendary for her image of strength. Originating with a unique creation myth centered on a giant goddess figure and personified by the famed diving women, Jeju has a longstanding matrifocal and economically egalitarian tradition. An island of villages, Jeju boasts a strong sense of community that has been promoted by a history of struggle for subsistence and against multiple invasions and tragedies.

Jeju is equally well known for its three abundanceswind, stone, and womenand for its three absencesbeggars, thieves, and locks. Having also established itself as an island of longevity, with centenarian records kept for the past 300 years and legends circulating in ancient China about an elixir of immortality to be found here, Jeju may house another mystery: the key to eternal life. At the very least, life on this island would seem to contribute to well-being.

Outside of Korea, Jeju remains a mystery largely because so very little has been written about it in English. This book seeks to rectify that dearth of information, and to share the wonders of Jeju Island with the world.

There is a certain melancholy about the island. We dont know where it comes from, but the feeling holds you. Perhaps its the wind, and the grayish green tint that impregnates everything, the rocks, the tree trunks, the springs and even the sea. In Jeju, that feeling is even stronger than usual. Youre at the edge of the world, as they say. At the door between the infiniteness of the Pacific Ocean and the vastness of the most extensive and populous continent on the planet. A door or a mural.

J. M. G. Le Clzio
Nobel Laureate in Literature
GEO Magazine France, March, 2009

J eju greets visitors with its unique landscape and a distinctive ocean scent for each season. The towering summit of Mt. Halla (1,950m) is visible from anywhere on the island, while the fragrance of the surrounding sea is always adrift on the wind.

The islands volcanic activity created its landmark oreum (parasitic cones), as well as its fields and coastline. Strangely shaped stones stimulate the imagination. These rocks have been used to create Jeju Stone Park on a site measuring some 300 hectares. At this park, with its display of rare stones and relevant artifacts, one can experience the myths and legends behind the islands abundance of stone. It presents aspects of the local stone culture beyond the familiar rock walls found all over the island.

Koreas largest island, Jeju forms a roughly oval shape stretching 75 kilometers from east to west and 41 kilometers, at its widest, from north to south. It is located off the southernmost coast of Korea, lying between China and Japan. The four seasons are distinct, though the climate is mild. The temperature rarely falls below freezing in winter, except at the summit of Mt. Halla.

With Mt. Halla at its center, the island is a treasure trove of subtropical, temperate, and even polar plant life, and a paradise for butterflies and insects. It is a habitat for several thousand species of plants and animals. Various types of seeds have been carried to the island by the Kuroshio Current and Taiwan Warm Current, among them the Poison Bulb, which is native to Africa but can be found growing on the Jeju coast.

The largest island in Korea, Jeju forms a roughly oval shape stretching 75 kilometers from east to west and 41 kilometers, at its widest, from north to south. It is located off the southernmost coast of Korea, lying between China and Japan.

Spring: A field of rape flowers in full bloom in front of Mt. Sanbang

Summer: Hamdeok Beach

Autumn: A field full of cosmos flowers

Winter: Snow covers the flanks of Mt. Halla

JEJU, THROUGH A POETS EYES

The black mountain ridges writhe. Clusters of oreum awaken, ready to gather and rush off somewhere. This is the break of dawn on Jeju.

The wind and light live together on Yongnuni Oreum. Pure white Grass-of-Parnassus flowers sway to and fro. The fields are filled with wildflowers. People call these rolling hills bulging up out of the flat land by the name of oreum. Jeju Island is home to more of these parasitic cones than anywhere else in the world. You could climb one a day for a year and still have more to see.

Here and there, the larger oreum include modest traditional tombs, surrounded by stone walls. Here, it seems that the end of one life is the beginning of another. The stone figures of young boys, covered with the moss of ages, have become friends of the deceased. Those who made the statues and carved the sublime expressions that capture the happiness and sadness of humanity are now among the nameless inhabitants of the island.