One of six designated “Slow Cities” in Korea, Jangheung rests near the southernmost part of the peninsula. Filled with more cows than people, this literary breeding ground is hometown to more than 70 contemporary writers.
 

Jangheung’s Place in Your Heart

Jangheung could be just another place among the southern provinces in Korea with blue seas, charming mountains, and warm breezes. In fact, describing Jeollanam-do’s (province) Jangheung county in such terms is not incorrect. If one has no special connection to Jangheung, it’s just another place in the south with plenty of sunlight—places like Gangjin’s White Lotus Temple (Baekryun-sa) with its narrow paths or Jangheung’s Hwaejin inlet.

If you are somewhat more familiar with Jangheung, you might know that if an imaginary line was drawn straight down from Gwanghwamun in Seoul, it would bisect Korea into East and West, with its southernmost point passing through Jangheung. While Jangheung is symmetrically south of Seoul, it’s a poor geographical cousin to Gangneung, which is straight east of the capital. It’s not necessary to elevate Jangheung’s status just because of its linear symmetry with Gwanghwamun, however. Those who have traveled widely would probably refer first to the stirring sight of Eulalia grass fields on Mt. Cheon-gwan, while those of more refined tastes would point out that there are more cows than people in Jangheung county. Successively listing the features of this area brings more information to mind: razor clams, gaebul (edible marine spoon worms), and other marine products from Jangheung are considered to be the most delicious, and the Shiitake mushrooms grown in the region can only be purchased by paying a premium. But there’s more. Jangheung is one of only six “Cittaslow” (Slow Cities) in Korea.

All the descriptions so far are points to keep in mind when planning a trip to this area, but they don’t do justice to Jangheung and cannot convey a full understanding of the region. When people dream of Jangheung, when the heart feels stifled and a sudden desire to run off to Jangheung moves us, we must instead turn to Korean literature to learn about this place. On a map draw a line between Gangjin and Boseong and then stretch this line wide—Jangheung county will be contained within the contours of this shape. But we shouldn’t stop here, because truly finding Jangheung requires us to draw out our emotions as if from a well. These emotions are normally buried under the busy schedules of our lives. Feelings of sadness, longing, and warmth are manifested here in Jangheung through the medium of literature.

Have You Ever Heard of a Literary Tourism Zone?

Jangheung can only be reached through literature. This statement is neither baseless propaganda nor an attempt to stir people up; it has a clear, legal basis. Although many people still don’t know this fact, Jangheung is Korea’s first Literary Tourism Zone. In 2008, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy designated three areas within Jangheung County as special zones, and nationwide, Jangheung is the only special tourism zone for literature. In effect, the Korean government has acknowledged that only Jangheung has the ability to draw tourists through literature alone.

Jangheung has a long history as a literary center, with a startling 500-year literary tradition. The first example of gasa, an old form of Korean verse, was created in Jangheung by the poet “Gi-bong” Baek Gwang-hong (1522-1556), in his Gwanseo-Byul-gok (a book of gasa verse). Jangheung’s literary tradition continued to be passed down to subsequent generations even after Baek Gwang-hong was gone. He was followed by what came to be known as the “ Jangheung Troupe”: Wie Sae-jik, Roh Myeong-seon, Lee Sang-gye, Lee Joong-jeon, Wie Baek-gyu, and others who formed the base of Jeolla province’s literary tradition. Giyang-sa, built in honor of the poet Baek Gwang-hong still stands in Jangheung’s Anyang-myeon, Gisan-ri neighborhood. Part of Gisan-ri has also been designated as a special literary tourism zone.

The soul of literary Jangheung county, however, is not to be found in long-lost ancient poetry. Jangheung’s literary magnificence stems from its stature as the blossom of contemporary Korean literature. According to data from the Jangheung County Office, more than 70 contemporary literati hail from this area. The novelists Song Kisook, Yi `Chong-Jun, Han Sung-won, and Lee Seung-U, the sijo (Korean verse) poets Kim Je-hyeon and Lee Han-seong, and the contemporary poets Wie Seon-hwan, Kim Young-nam, Moon Jeong-young, Lee Dae-heum, and others all hail from Jangheung. There are so many it’s difficult to list them all. Their literary achievements still resonate in Jangheung. Song Kisook’s The Mung Bean General, Yi Chong-Jun’s Snowy Road, Han Sung-won’s Port, Lee Seung-U’s “Saem Island” (Saemseom), and other famous works are so numerous that it is likewise hard to count them all. We could describe all of Jangheung as a living museum of Korean literature. In fact, even Jangheung County’s Chief, Lee Myeong-heum, is a poet who has published in various literary journals.

Jangheung’s literary fiction heritage has been particularly dazzling, and there is ample reason why the region is called the home of Korean prose. Song Kisook’s (b. 1935) works are filled with historically-conscious narratives. Yi Chong-Jun (1939-2008) is a representative writer of the 4.19 generation (those that experienced the demonstrations in April 1960 that toppled the Syngman Rhee government) whose works are characterized by sentiments associated with the southern provinces. Han Sung-won’s (b. 1939) works are written from a uniquely religious worldview. In short, each of these major authors represents different genres of modern Korean literature. It is quite surprising that they were all born in the same region yet their works are all so different. If even one of these literary giants had been born in another village, that village would have constructed a literature center, established eponymous literature prizes, and effectively called attention to itself. By contrast, in Jangheung there are so many luminaries worthy of recognition that authorities have already given up on the task of selecting whom to honor. Instead, the entire county has been designated as a Special Tourism Zone for literature.

This designation, however, creates another conundrum. Where should one go to experience literary Jangheung? First of all, Literature Park is located just below Mt. Cheon-gwan. Several hundred literary stone monuments dot the park. However, it can hardly be considered the only worthy pilgrimage site for Jangheung. Likewise, at the other Literary Tourism Zone in Gwansan-eup, Shindong-ri, there is little that has anything to do with Jangheung’s gems of Korean literature. It’s just another southern port village with fine views of the ocean. After much thought, I have therefore decided to introduce readers to several literary sites in Jangheung. One of these is still occupied by its owner, while the others are now empty, yet highly recommended.

1. Magnolia Park Lee Seung-U, Munidang 1998, 326p, ISBN 8974560887 2. Port Han Sung-won Munhakdongne Publishing Group 1997, 344p, ISBN 9788982810916 3. This Paradise of Yours Yi Chong-Jun Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 2003, 460p, ISBN 9788932008424

4. Snowy Road Yi Chong-Jun Moonji Publishing Co., Ltd. 1997, 244p, ISBN 9788932009278 5. The Mung Bean General, Vols. 1-12 Song Kisook, Window of Times 2008, 395p, ISBN 9788959401123 6. Sopyonje Yi Chong-Jun Yolimwon Publishing Group 1998, 224p, ISBN 8970631607

Han Sung-won’s Ocean & Mountain Den

Han Sung-won’s house is located on the far western edge of Jangheung. At one end of Anyang-myeon, Yulsan Village overlooking Deukryang Bay, warm breezes blow throughout the four seasons accompanied by gentle rays of sunlight. It is here that Han Sung-won built his house, which he named Ocean & Mountain Den (Haesan-togul).

Actually, however, this place isn’t Han’s original neighborhood. His original neighborhood was Hwaejin-myeon, just like that of author Yi Chong-Jun. After living far away from home, Han Sung-won came back to his hometown of Jangheung and settled here. Several years ago I visited the author at Ocean & Mountain Den and drank a cup of tea made from leaves which he had roasted himself. When I asked him why he didn’t return to the neighborhood of his birth, he replied, “For all intents and purposes, my current neighborhood is my birthplace.” He then chuckled.

Ocean & Mountain Den could actually be described as being shabby. Although there is a pond in the yard, a bamboo forest planted out back, and a roof with red tiles, the grounds do not appear to be neatly maintained. The yard is thick with weeds and the pond water is muddy. But for some reason, this is much more charming—it is a completely natural scene, without any artifice or decoration. The deep blue of Deukryang Bay below Han Sung-won’s house is still fresh in my mind even today. As Han and I exited his house and walked along the coast lined with poetry steles inscribed with his work, I asked him what the source of Jangheung’s literary abundance was. His answer was as follows:

“Among the mountains in Jangheung, there is one called Hundred Million Buddhas Mountain. (Ukbulsan) The Chinese character ‘Uk’ means ‘hundred million’ or ‘the people.’ You can find this in any Chinese dictionary. Therefore Ukbulsan is the people’s Buddha Mountain, or Maitreya (the future Buddha) mountain. In fact, halfway up Mt. Ukbul, there is a boulder called Daughter-in-law Rock which is said to bear the likeness of the Maitreya. Who is the Maitreya? Maitreya is a Buddha dedicated to enlightening mankind and leading them to enlightenment. In the present day, conveying the principles of life is the duty of literature.”

1. Birthplace of Yi Chong-Jun    2. Bolim Temple    3. Yi Chong-Jun Literature Memorial

Yi Chong-Jun and Jangheung

Despite what anyone might say, Jangheung is author Yi Chong-Jun’s home. Although Jangheung is also home to countless literary giants, no other author has incorporated it as extensively into their works as Yi. Wherever one travels in Jangheung, traces of Yi Chong-Jun remain. The Daeduk-eup bus stop was where he caught the bus to Gwangju to attend Seo Middle School. One hour away from Jinmok village, where he grew up, is Bolim Temple, where he used to enjoy drinking “Grain Tea” (a Buddhist euphemism for alcohol) with the abbot there. Bolim Temple appeared in Yi’s novel, White Clothes. Two of his novels, The Lost Temple and An Account of Humanist Mu Sojak’s Life, describe Mt. Cheon-gwan, which is famous for its fields of Eulalia grass (pampas grass) in the autumn. The set for the movie “Festival” was located at the easternmost edge of Jangheung, at the Nampo-ri village chief’s house. According to the records left by Yi more than 30 of his works have been derived from places and events in Jangheung.

The movie set for “Beyond The Years” was located near Yi’s childhood home. The set is just 10 minutes away by car from the house in Jinmok village where Yi was born. Behind the movie set overlooking Deukryang Bay is a long mountain range beyond which Jinmok village is located. The highest peak among them, Avalokitesvara (Buddhist Goddess of Mercy) peak, was described by Yi as “closely resembling a seated Buddhist monk wearing robes.” Today the fields below Avalokitesvara peak have been drained for land reclamation, so rice paddies can no longer be found there. When Yi was a child, however, seawater sometimes flooded the fields. In those days, Avalokitesvara peak cast a shadow like a lone crane flying over the rice fields soiled by seawater. That image became indelibly imprinted in Yi’s mind, and he added it to his book Stranger of Sunhak-dong. The image of a crane’s shadow cast on the ground below was also featured in director Im Kwon-taek’s 100th feature film, “Beyond The Years.”

Author Yi Chong-Jun’s birthplace was Jinmok village in Hwaejin-myeon, Jangheung County. He passed away on July 31, 2008, and was buried three days later on August 2, 2008 in his native village. In 2010, a stone monument called the Yi Chong-Jun Literature Memorial was erected near his grave. A foundation stone seven by seven meters forms the foundation upon which a large flat stone was erected. Author Yi Chong-Jun wasn’t tall, and he always shied away from attention, which is the reason his monument stone was intentionally kept diminutive.

Yi Chong-Jun's Snowy Road

Jinmok village, Yi Chong-Jun’s birthplace, is located on a hilltop where about 40 low-roofed houses faced the sea. In his novel Snowy Road, the narrator describes a “five-room house surrounded front and back with fields.” This was the very house in which he was born. Today, every room in the house contains Yi’s personal effects arranged together with his books, while his photographs hang on the walls. If you sit on the wooden floor there you’ll notice a clear view of the ocean. If you look out over the sea to the left, you can almost make out Sorok Island in the distance, which appeared in Yi’s bestseller, This Paradise of Yours. If you look to your right and follow the shipping lanes, you will see Cheongsan Island where Director Im Kwon-taek shot his famous Jindo Arirang sequence for the movie adaptation of Yi’s Sopyonje.

When Yi Chong-Jun entered middle school, he left home for Gwangju to study. Around that time, family fortunes took a turn for the worse, obliging Yi’s mother to sell their house. One day Yi’s mother received word that her son would suddenly be stopping by. She implored the new owner of their house to allow him to sleep there for just one night. She was able to borrow the house for a day to see her son to bed. The next morning, Yi's mother left the house together with her son early in the morning. Mother and son made the uphill trek of about four to five kilometers through thickly-accumulated snow to get to the intercity bus terminal in Daeduk-eup. There Yi caught the bus going up to Gwangju, while his mother went back the way she came. The snow had piled up high that early morning. As she returns to Jinmok village, she tries to step in her son’s footprints dotted here and there in the snow. “My son, my son, please be healthy and happy.” While walking back home on that snowy road, mother is crying so much that she can hardly see. In the epilogue to his novel, Snowy Road, Yi made the following comment:

“The narrative in Snowy Road contains many factual elements in the interaction between a student and his old mother. In fact, the scene in which they walk together in the early morning darkness to the bus stop is taken from my very own life. When I got on the bus to Gwangju, leaving my mother behind, I always wondered how she walked back home on that cold, snowy road. I did not dare ask her for fear of the pain her answer might cause me.”

Since that day, author Yi Chong-Jun never again set foot of his own accord in his childhood home. Even when he led his fans on literary tours to his hometown, he only came to the edge of his old neighborhood before turning back. It was only in 2005, when the County Government bought and restored his childhood home, that Yi entered the house where he had been born.

That snowy, inclined road still exists above the hill upon which Jinmok village is located. Now that a new highway hugging the coast to Jinmok has been built, the previous path, which used to be the village’s only link to the outside world, is long forgotten. The brush has now grown higher than one’s head, but we have to walk on that road. We need to walk on the thickly accumulated snow covering the road, stepping in the footprints dotted here and there just as Yi Chong-Jun’s mother did.