The Marmot’s Hole

Some of you may remember a previous post I made on sketch artist Kim Yeong-taek’s pen drawings of Korean cultural properties. Well, his series in the Weekly Chosun continue, and one of latest offerings is a piece on the Mungyeong Sae Jae (Bird Pass). As I’ve mentioned several times previously, Mungyeong is a place close to my heart, having been lucky enough to spend my first three years in Korea there. It’s not a big place by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a pretty area with some fascinating history behind it. Anyway, I’ve taken the liberty of translating the piece and posting it up here for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.

[Korea through Kim Young-taek's pen sketches] Mungyeong Sae Jae’s Jogak-gwan

by Kim Yeong-taek in the Weekly Chosun, March 29, 2005

Caption: Mungyeong Sae Jae’s 2nd gate, the Jogok-gwan

A natural fortress that watched over the strategic point to Seoul

The Jogok-gwan. The first gate built in the Sae Jae, it was erected in the 27th year of King Seonjo (1594) and initially called the Jodong-mun.

Damaged during fighting being the Righteous Army and the army sent to put them down at the end of the Joseon Kingdom, it was restored in 1975 and renamed the Jogok-gwan.

If you stand on the gate pavilion, it’s as if you can hear the war cries of the Righteous Army as they fought to protect their country.

According to military experts, when two armies face off with similar levels of firepower in a battle on level territory, the attacking army needs at least twice the manpower as the defending army to win. When the defenders make use of fortifications, they can drive off an army 10 times as large. In modern warfare, this arithmetic still holds true. If the North Korean army were to try to march into Seoul, because the buildings could play the role of fortifications, four divisions could hold the city, even if the North Koreans mobilized 40 divisions for the effort. “We’d take some losses from artillery fire and missiles,” I heard from a serving general who’d been tasked with some important duties.

During the Battle of Jinju Fortress during Hideyoshi Toyotomi’s invasion of Korea in 1592, 3,800 Korean defenders drove off an attacking Japanese army of about 20,000. When the Japanese attacked the fortress again - this time with a horde of 93,000 - every single Korean defender was killed and about 60,000 residents of Jinju were massacred. This was because the Japanese army was 5.3 times as large as the defending army when they first attacked, but 24 times as large during their second, successful siege.

Caption:First gate of Mungyeong Sae Jae

Gen. Shin Lip, the supreme commander of Korean forces who was tasked with blocking the northward advance of the Japanese forces toward Seoul, ignored advise to “stop’em at the Sae Jae” and offered battle with the Namhan River to his back at Tangeumdae in Chungju. His army was annihilated after a fight with the Japanese army’s first echelon, led by Konishi Yukinaga. This was only 14 days after the Japanese army landed in Busan, and just four days later, Seoul fell to the invaders. This was because the crushing of the defending army left the country with few other options.

One of the three gates of the Sae Jae

The route that passes through Mungyeong Sae Jae was the Yeongnam Daero, an oft-used route that was developed during the Joseon-era as the shortest course connecting Gyeongsang Province and Seoul. The Joseon Kingdom, after experiencing brutal fighting during the Japanese invasion of 1592, built three gates in the Sae Jae.

When you approach from Mungyeong-eup, the first gate you reach is the 1st Gwanmun, known as the Juheul Gate. Built during the 3rd year of King Sukjong (1708), the gate has long fortress walls to its left and right. The water gate built on a stream that flows underneath the fortress wall is worth examining. In the wide field in front of the wall, siege devices that were used in a TV drama have been put on display. They aren’t ancient, but still worth a look.

Caption:(From top) The inn, Gyogu Pavilion and tavern

Past the gate, there are monuments erected for various officials. Of these, the ones made of iron are rather particular. Iron doesn’t last long because it rusts easily, so why make a monument out of it? Iron that has been hardened or made into steel plates rusts easily, but cast iron products last a long time. If you look at the cast-iron framework used to protect the trees alongside boulevards, you’ll see what I mean.

They say the nearby Joryeongwon, an inn where travelers and officials on business used to stay, had 15 rooms and facilities like a stable and blacksmith’s. At the blacksmith’s, horseshoes must have been changed so travelers could make it through the rugged pass. As you climb up the pass, there is also a tavern. It’s a reconstruction placed in a spot where must have been one before, but still a good place to rest. The atmosphere there would have been great for enjoying some buchimgae and a bowl of maggeolli, but unfortunately, there are no longer any barmaids or cooks.

On a hill overlooking the noteworthy Yongchu Waterfall is the Gyogu Pavilion. This, too, is a reconstruction built on where the old Gyogu Pavilion used to be. This is where the outgoing and incoming provincial governors used to meet. It would seem the situation back then was quite different from the prevailing one these days, when newly appointed officials seem to enjoy speaking ill of their predecessors. I haven’t seen a case yet of an official doing a good job while spending much time badmouthing his predecessor.

Located amidst rugged surroundings 3km from the first gate, the second of the Sae Jae’s gates - the Jogok-gwan - blocks the wayfarer. A quick glance of the area reveals it to be a natural fortress. The first gate built in the Sae Jae, erected in the 27th year of King Seonjo (1584), it used to be called the Jodong Gate. Damaged in fighting between the Righteous Army and punitive forces at the end of the Joseon Kingdom, it was restored in 1975 and renamed the Jogok-gwan.

The arched gate is 3.6m high and 3.36m wide, and the doors are 11cm think. The fortress walls are 4.5 meters high. The gate castle is 3-kan wide and 2-kan deep, with a multi-colored roof. It never served its role of stopping foreign enemies, and instead became a place where the Righteous Army and the army sent to put them down - both composed of Koreans - would fight one another. If you climb up on the gate castle, it’s as if you can still hear the Righteous Army’s war cries.

Just past the Jogok-gwan is a forest that is a good place to rest your legs. If you eat lunch and climb another 3.5km, you come to the third of the Sae Jae’s gates - the Joryeong-gwan - facing the north atop the summit of the Sae Jae pass. The gate, built in the 34th year of King Sukjong (1708), was erected to block invaders from the north from reaching Gyeongsang Province. This was after Korea suffered the Manchu invasion of 1636.

If you climb atop the Sae Jae pass, which is so rugged they say birds have a tough time flying through, the hidebound spirit of the Japanese, who are still unable to shake their aggressive nature and refuse to reflect on their past mistakes, actually seems quite pitiful. Why have there been predictions that Japan would sink beneath the sea? Because in Buddhism, they say they mistakes of your past lives come back to you in the current life, and the same goes for the actions of nations and peoples.

Caption:Water gate underneath fortress wall of 1st Gate