August 19, 1970: A Trip into Yongsan in Seoul
	August 13, 1970: A Trip to Blue Lancer Valley
	Return to the Index for 1970

This afternoon, a group of us are going about ten miles from here to visit an area referred to as "The Shrines". I don't think that's the Korean name, but it is just what the servicemen who've been there call it. One of our fellow officers from G4 (Supply) has access to a vehicle this afternoon, and so four of us are heading over there for a little outing.

Yongmi-ri is a town southeast of Munsan, about ten miles from Camp Howze. (Note from the present: Paju is the modern name for the town we called Munsan, and it has grown a great deal since I was stationed in Korea. Munsan is not used as a city name, but rather it is now a district of greater Paju-ri. Yongmi-ri is also no longer a separate entity, but is also a district of Paju-ri, although it is a few miles outside Paju proper.)

On the map at left (which is a present-day map, of course) I've shown where Yongmi-ri is in relation to Camp Howze, and I have assumed the route that we would have taken to get there. Since the map is current, I have no way of knowing which of the roads existed in 1970, but if memory serves, we made approximately the turns shown in the route here.

We brought some sandwiches with us and spent a few hours here in the early afternoon, just wandering around the site. The buddhas were quite impressive, and there was a large sign describing them. I took a picture of the sign, but it did not turn out well enough to include here (although I have transcribed the inscription for use here).

Let me begin with the inscription on the large sign nearby:

"No one knows the exact age of the statues. However, they are believed to be historical remains of the Koryo Dynasty when Buddhism was popular. According to a traditional tale, during the time of Koryo, 13th King of Songho (1084-1094), his Queen didn't have a child, so the King married a daughter of one of his officials and named her a Princess Wonsin. All were very much concerned because Princess Wonsin also didn't have a child. Meanwhile, during a dream Princess Wonsin had, a few monks appeared and stated: "We are living in a rock cave in the valley of Chang Chi Mountain. We are hungry and thirsty. Please give us some food." Then they disappeared."

"Princess Wonsin told the King about her strange dream. The King immediately sent people to the site, but they found no monks, only two very large rocks. The King had statues of the two monks the Princess had seen in her dream built, along with a temple where Buddhist mass was held. In that same year, the Prince Hansanhumol was born. This story was spread throughout the land. Many people visited here, offered Buddhist mass, and obtained sons. Today, all the structures except for the statues have been devastated and it is difficult to find the features of the temple. For the occasion of President Dr. Syngman Rhee's visiting here in 1953, volunteers from Kwang Tan Myon restored the statues, and modified them by adding a small statue of a baby (the Prince). These volunteers also rebuilt the temple and also built a 7-level granite stone tower commemorating the Presidential visit. On the President's visit on 11 October 1953, he formally dedicated the statue of the baby." ---(Treasured Article #93)

In the best picture of the statues that I took today, you can see the statue of the baby that has been added, although I have been able to find other pictures, taken before the Korean War, where the statue of the baby is not present.

The Buddha Statues from a Distance

The appearance of the statues as we arrived at the site echoed what the first Westerners to run across them must also have seen.

In the early 1890s, three Western missionaries traveling from Seoul to Pyongyang rounded a corner of a rocky hill and were suddenly confronted by "two immense stone figures representing a Korean man and a Korean woman" perched high above them. They were the Standing Buddhas of Yongmi-ri.

One of the men, Homer Hulbert, wrote:

"Surrounded by and half hidden among beautiful pine trees, they form an exceedingly novel and pleasing break in the monotony of the road."

Hulbert was not the only one to be impressed with their sudden appearance.

In the mid-1890s, Isabella Bird Bishop, an English author and traveler, wrote:

"Beyond Ko-yang, standing out in endless solemnity above a pine wood on the side of a steep hill, are two of the strangely few antiquities of which Korea can boast. These are two mirioks, colossal busts, about 35 feet in height, carved out of the solid rock. They are supposed to be relics of the very early days of Korean Buddhism, when men were religious enough to toil at such stupendous works and to represent the male and female elements in nature. They are side by side. One wears a round and the other a square hat. The Buddhistic calm, or rather I should say apathy, rests on their huge faces, which have looked stolidly on many a change in Korea..."

Even after Bishop's visit, the images continued to witness change. In 1935, Yongam Temple was built and perhaps that is when the legend began.

It is said that the statues were built during the reign of Seonjong of Goryeo (1083-1094) after his queen had seen two monks in a dream asking her for food and drink. The queen, desperate to have a son, told her husband of her dream and besieged him to send some men out to find the monks. But when the men arrived at the spot in her dream, they found only the large granite formation.

The king commanded that the granite be carved into the shape of the monks and shortly after the carvings were complete, the queen gave birth to a son. Word spread, and soon the site was popular with women seeking to be blessed with the birth of a son.

There were other changes. During the Korean War, Janji Mountain was the site of a fierce battle between North and South Korean soldiers. Bullet holes from the battle still scar the statues' faces.

The information about the addition of a third, small statue, comes from historian Jihoon Suk and from the inscription noted above on the sign. He says that it was "President Syngman Rhee who thought that the Buddhas lacked a bit of symmetry between them, and so he requested to have an accompanying statue on the shoulder be built." His request was complied with and for a couple of decades there were actually three Buddhist images overlooking the valley, including the time when I visited.

These two magnificent Buddha images were carved on a large natural rock wall. As they are carved in natural stone, the bodies of the two Buddhas are rather disproportionate, giving the statues an outsized appearance.

These Buddhas exhibit a regional style characterized by secular rather than Buddhist characteristics.

The "rounded" Buddha statue on the left is wearing a round-shaped traditional Korean hat. Its neck is a cylindrical in shape and its hands are holding a lotus flower to its chest.

The "square" Buddha statue on the right is wearing a square-shaped traditional Korean hat, and is sculpted in much the same way as the other statue, except its two hands are pressed together as if in prayer.

According to oral tradition, the Buddha with the round hat is a male Buddha while the other is a female Buddha.

Although these Buddha images are not very refined works of Goryeo, they are considered precious materials for studies on the regional style of the Buddha images of the Goryeo Period, as is the enduring birth legend of these rock-carved standing Buddhas.

We spent some time exploring the site, which included hiking up the hill behind the buddha statues so we could capture iconic views looking out past them at the valley below:

My last picture of our visit here was one of the picturesque small village just across the valley from the rock-carved Buddhas.

Looking at this picture later, I came to think of it as probably the best picture I have that illustrates the pastoral beauty of rural Korea. This is the perfect time of year for such scenes; the forests are very green, the rice paddies are covered with waist-high plants, other fields have been tilled and planted, and the entire scene looks as much like something you might have seen in sixteenth-century Ireland as you see now in twentieth-century Korea.

I am sure that when fall approaches, this scene will also be spectacular, but different. The rice will all be golden brown and set against the perhaps still-green trees, the scene will appear much different. And I know that when winter comes, the rice is all harvested and gone, the temperatures fall, and many of the trees are bare, this same scene will once again look completely different- and perhaps not nearly so inviting.

One other thought came to mind as we piled in the vehicle for our return to Camp Howze. Depending on the accuracy of the legends, these statues have sat in these places looking out on this valley for many centuries. They have seen dynasties come and go, and they have seen peaceful times and, more recently, times of war. While they have always looked out across this valley, it was, at first (and for many years) a tiny part of a large, unified, Korean Kingdom. Today, unbeknownst to them, their valley is in one half of a partitioned Kingdom. But even now, even with all the tensions that exist between North and South, it is possible that someday soon, the Standing Buddhas of Yongmi-ri will again look out on a green valley north of a big city in a reunified nation.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	August 19, 1970: A Trip into Yongsan in Seoul
	August 13, 1970: A Trip to Blue Lancer Valley
	Return to Index for 1970