구기동에서 북한산 승가사 비봉능선 금선사 나들이 / A Walk from Gugi-dong to Seunggasa Temple and Bibong Ridge

오늘 나들이는 #의친왕 이강이 #대동단 사건 당시 상해로 가는 기차를 타기 전 잠시 머물렀다는 구기동의 전심사 인근에서 시작하여 #승가사, #북한산 #비봉 능선, #금선사 #목정굴 인근에서 마무리합니다

00:00 인트로 / Intro
00:06 구기동, 의친왕 이강과 대동단 / Gugi-dong
Today's walk begins at in front of a small fortune teller’s house tucked under the Bohyenbong ridge in Gugi-dong, where I was warmly greeted by two friendly dogs wagging their tails. Just beyond the ridge lies the Gugi-dong valley, but since it’s a restricted area, I had to take a detour to reach Seunggasa Temple in Bukhansan Mountain.

Next to Jeonsimsa, a Buddhist temple associated with Japanese Buddhist sect, was a location where Prince Yi Gang once stayed briefly before attempting to escape to Shanghai by train in 1919. The son of Emperor Gojong went to Susaek Station and made it safely to Andong Station, but was spotted by a Japanese policeman which ultimately foiled the plan to move him to the provisional government in Shanghai. The failure of the event organized by Daedongdan Association that occurred a little after the 3.1 Independence Movement in 1919 led to resulting in many arrests and imprisonment. However, the Prince was not charged possibly due to his status as a Royal Yi family or because the court decided that he did it against his will.

03:59 승가사 가는 길 / Way to Seunggasa Temple
The route to Seungasa Temple, from Changuimun through Segeomjeong Pavillion, became a popular hiking trail to Baekundae Peak in Bukhansan Mountain, especially after Japanese rule. Though a foreign residence in late Chosun period found the trail at Gugi-dong was dull and bare, Korean hikers enjoyed the walks with his friends passing a tavern where they stopped for a drink through a narrow path lined with pear trees, from which they helped themselves.

At the entrance to the mountain trail, an information board notes the story of a colonel who, unable to protect the capital from North Korean forces during the Korean War’s outbreak in 1950, took his own life at the spot. This path has likely been walked not only by hikers but also by Japanese who climbed to Seunggasa temple for Buddhist ceremony that urged young Koreans to join the war during the military frenzy in the late colonial period, and by North Korean guerillas sent with a mission to assassinate president Park Jeonghui and ‘liberate’ the South in 1968.

06:01 승가사 / Seunggasa Temple
Founded during the Silla period around 1,300 years ago, Seunggasa Temple gained prominence with the support of King Hyeonjong during the Koryo dynasty. The King who became a monk at Samcheonsa Temple in Bukhansan Mountain to take refugee from threats on his life, also escaped the capital Songdo(Gaeseong) from series of Khitan invasions. Seunggasa temple, where rituals to pray to heaven for rain took place during the Chosun period, remained modest until major works in 1990s added 108 step stone steps and a nine-story stone pagoda.

Celebrated by poets since the Silla period, its spring where a statue of an Indian monk stands, were believed to have medicinal quality to cure more than one hundred diseases and infertility. The Buddha image carved on a big boulder at the top of another 108 stairs further back, is designated a treasure. The holes near the face on the top may have been a sign that there was a wooden structure or roof to protect the image.

08:50 북한산 비봉능선 / Bukhansan Bidong Ridge
On the way up to Bibong ridge, the Samobawi or ‘Official’s Hat Rock’ comes into view, under which the North Korean guerillas of 31 secretly hid before they made final attack on the Cheongwadae in 1968. The ridge is busy with many hikers enjoying the early spring, and the Bibong Peak is crowded with bold hikers enjoying the view of Seoul, though there is a notice that it was the last day of spring thaw restrictions. The Bibong Peak is famous for a Silla monument, a national treasure, demarking the border with Goguryo during the Three Kingdom Period. The original monument is now housed in the National Museum and the one on the peak is a replica.

11:48 금선사 가는 길 / Way down to Geumseonsa Temple
Along the way down to Geumseonsa Temple was a site of a temple which some historians claimed to be the site of Hyangrimsa Temple, where the coffin of King Taejo, the founder of Koryo dysnasty, was hidden during the wars with Khitans.

13:44 금선사 / Geumseonsa Temple
The temple with 600 years of history remained closed during the Japanese rule until it was rebuilt following Korea’s liberation. The temple is well-known for its temple stay and a cave temple built between a narrow valley was restored in 1996.