Let’s start with a poem by Shin Saimdang, mother of Yi I and accomplished artist herself. According to the translation, she wrote this while living at her in-laws’ house.
poem description below
Google Translation:
Missing My Mother
My hometown is a thousand miles away
from here. Even in my dreams, I only think of
my hometown. The moon rises alone on the hill
of Hansongjeong. In front of Gyeongpodae,
a single gust of wind blows. Seagulls separate and
gather on the sandbar. Fishing boats come and go
across the sea. When will I walk the path to
Gangneung again and sit beside my mother and sew?
One of the nice things about the Okjuheon complex grounds is that there are a number of air-conditioned buildings where you can take a rest and use the bathroom. Not to be missed is the Gangneung Money Museum, which is more interesting than it sounds, I promise.
I really enjoyed the art created using discarded currency. There were a number of items, but most impressive to me was the recreation of won notes made by interweaving discarded won notes.
sign for the Gangneung Money Museum, featuring the black bamboo designstamp image for the museum featuring silhouettes of Shin Saimdang and Yi Imodern sliding glass doors meets traditional Korean architectureenlarge to read; what follows is a series of objects created by discarded Korean currencyrecreation of the 50,000 won note, featuring a portrait of Shin Saimdangclose up of the 50,000 won note, showing the interweaving of discarded won used to create the imagerecreation of the 10,000 won note, featuring a portrait of King Sejongrecreation of the 5,000 won note, featuring a portrait of Yi Irecreation of the 1,000 won note, featuring a portrait of Yi Hwangchair with bits of discarded currency incorporated
There were also a few interactive games, as well as portraits of Shin Saimdang and Yi I, and a massive wall featuring real and recreation currency from Korea’s history.
silhouette of a person playing an interactive game with a big screen illuminated behind them; the wide brim hat they’re wearing matching the hat the figure in the game is wearingportraits of Shin Saimdang and Yi Imap of the world featuring the currency of each country imprinted onto the countryblack bamboo design on a walla group of adults and children playing a matching game on a wall, trying to create a cohesive image of a won note
Let’s go back to the complex grounds and look around!
classic Korean design on a large wooden doorcolorful traditional Korean architectureanother museum on the complex groundssign for the Dangganjiju, enlarge to readtwo stone flag poles, replica of the largest in Korea, which is also located in Gangneunganother view of the Dangganjijuunsure of what these guys areplenty of benches to rest onJinttobaegi–“It is a civilian faith object built at the entrance of the village of Gangmun-dong in Gangneung… believed that the Jinttobaegi would prevent floods, fire, winds, and bring welfare, good harvest and heavy catch to the villages.”stone tomb from a Silla burial moundmore stone tombsmonument to a slave named Munridongenlarge to read information about Munridongsteles, or monuments, to commemorate local government officialsmore stelesthe infamous black bamboo
There was also a beautiful statue of Shin Saimdang.
an open orb that reads “mother of wisdom” in front of a sitting statue of Shin Saimdangthe base was engraved with some of her illustrations of various plantsclose up of the statueclose up of the statue with its base
And now, the reason I wanted to go to Ojukheon.
Ojukheon is featured on the 5,000 won note printed from 2002-2007, along with black bamboo and a portrait of Yi I.
image from wikipedia5,000 won note from 2002; enlarge to see the full image of Ojukheonclose-up of Ojukheon housenew few photos are different shots of Ojukheon in the distance; there was a place where you could stand to get the shot used on the back of the 5,000 won note
Initially I wanted to do a shot with the 5,000 won note in the foreground and Ojukheon in the background, but I don’t think I’ve seen a 2002-era 5,000 won note in the wild.
That’s the end of my posts on Ojukheon! I’ll have more coming, including one very special coffee-related one, so keep reading!
Koffee & Kpop 
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