King's Room and His Symbol Drawing

in history •  7 years ago 

20170920

There are 2 king's building in Gyeong Bok Goong. The first one is Geun Jeong Jeon which is office building for the official ceremonies and the announcement of the laws.

The other room is daily working room in the name of Sa Jeong Jeon. Sa means 'thinking', Jeong means 'politics', Jeon means 'palace'

So there are some differences between two buildings. The first one is very official as I posted before, so every ornament and decorations are magnificent and have their own specific meaning according to Confucian philosophy.

Let's look at the official building closer. You could see the king's chair at the center of the Geun Jeong Jeon. Behind the chair, you can find a drawing.
That drawing is the symbol of the king. The name of the drawing is 'sun, moon, 5 peak'

This drawing is very unique as a symbol of the king as comparing to different kingdoms. King had to be with this drawing all his life. In this drawing, every object have a multiplicity of meanings. For example, sun and moon means day and night, yin and yang. 5 peaks means 5 representative mountains in Korea, and 5 virtues in Confucianism as well. This drawing was composed of 2 parts. One is Sky, the other is land. So one part should be added to accomplish the drawing. Last part is human, the king. So this drawing could be perfect when a king was sitting in front of the drawing.

Whenever king was moving, the drawing was followed. Even this drawing had been buried with the king in the tomb. The drawing was king's country that he must took a responsible even at the after life

There was a similar drawing in king's working room, Sa Jeong Jeon.

Around the official building, there are many statues which means seasons and months. In oriental society, each month has it's symbolic animal. For example, rat for Jan, cow for feb and tiger for march, etc. You can find these stone animal statues around the official king's building. At that time, seasons and months were very important for king to rule his people.

It is because that Choson dynasty was based on the agricultural economy. So king should know the exact timing of farming.

So I took the pics of stone animals for you my dear Steemians. Among them, only one imaginary animal dragon was included. Nobody could explain me the reason why dragon was included. In my guess, it is because the dragon was believed to control the rain. As you know, in ancient society raining was the most important condition for farming.

dragon for May. season to seed, when raining was most required

rat

rabbit

tiger

horse

Chicken

It seemed like that I missed other animals. Sorry.

Thank you for reading

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a beautiful picture, @slowwalker of the the king set in his landscape, and so rich in symbolic imagery.

The sun and moon depict the yin and yang principles and might even possibly stand for the king and queen themselves.

I love this simple cosmology that puts the king in the center of his kingdom.

The painted folding screen shows conifers and streams of flowing water - a beautiful picture of abundance.

I love the brilliant colours and the symbolism of the king at the center enjoying all the blessings of heaven.

Your explanation of the symbolism of the screen was excellent and it touched me that the screen accompanied the king wherever he went, even in death.

I also loved the photos of the animal statues that symbolized each month of the year.

As you pointed out, Korea was an agricultural economy and every aspect of this palace room reminds us of that.

What a responsibility the king had - to be overseeing the entire country every day of his life and even in the after-life!

A very interesting and informative post, @slowwalker, and illustrated with lovely photos

thank you
you explained more than me about a drawing.

ha ha, no my friend....I happened to be reading an article on irworobongdo (일월오봉도) , a painting done on a folding screen that depicts the sun, the moon, and five mountain peaks. Here is the link: https://lesliejohnson89.wordpress.com/2014/06/23/irworobongdo-the-five-peaks/

You wrote an excellent post

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

very beautiful place. @slowwalker is indeed capable of taking good photos. i love the picture of the dragon statue. Thank you for sharing information.

I resteem now :

@fauzi03
Your publications are really beautiful I've checked most of them and found them amazing you're really worth it all thanks for sharing I hope to be like you in the future I work with all my efforts and perfection of God

Thanks. hopefully we can help daling. Nice to meet you :)

That painting has a lot to say about the king's perspective and Confucianism. The small animal statues could be used to convey the message to love our mother nature and its living beings.

thx for sharing

wow always a good read from you. Thanks for sharing the Kings room with us..

@charles1 the kings room is very interesting look at the design and the artship of the kings artist who design with to much effort just to build the wonderful site.the architecture design of the building is so cool...the history speak itself..

anyway i have article to show you..hope you will visit my page to see it..thanks and more power..please click here.

Good read about Oligarchs , upvoted... feel free to see my posts too

Thank you

welcome my friend and more success to you. Bless you for all your support on my posts

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Great shot. Sadly I don't think I'll ever get to visit Korea. What a history!

@slowwalker thanks for sharing this with us..you have always my support buddy. .upvoted. .

Wonderful
Really nice
Enjoyed your post

Awesome art but can't understand presence of sun and moon at the same time.

nice ,

Amazing pics and great post! My favorite pic is the chicken! Keep it up and best wishes from kenentertainment!

lol

This is actually some incredible work! Followed

I love to read each and every post of yours
I have to admit that this is is the Best post av seen today . who else agrees??
#upvote

Great post! Thanks for providing us with the story behind the nice photos. I really like the painting with the 5 peaks.

Never thought that somebody would find my rooms, thats invading in my privacy

Wow. . . Amazing. . I very like it. . 👍👍👍

wow i love the story behind the drawing, especially how artistic it looks, plus that it goes wherever the king goes, its kind of like now that we are witnessing it we are kind of witnessing the pass kings too. i agree with u that dragon must be a symbol for rain , and i love the statues wow thank u for sharing this post.

thank you

You know what?
King is not supposed to appear in any paintings but his portrait. In the case King's presence should be noticed, the folding painting(sun,moon& 5peaks) stands for the King.

good boy

Great post! I especially liked the sculptures of animals, and of course, your story in general.

Unusual architecture. It is unusual for me, because I haven't seen it in real life :) BUT I suppose, that we have in our city something ver similar to yours stone chicken :)

Your post is getting interesting,@slowwalker. The photo of the king's chair is not new to me. I've seen similar chair when I watched Korean sageuk drama.

I am now able to relate things I've seen in K-dramas to the historical pieces you have presented 😊

I am glad this posting help you understand Korean culture

Wow. These are amazing pics of sculptures. Nice post. Upvoted and following u as always. Pleasd review my new post on unlimited wishes. Regards Nainaz. https://steemit.com/ccpost/@nainaztengra/wishes-wishes-wishe-unlimited-wishes

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Забавные каменные зверюшки, особенно мне понравился заяц. Автору респект.

good post @slowwalker

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This is art @

Much thanks for sharing such marvelous information of Korean heritage.

thank you for visiting

@slowwalker Well done for sticking at it! Love it. Followed..

관광객들의 옷을 보니 여름에서 가을로 들어가는 문턱인거 같습니다. ^^

좋은 시절이지요

very beautiful place

Well that's a good story

These photographs are amazing
See the beauty of pakistan too through the lens @untoldpakistan

I especially like the almost playful shape of the stone sculptures. Beautiful architecture. Very good my friend.

I am glad you like the sculptures

yes, I really like it.

I never knew that the paintings could mean so much! Very interesting topic to share! Thank you!

thank you for reading

Another very informative post where it is the first time i am learning that in oriental culture each month has it's symbolic animal!
Thanks again my friend!

welcome my friend

Keep going with Korean traditional culture articles. Thank you..

thanks again @slowwalker for some further lesson on korean history and culture :) I´ve never heard of the fact that the king actually was part of the big drawing behind him. Just thought it was some nice decoration (shame on me...)

😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍

These drawings look magnificent!

Very nice post brother @slowwalker, so every animal sculpture page of this Kingdom all have a meaning all its own. Korea is a very good brother countries, as well as its cultural building that is still very awake. been a long time it seemed I didn't comment on your article. glad to see your article again brother @slowwalker, very interesting. ;)

thank you

What an amazing place. I love the rabbit sculpture!

¡Qué hermoso! muy buen post.

Fantastic photography! I hope to see more from you.

Very interesting job @slowwalker ! The greatness of this hall is fascinating! Beautiful sculptures of animals. I enjoyed watching! I like old buildings! I met in Belgorod a house of the 18th century, worthy of attention!
https://steemit.com/travel/@olga.maslievich/my-holiday-near-black-sea-in-the-south-of-ukraine-stop-the-passer-by-time-is-knocking-on-your-door-legend-of-the-long-lived