If you are from Busan, this course is the path you walked only during your childhood. Dongnaeeupseong is an unchangeable picnic and field trip place for students in Busan. ‘Dongnaeeupseong’ is the place you can see even in your history text book, and there are so many resources reserved and managed by the city. It is national defense to build a castle to prevent the foreign enemy and train the soldiers inside the castle. Dongnaeeupseong began to be built in the end of Goryeo dynasty. Our ancestors climbed the mountain with one stone by one to make the substantial wall as it is now. It has been repaired since 1970, though. Dongnae Magistrate Song Sang Hyeon standing on Yangjeong intersection died here while defending the country. This was the most ferocious battlefield during Japanese Invasion of Korea.

It is Chungnyeolsa Shrine where Dongnae scholars perform ancestral rites for Song Sang Hyeon and teach his loyalty to young students. You must not think Chungnyeolsa would be similar to the temples like Beomeosa or Bulguksa. Chungnyeolsa is a shrine. Although it was worn out and demolished since Japan neglected the place a the scholars’ rites encouraged the national spirit, it is now well-rebuilt. People in the island visit their shrine to pray even on the New Year’s Day. Why don’t we incline our steps to this place where the spirits who died for the country are enshrined? Please let me have a boyfriend this year. Who knows if your wish could be realized? It would have a higher possibility than love cartomancy.

Not many people know about Bokcheon Museum. However, if you’ve been there once, you would think just like the others who have, which is that the facilities are better than you thought. Busan Dongnae-gu Bokcheon-dong hills were a empty place the refugees built their shacks after the Korean War. People built small shacks everywhere if there was even a little space, so it would not sound too strange even if they built houses on the hills. In 1969, Busan began to develop this area as selling this land to individuals, oops, the hills were a cemetery in Gaya age. With few pieces of earthenware dup up by a forkrane, the path into the tomb was widely open. What a poor business owner. The development plan has gone up in smoke.

okcheon-dong hills were confirmed to be the ancient tombs with about 9,000 relics. The building behind the tombs is Bokcheon Museum exhibiting the relics. As it has a well-working air conditioner and is quite, many elderly people of the neighborhood often visit here. Because it holds a special exhibition about the ancient culture of Busan once a year, it has a quite interesting spectacle than you think. Gimhae is not the only city proud of the culture of Gaya. Busan has Bokcheon-dong.

If you walk for few minutes after looking around the museum, you will reach Dongnaeeupseong. A family with children explain the gallant battle during Japanese Invasion of Korea, while walking on the wall. I met a 3-member family with a child while walking on this road for a storytelling work. The father was gravely explaining that women carried stones with their apron in Dongnaeeupseong during Japanese Invasion. Sir, that was Siege of Haengju……. no, nothing. The whole castle is covered with dignified gray color, so a fashionista in a colorful outdoor look may take a bullet from the Japanese matchlock as he can be see from 10km distance. In Dongnaeeupseong History Festival in October, people reenact the battle of magistrate Song Sang Hyeon. You can see what 1:1 battle is if you visit the festival in time when it is reenacted that the eupseong people in white traditional costume defeat the Japanese military. Call of Duty is not the only thing that can show you 1:1 battle. It would be great if a game based on Japanese Invasion is released. The battle with the historical site of Busan as its background, would it not be wonderful?

Hyanggyo is a local educational institution, maybe equivalent to today’s public school since the government office established and controlled Hyanggyo. Dongnae Hyanggyo is the public school in Dongnae. It has existed since Goryo Dynasty. Hyanggyo selected 70 students and taught them Confucianism. There would be some students studying one or two more years to enter here. What about academy or a private tutor? Did it make an essay-type test? Since most of the wooden building in Korea were burned during Japanese Invasion, and so was Dongnae Hyanggyo. It was restored in the third year of King Gwanghaegun, and demolished and restored again in 2010. It is still an educational institution to teach Chinese character by receiving certification for lifelong education. It is so intelligent of us to have an institution to professionally teach Confucianism, which was the foundation of East Asian study, and to keep running the institution till now. We have a school that have never fallen for about 680 years. Dongnae Hyanggyo provides a place for a traditional wedding ceremony at a price of only hundreds of thousands of won. I’m quite sorry that nowadays we only foretaste the traditional wedding by Pyebaek. It would be great if we could see an abundant and splendid traditional wedding in reality.