Gyerim Forest, Gyeongju

Gyerim is a forest that holds the legend of the birthplace of Kim Alji, the founding ancestor of the Gyeongju Kim clan. It was originally a forest that existed from the founding of Silla and was called Sirim (始林, 'Original Forest'); after Alji was born it came to be called Gyerim (雞林, 'Rooster Forest'). In the fourth year of King Talhae (60), the king heard the crowing of a rooster from within Sirim Forest west of Geumseong, and saw the area filled with bright light; at daybreak he sent an official to investigate. When the official reached Sirim Forest, he found a small golden chest hanging from a tree branch, with a white rooster crowing beneath it; he returned and reported this, and the king went at once to Sirim Forest and opened the chest. Inside was a bright-looking baby boy, and the king, believing the child to have been sent from heaven, made him his crown prince. He was given the name Alji, meaning 'baby,' and because he had come from a golden chest (geum), his surname was made Kim. The king made Alji his crown prince, but Alji later yielded the throne to King Pasa. Later, a seventh-generation descendant of Alji ascended the throne; this was King Michu. From King Naemul onward, until the fall of Silla, the descendants of Kim Alji ruled the kingdom, and Gyerim Forest has been handed down as a sacred place to this day. A stele commemorating the birth of Kim Alji, erected in the third year of King Sunjo of Joseon (1803), still stands here.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적