Seochulji Pond, Gyeongju

Seochulji is a pond dating from the Three Kingdoms period, located at the foot of Namsan Mountain in Gyeongju. In the middle of the village on Namsan Mountain stand two three-storey stone pagodas, and to their east lies a modest pond associated with the following legend. In the tenth year of King Soji of Silla (488), as the king was on his way to a pavilion called Cheoncheonjeong at the foot of Namsan Mountain, a crow and a mouse came and cried out. The mouse spoke in a human voice, saying, "Follow wherever this crow goes." Finding this strange, the king sent an attendant to follow the crow. On reaching this pond, however, the attendant became distracted by two pigs fighting and lost track of the crow. While he was wandering about, an old man appeared from the middle of the pond and handed him an envelope, which he presented to the king. Following the instructions inside it, the king returned to the palace and had an arrow shot into a case holding a geomungo (a traditional six-stringed zither). Inside were found a monk who had been burning incense for the royal household and a palace lady, who had been plotting treason; they were put to death. Because a document had emerged from this pond and thwarted the plot, it was named Seochulji (書出池), meaning "the pond from which writing emerged," and the custom arose of preparing glutinous rice and offering it to crows on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, a day known as Ogiil (烏忌日), the "day of shunning crows." In the fifth year of King Hyeonjong of Joseon (1664), a man named Im Jeok built a pavilion by the pond, where he read and enjoyed the scenery. This building survives today, standing modestly yet gracefully to the north-west of the pond.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적