Ginkgo Tree of Daejeon-ri, Cheongdo

Serving as the village's shade tree at its very centre, the Ginkgo Tree of Daejeon-ri, Cheongdo is a male tree standing 20.2 m tall with a trunk circumference of 9.2 m at breast height. The tree is estimated to be about 400 years old, but according to legend, some 1,300 years ago there was a well on the spot where the ginkgo now stands, and after a Taoist hermit drowned there while trying to drink from it, the tree began to grow. Other stories are also told: that a woman drowned in the well while trying to drink from it, and that the ginkgo seed she was carrying sprouted and grew into the present tree; and that toward the end of Silla, when administrative boundaries were being redrawn, the tree was planted to mark a border. Villagers used to divine the coming year's harvest from the way the tree's leaves fell, believing that a bumper harvest was in store if the leaves fell all at once. The Ginkgo Tree of Daejeon-ri, Cheongdo is a tree that has lived for centuries under the care and attention of past generations, and it is designated and protected as a natural monument for its high value as cultural and biological material.

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Where it is

Region

Cheongdo, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물