Ballyongsong Pine Tree in Dorip-ri, Icheon

Ballyongsong grows in Eosan Village, Dorip-ri, about 1.7km west of the Baeksa-myeon township office in Icheon. Its name, Ballyongsong (蟠龍松, "coiled dragon pine"), comes from the image of a dragon coiled on the ground before ascending to the sky. It is also called Mannyeonsong ("ten-thousand-year pine"), or Yongsong ("dragon pine"), in reference to a dragon pine expected to live for more than ten thousand years. Ballyongsong is estimated to be 850 years old (as of the time of its designation), stands 4.25m tall, and has a trunk circumference of 2.2m at breast height. At about 2m above the ground its branches divide and spread out widely in all directions, and the branches reaching toward the sky twist in a strange, writhing shape, as though a dragon were turning, curving through 180 degrees. It is said to be one of a number of pine trees planted at the end of Silla by the monk Doseon, who prophesied that great figures would be born in this place as well as in Hamheung, Seoul, Gangwon Province and Gyeryongsan Mountain. There is also a story that a person who once stripped the bark from this tree fell ill and died. The Ballyongsong pine tree in Dorip-ri, Icheon, has an especially unusual shape and is of high value as biological data; it is therefore designated and protected as a Natural Monument.

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Where it is

Region

Icheon, Gyeonggi

Designation

Natural Monument · 천연기념물