Gurye Jangjukjeonnokchasibaeji Site

The tea tree is widely cultivated in Jeolla-do and Gyeongsang-do, and is believed to originate in the mountainous region stretching from China through Myanmar to the Assam region of India. First-year branches are white and covered with fine hairs, while second-year branches are grey-brown and hairless. The leaves are long, pointed ovals, green on the upper surface and greyish-green underneath. The flowers bloom in October and November, and the fruit ripens the following autumn. According to the Samguk sagi, in 828, the third year of King Heungdeok of Silla, Kim Dae-ryeom, who had gone as an envoy to Tang China, returned with tea seeds, and the king ordered them planted on Jirisan Mountain. The Hwaeomsajeokgi, written by the monk Jeong Man-u, states that in 544 the monk Yeongi came from India to Jirisan Mountain and, when he founded Hwaeomsa Temple, planted tea seeds there too, at the spot known as Jangjukjeon below the temple; it further explains that King Heungdeok ordered Kim Dae-ryeom to plant his seeds on Jirisan Mountain precisely because he knew of this earlier planting. Taken together, these accounts suggest that the site where green tea was first cultivated was most likely Jangjukjeon below Hwaeomsa, a place local residents call 'Jindaebap'. Today there is a flat area of about 8,000 pyeong near Jangjukjeon, where tea trees grow among the surrounding pine forest and bamboo groves. The Gurye Jangjukjeon Green Tea Cultivation Site tells the history of tea in Korea, and the name 'Jirisan Jungnocha' is also said to derive from the tea produced at Jangjukjeon.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gurye, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물