Beopdong Stone Jangseung Guardian Posts

The Beopdong Stone Jangseung Guardian Posts originally stood at the entrance to Beopcheon-gol, in the Beopdong area. According to oral tradition they were originally made of wood, but Song Min-no, a wealthy man of the village, used his own funds to have the present stone posts erected in their place. The stone jangseung form a male-female pair; the characters for cheonha daejanggun (天下大將軍, "Great General Under Heaven") and jiha daejanggun (地下大將軍, "Great General Under the Earth") are carved in intaglio on the front of the male and female posts respectively. Beside them stand upright stone markers known as seondol, said by some to represent a man and a woman, though this is not certain. The seondol beside the male post is long, with a rounded top, similar in form to the jangseung at Dangarae in Eupnae-dong, and by general reckoning can be read as a seondol symbolising a man; it is also said to assist the Great General Under Heaven. Beside the female post stands a seondol that, although pointed at the top, is broad and flat overall; this is said to symbolise a woman and to help the Great General Under the Earth. These seondol are also described as the sons and daughters of the jangseung couple, and are called "baby jangseung". Both the male and female posts wear something resembling a hat, though its exact nature is unclear; their tightly closed mouths are rendered as a long, straight line, and the female post in particular has ears shown in relief at the sides of the face, with a mouth carved smaller than that of the male post. These jangseung were moved to the Daedeok District Office when the surrounding area was redeveloped under the Beopdong housing-site development project, and have since been installed again on either side of the road at the entrance to the Boram Apartments, at the Beopdong intersection.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Daedeok-gu, Daejeon

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산