Gwanseong Tomb

Gwanseong Tomb is a type of shrine dedicated to the deified general Guan Yu of the Chinese Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and is also known as Gwanwangmyo. During the Imjin War, Ming Chinese troops, believing that the defeat of the Japanese invaders owed to the help of the deified General Guan Yu, built 'Nammyo' (the South Shrine) in Seoul, the first of its kind and the origin of Korea's gwanseongmyo shrines. Afterwards, to raise the morale of the troops, shrines of this kind were built nationwide by royal order and venerated as guardian shrines. The shrine is a tile-roofed building of about 16 pyeong (roughly 53 square metres). Inside, at the front, hang paintings of General Guan Yu and his wife done in the style of 18th-century painting, placed to the left and right, with another painting of a military deity hung to their left. At one time it was tended as a shamanic ritual hall, and shamans and worshippers visited constantly, but today gut rituals are rarely performed there. With houses now built up around it, little of its former appearance survives. However, since Namyeong, which governed the military garrisons of the late Joseon period, was located here, it is presumed that the shrine was once administered by Namyeong. The date of its founding is not certain, but it is said to have been built by Lady Eom, a royal consort of Emperor Gojong, at the end of the Joseon dynasty. It stands as a good example of how the cult of Guan Yu — a mixture of state-protection faith together with Buddhist and Confucian elements — developed into a popular folk belief.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jung-gu, Seoul

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산