A DIFFERENT KIND OF MEMORIAL

At the top of Mt Namsan, the geomantic southern mountain of the city of Seoul, is Seoul tower, and at the base of this tower are a number of overpriced refreshment stands, a place for the putting on of cultural events, and a collection of lookout points that take in the view of the surrounding landscape.

Lining these lookout areas is a metal grill fence, and attached to the fence are thousands of small padlocks marked with a promise. Seoulites have appropriated these places in much the same way they do anywhere they feel content or joyful - making their mark, noting their place - leaving a note to the world that there were there, and at that time they were happy.

SOUTHWARDS / SEOUL TOWER, MT. NAMSAN

Witnessing the Korean methods of mark making across the city, particularly at Namsan, and at the lantern festival, made me wonder if there was something to learn from them as examples of memorial making. Each note or padlock was a memorial to self in a point in time, that point being the present. We constantly strive to mark the world with our passing, perhaps these are the form of a contemporary memorial.

NORTHWARDS / SEOUL TOWER, MT. NAMSAN

Immediacy is a defining quality of the modern world. We mark it now, with how we feel now. We blog, we post, we text, we email, we call now. I’m not sure that we even need an immediate response. All that matters is our voice has been put out there, in the world, outside ourselves.

Can this have relevance for the typology of cemetery? Perhaps not for the deceased, but perhaps towards accessibility by the living.

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OF WIND AND WATER / a question of site

CONCENTRIC CIRCLES / Geomantic Map of Seoul

According to the Ts’ang-shu, which is known as Kuo P’u’s writing, when the spirit of Yin-Yang flows under the ground, it becomes a vital energy. An auspicious place is located where a vital energy stays, and people believed that if a man was buried in such a place, his descendants would recieve good fortune from the grave. The reason for this is explained in Ts’angshu. Parents are the main bodies of their children (like the trunk of a tree with branches) and when they die and are then influenced by a vital energy, their remaining bodies in the living world (their descendants) are also influenced by this energy. So when parents are laid to rest in an auspicious place, their descendants enjoy the benefits of such a place because they are the branches of the dead parents.

The basic principles of geomancy are simple enough. As put forward in Ts’ang-shu, they are first, the acquisition of water and the the storing of wind. This means that an auspicious place is mainly determined by the location of surrounding mountains which store the wind and by nearby watercourses.

The above text is an extract from ‘An Analysis of Korean Geomancy Tales’ by Hong-Key Yoon, and gives an excellent introduction into the basic themes of Korean grave geomancy. Though Professor Yoon postulates that geomancy originated in the placement of habitation for the living, over time it was the placement of habitation for the deceased that became heavily associated with Korean geomancy. Such importance was placed on finding an auspicious site to bury one’s relatives that fights would break out, the dead would be illegally removed, and the offending bereaved, severely punished.

However, whether Koreans today rigorously follow the principles of geomancy is not the issue. Instead it is the fact that consideration of site was such an importance to the culture throughout history. This cultural geography is entirely based on a following of geomantic principles. Though  one may not need to consider the azure dragon to the east or the white tiger to the west, but the place of burial should be comfortable, sunny, and have a nice calm view - not for the bereaved, but for the buried.

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SPIRIT OF THE NATION

Reading the signs and placards dotted around the site and visiting the exhibits makes you realise that this is a country that struggled to have a chance to exist, and from all over the cemetery you can see the city that capitalised on that chance, so you can imagine visitors looking back to the city that they live in and contemplating that relationship.

Towards the western slopes - photo by TD

The cemetery is clean, and well tended, much like the rest of the city, but seems to attract fewer people than perhaps it should. Admittedly there were walkers and berry-pickers but again less than might be expected, were I in a park or an ordinary hillside. 

The exhibits were empty and when asked whether they had many visitors, a custodian replied 'No, not many, mostly students' (referring to the school trips that seem to frequent these places). This didn't really make sense. The site had so many qualities to incite habitation by living Koreans, it was as if an equation had been written, but somehow it did not equal 'people'.

Hill walks - photo by TD

Yet perhaps this is understandable. The cemetery is cut off in so many ways from the living Seoul physically; highway, valley, river Han - that it would be rational for it to be cut off mentally as well.

Towards the eastern slopes - photo by TD

80% of those interred here, died during the Korean war. Fifty years have passed since the end of the Korean war and there are now very few visitors to the graves of the war dead, giving the place a forlorn feeling. To bring back some life to this place and to ensure that those who sacrificed their lives for our country can rest in peace and be remembered, the Cemetery is staging the One Flower, One Citizen campaign. The Seoul National Cemetery Management Team

Perhaps the forlornness is due to the fact that few contemporary Koreans have immediate familial connections to the National Cemetery and could be solved by siting more internments there. A visit to an active contemporary site might confirm this. One option for 6 FEET UP could be to provide that proposal - a scheme to reinvigorate Seoul National Cemetery by linking modern memorial to historical.

I suspect the issue is a little more complicated, and believe additionally that a cemetery that is already removed from its community cannot be reattached by simply constructing a new memorial nearby with stronger bonds. If Seoul National Cemetery proves to be the most appropriate option then I will have to resolve those beliefs within the project.

Memorial exhibit - photo by TD

Walk a few metres into the room above, the first in the memorial exhibit and a ceremonial fanfare plays loudly, followed by speech, no doubt regaling those present tales of bravery and valour. I'm sure the effect is quite rousing when the room is full of its irregular school visits, but alone and English, it was rather eerie and quite sad.

Koreans seem to be a practical people. It turns out that if an escalator is left unused for a period of time it will stop until someone approaches. Though applaudable it is rather sad that I discovered this at rush hour at the new subway station for the National Cemetery.

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THE YOUTH OF TODAY

You could jump to conclusions here. See what you want to see, but with a bit of reflection all that can be gleaned from the video (forwarded by Amanda Rashid) is that an intelligent and enterprising young funeral director has found that sharing his experiences of near death and new life settles well with others in similar frames of mind to his own at certain points in his journey.

Our minds are drawn to similarity - and to prove that similarity, will go to considerable lengths to fit in. All because having done so, we are given access to a wealth of experience of the similar - and this can be rather comforting whether faced with trauma or not.

What it does not show is that Koreans in general are willing to solve issues in life by confronting death. That may actually be true, but to make that assumption now would be jumping to conclusions.

COFFIN ACADEMY via aljazeera

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