Journey through Daegu and Gunwi: Loyalty, K-Garden, and Kansong’s Treasures
Creatrip Team
25 days ago
This travel piece highlights a contemplative trip linking Daegu and Gunwi, blending 600-year-old loyalty stories, innovative landscape architecture, and Korea’s cultural heritage. It begins at the tomb of Eom Heung-do in Gunwi, a loyal retainer who secretly buried King Danjong’s body—his family still performs rites using decoy burial mounds. Nearby Yuksinsa (a shrine to the Six Martyred Officials) preserves the memory of the 사육신 (Sayeukshin, the six loyal ministers) with a poignant founding legend. The route then moves to Sayuwon, a mountainous “K-garden” created from an owner’s decades-long collection of ancient quince trees and featuring striking corten-steel architecture and works by prize-winning architects (including Pritzker laureates). Sayuwon emphasizes slow walking, limited daily visitors, and immersive forest contemplation. The journey ends at the new Daegu Kansong Museum, built as a simple vessel for Kansong Jeon Hyeong-pil’s national-cultural preservation ideal; its current exhibitions reunite masterpieces by calligrapher-painter Chusa (Kim Jeong-hui) and his students—including the celebrated works “Gyesan Mujin” and “Builseonrando”—offering art and history in a compact cultural itinerary.
