Moon-Moo
tul (61 moves)
In his encyclopaedia General Choi told us:
Moon-Moo
honours the 30th King of the Silla Dynasty. His body was buried near Dae Wang
Am (Great King's Rock). According to his will, the body was placed in the sea
"where my soul shall forever defend my land against the Japanese." It
is said that the Sok Gul Am (Stone cave) was built to guard his tomb.
The Sok Gul Am is a fine example of the culture of the Silla Dynasty. The 61 movements in this pattern symbolize the last two figures of 661 A.D. when Moon Moo came to the throne.
What
I’ve discovered
Moonmoo-Wang
( also Munmu) was the king of Silla in 668 A.D. when the three kingdoms were
finally united.
He was Prince Bubmin, the son of King Muyol (also
Mu-Yal) and ascended the throne as Moonmoo-Wang in 661 A.D., shortly after the
defeat of BaekJe.
Moonmoo went on to defeat Koguryo, having failed in
661 A.D., he ordered another attack in 667 A.D.
The ‘Samguk
Sagi’ states that in 668 A.D., the king led his army in person to P’yonyang
where he co-operated with Tang in defeating Koguryo, thus unifying
There are also tales of the mysterious monk,
Myongnang Popsa whose magic called upon the Typhoon to destroy the Tang navy.
Moonmoo reigned for twenty years on his deathbed he
named his son Prince Sin-Moon (also SinMun) as his successor.
Moonmoo was an ardent Buddhist, he therefore wished
to be cremated and for his ashes to be scattered at sea.
It was believed that the royal spirit could pray to
Buddha for the prosperity of Silla, Moonmoo said, ‘When I am dead and gone, I
should like to become a guardian dragon in the sea, to worship Buddha and
protect the nation when I have done with worldly glories’.
Moonmoo’s ashes were reputedly scattered over
Daewang-am, the Rock of the Great King, his son had a waterway built so that
Moonmoo’s spirit dragon could have access to land and sea, and defend against
the Japanese pirates.
King Sin-Moon had Kamun-sa (
Legend holds that the dragon, Moonmoo protects
For
sources of this information please see the bibliography section of the site.
Website Copyright Zoey Fendt ©2007- no unauthorised copying allowed.
