Gyeongju Igyeondae Pavilion

About this place

There are two places where one can meaningfully contemplate Daewangam (the Great King Rock): Igyeondae Pavilion in front of Daebon Elementary School, and the spot where a stele reading 'The Sea I Cannot Forget' stands below a marker for 'Donghaegu' (Mouth of the East Sea). Igyeondae is the place where King Munmu, who declined a splendid tomb in favor of becoming a sea dragon to protect the nation, was said to have appeared as a dragon, and where his son King Sinmun received the incomparable treasure, the Manpasikjeok flute. The name Igyeondae comes from the phrase in the I Ching: 'Birong jaecheon i-gyeon daein' (a flying dragon in heaven, advantageous to see the great man). The current structure was built in recent times on the foundation stones revealed by a 1970 excavation. Below the Donghaegu marker is a memorial stele 'The Sea I Cannot Forget,' erected in 1985 by disciples to honor the anti-Japanese spirit of art historian Ko Yu-seop. Both King Munmu's patriotic will against Japanese pirates, a concern dating back to Unified Silla, and Ko's poem 'Daewangam' are enshrined together here.