Changuimun Gate (Jahamun)

About this place

Along the Seoul City Wall, there were four great gates (sadaemun) at the east, west, south, and north, and four small gates (somun) in between. Changuimun was the northern small gate (buksomun) between the west great gate and the north great gate, and its name carries the meaning of 'making what is right manifest.' However, Changuimun was never actually called Buksomun; instead it came to be known by the nickname 'Jahamun (紫霞門),' borrowed from the name of the valley here. In 1413 (the 13th year of King Taejong), the geomancer Choe Yang-seon advised that 'Changuimun and Sukjeongmun are like the two arms of Gyeongbokgung Palace, so roads must not be opened through them lest the earth's veins be harmed,' and this advice was accepted; the two gates were closed, pine trees were planted, and passage was prohibited. However, according to records in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, in 1422 (the 4th year of King Sejong) the gate was allowed to be used as a passage for soldiers, and in 1617 (the 9th year of Gwanghaegun) it was opened to transport stone materials during palace repair work, which suggests that a road itself existed even then. Changuimun came to serve properly as a gate tower of the Seoul City Wall when it was rebuilt in 1741 (the 17th year of King Yeongjo). At that time, the training commander Gu Seong-im advised that 'Changuimun is where the righteous army entered during the Injo Restoration (1623), so it would be good to build a gate tower while repairing the gate,' and this advice was accepted, so the tower was finally erected. This fact was confirmed by an ink inscription found on the ceiling members during repair work on Changuimun in 1956, and a plaque bearing the names of the meritorious subjects of the Injo Restoration now hangs on Changuimun. Changuimun has the typical form of a city-wall gate tower and is the only one of Seoul's four small gates to retain its old appearance; above all, the flagstones, worn smooth by people's footsteps over hundreds of years, gleam with luster. In particular, a pair of drainage spouts (nuhyeol) installed on the outer side of the gate tower to let rainwater flow down smoothly are gracefully carved in the shape of lotus leaves, adding charm to the gate's architectural decoration. Moreover, a pair of phoenixes is beautifully carved at the very top of the gate's rainbow-shaped arch; according to popular lore, these depict chickens, drawn because the terrain outside Changuimun resembles a centipede, and the chicken, the centipede's natural enemy, was drawn to counter it.