Notes on a Physiographic Diagram of Tyosen (Korea)

Abstract

HE name of the peninsula, Korea, translated as High Mountains and Sparkling Streams, epitomizes the land. The Koreans have a special love for the austere beauty of their country. Pavilions on the highest summits, graves on picturesque slopes, and decaying cities of refuge hidden in the mountain fastnesses attest to the influence of the mountains on their lives. The sharpness of detail and lack of a solid vegetation cover on many of the hills give one an exaggerated impression of height and ruggedness, an effect accentuated by the narrow, flat-bottomed valleys. Minute as the plains are in the vast stretches of rough country, they are significant; for on them are grown the crops, preferably rice, which govern the economy of the land. The physical factors of climate and relief are obviously important in regional and local differences in the economy of Tyosen.1 The climatic regions have been the subject of previous publications.2 The geomorphological study follows a similar pattern. There is such a confusion of landforms in Korea, however, that a physiographic diagram (Fig. I) is of particular aid as a means of clarification.