The Introduction of a Formal Garden as a Sign of the Diffusion of Geomancy (P’ungsu) to the Korean Peninsula

Abstract

Geomancy (p’ungsu in Korean and fengshui in Chinese) is the ancient Chinese art of landscape evaluation when choosing auspicious sites for houses, public buildings, settlements, and graves. The art of geomancy seemed to have originated from the Loess Plateau, North China and its well-developed form was introduced to Korea with an early wave of the cultural diffusion from China before or during the Three Kingdom’s Period. This paper proposes that the appearance of formal gardens (Chinese gardens with ponds) is a sign of the diffusion of geomancy to the Korean Peninsula. This argument is based on the following two points: firstly, both geomancy and the art of creating gardens share the same purpose of creating an ideal environment for humans. A garden is more than a collection and display of beautiful plants and trees. It represents a human endeavour to create an ideal environment for human habitation. Gardens are reorganisations of nature in a way that humans see as most ideal (beautiful). The art of geomancy is also an attempt to choose a most auspicious site and to create an ideal residence or grave on it. Secondly, Chinese garden art and geomancy share similar views on the quality of water: a pond or a watercourse should be in front of a house, not behind the house. This classical Chinese garden principle is an application of the geomantic idea that vital energy travels through soil, but stops when the energy meets water, for it cannot cross through the water. The ancient art of garden making incorporates much of these geomantic principles. Therefore, I suggest that the appearance of palace gardens in Kogury?, Paekche, and Silla during The Three Kingdoms Period is a sign of the diffusion of geomancy to the Korean Peninsula.