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Gonu game pieces of various sizes

The NAHF conducted a joint excavation with Russia's Institute of History, Archeology, and Ethnology at the site of Yeomju [鹽州] Castle of Balhae located in Kraskino in the south of Russia's Primorsky Krai for one month, from mid July to mid August. Yeomju is one of the 62 prefectures [州] that Balhae installed. The region bridged Balhae with Silla and Japan via the East Sea and with Tang and countries beyond the west of China through various inner land paths. From the excavation work this time, we have found the evidence of a set of shared sections inside the city that connect cart-traveling roads, houses with ondols (ondol: Korean underfloor heating system), and buildings. The high hilltop of the Yeomju site provides an open view of the sea southward, and it tells us the reason why Balhae built and managed a castle here. The view led me to imagine myself move 1,100 years forward and become a subject of Balhae who stands at the same spot looking at various vessels in the sea and living a variety of life in the city. Even having returned to Seoul after the excavation trip, I can still vividly see the Yeomju Castle standing alone even now, as lays of the land and water surrounding the castle, and the ever-changing sky and seagulls in front of my eyes.

As Korea suffered a long spell of constant rain and storm in July and August and could barely see the sun, we also met a four-day-long torrent of rain on the first day of August at the excavation site of the Yeomju Castle. Although we reached the exact midpoint of our excavation schedule of one month and were very frustrated that we could not continue the digging as the relics of ondols and roads started to emerge, we had to stop and wait for the rain to stop. When the rain pouring stopped, we had to drain out the water from the site with a pump on the one hand and carefully handle and restore the wet relics on the other during the remaining excavation period. Like this, the hard work and efforts from the members of the joint excavation team could bring about the most 'sensational' results after the 20 years of joint excavation work of Korea and Russia.

Scent of Ten Thousand Years from the Unkempt Field of the Yeomju Castle

The Chuseok holidays fell a bit earlier this year after summer days of mercurial weather, but it was a day of plenty like any biggest holiday of our people on which families and relatives gathered and spent time together. But beside memorial rites and special food songpyeon, we do not seem to have adequate games that represent this biggest Korean holiday. What this digression is leading to is small game pieces found in the Yeomju site. These game pieces occupy a large part of the relics we have excavated. They were usually made of clay or shaped off from spindle bases. Now we know that they were Gonu game pieces, since we excavated a Gonu board this time. The traditional game Gonu that I used to play as a child was found across the Tumen River in the Yeomju Castle of Balhae.

Surrounding the Yeomju Castle and further into Primorsky Krai are growing scattered various kinds of vegetation. When did these trees and plants that had lost their masters become this field of wild unkempt bushes? Though I have returned from the Yeomju site, I can still smell the scent of ten thousand years from this wild field of unkempt bushes. Since I knew I would come back there again, I left sending my wish of coming back on the wind. The Yeomju Castle still stores the culture and mind of the Balhae people as though they were stored in a time capsule, and waits for us to come back. Next time I might suggest a 'tournament of international Balhae Gonu games.'