I will now talk briefly about the function of Poseokjeong. There are various theories by different scholars on Poseokjeong's role. First of them is a place for royal ceremonies including wine-cup floating on the meandering channel. They floated wine cups along the water channel and amused themselves, but this wasn't all. They bathed themselves to wash away the dirt and stain of the past year, and then performed ancestral rituals and partook of sacrificial food and drink. Hence, some people claim that it was a garden style eating-and-drinking place. The place for bathing still remains near Poseokjeong. I highly recommend that you visit their website. I'll give you the address. Another theory claims that Poseokjeong was used for religious ceremonies. They thoroughly studied Samguk Sagi and Samguk Yusa and noticed that events at Poseokjeong were often attended by Hwarangs. Also, when there was a national crisis, royal families gathered here for rituals. Based on these findings, they claim that Poseokjeong was a sacred place. And since the time of King Jinheung, a ceremony called Palgwanhwe was performed to pay a tribute to soldiers who died in battles. It's written that Queen Seondeok performed rituals for the protection of Silla from enemy invasions. Next, another claim is that it was a shrine for ancestral tablets. This is based on the newly claimed Hwarang Segi, a book that is not yet officially accredited. The original Hwarang Segi was written around mid-Silla by a scholar named Kim Daemun. He was a scholar and a politician. Hwarang Segi is known to have passed down to the time when Kim Busik wrote Samguk Sagi and been quoted significantly in Samguk Sagi. However, Hwarang Segi was thought to have disappeared during the Joseon dynasty. But then in 1989, a hand-copied manuscript was made public. And afterwards, a bigger version manuscript of 162 pages was made public. Naturally, relevant academic circles were pretty excited. The manuscript was hand-written by Park Changhwa. He had worked at the Imperial Library in Tokyo from 1930 to 1940. There was a heated debate on whether he actually saw and copied from the real Hwarang Segi. However, he passed away in 1962 without making any comment about his manuscript of Hwarang Segi. This is still a big topic of debate among historians. And then in 1998, while they were cleaning up the site for the Poseokjeong exhibition hall, they excavated a roofing tile. On that roofing tile, "Poseok" was written in Chinese. The letter "Po" on the tile is actually different from "Po" in Poseokjeong. However, "Po" in Poseokjeong means abalone. That is a complicated letter. There are enough records that show from old times people often replaced a complicated letter with a simpler one of the same sound. So, by finding this tile with Poseok on it, a connection was made with Poseok Temple that appears in the manuscript. That Poseok Temple had enshrined ancestral tablets. Especially, the portrait of Munno, who made great contributions in unifying Samhan, was enshrined there, and the temple was used as a sacred place. And when Munno got married, he had his ceremony there. Also, when King Muyeol, born Kim Chunchu, married Munhui, the sister of Kim Yusin, the wedding ceremony was also at Poseokjeong. Therefore, they claim that Poseokjeong was a sacred place as well as a place for wedding ceremonies.
