The first card shows a pagoda on top of the Keiron. I couldn't seem to find any information on what the Keiron is. There's something very beautiful and mysterious about the card though, so that's why I'm posting it.
Here's a close-up of the people. The variety of hats is particularly interesting.
And here's a picture of a village - but where? I wonder what it looks like now. Is it Yangdong Village? If so, it looks a little different today.
I'd love to be able to wander in for a closer look. Here's a little close-up, showing some people in the village. I'd also love to know more about the building materials. The roofs appear to be straw thatch and the houses may be constructed of mud bricks.
Finally, we have a card showing Prince Li's Palace in Seoul. I don't find anything under Prince Li's Palace either, although there are several palaces in Seoul.
The back of the cards all look like this.
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I find it interesting that no indigenous Hangul writing is used, only Chinese characters. Plus the writing on the right edge of the back of the card is in Japanese, which may indicate that these postcards come from the years that Japan occupied Korea.
ReplyDeleteThese postcards come from the era of Japanese occupation, 1910 to 1945. In the top postcard you have several Japanese soldiers and some Korean farmers. The men in western dress are probably Japanese too. I'm not sure what Prince Lis palace is but the 5 palaces, all located close to each other in the centre of Seoul, were flattened in the Korean war and rebuilt. The village of mud and thatch was typical of the period up to the war and you can still find some houses preserved in Korea. I don't know what Keiron was either but it is English spelling so the word might be spelt Ki Lon these days. My guess is that these were probably published in Japan.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting postcards, and interesting to read the comments so far.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope it was the tripod rather than the pagodas leaning on the first card... I also wonder how they kept those little 'tophats' from falling off, tied on? Neat images of another time and place, perhaps the lack of information is due to the rewriting of history that comes with war and multiple occupations.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been to Korea (South Korea, that is), for a long time, and none of the images or names ring a bell for me, but these are intriguing photos from the difficult time of occupation. Outside of the one in Seoul, I wonder if any could be from present day North Korea? (Although I don't know if the foliage looks right.)
ReplyDeleteWhat fantastic input. I'm so grateful to all of you for helping to bring some context to this post.
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to see some of the Chinese dressed in western garb. The sod huts are something I never knew that they would have.
ReplyDeleteI think what One Man said makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThe pagoda image is really intriguing. The structures at a slight tilt, the group all close except for one. Frank Costanza speaks Korean.
ReplyDeleteI love the hats that look like upturned flower pots. The majority of people don't wear hats these days but it seems that once upon a time the opposite was true.
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