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그루안

Tree Stories

One tree, one story — history and legends, with a character drawn from each tree.

Camellia Forest of Seonunsa Temple, Gochang

Japanese Camellia

The Belt of Camellias Wrapped Around the Back of Seonunsa Temple

📍 Seonunsa Temple, Samin-ri, Asan-myeon, Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do

Fringe Tree of Cheongok-ri, Gimhae

Chinese Fringetree

The Fringe Tree of Cheongok-ri, Whose Blossoms Foretold the Year's Harvest

📍 Cheongok-ri, Juchon-myeon, Gimhae-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (50 Seobu-ro 1638beon-gil)

An illustration based on photos of the Gwangdeoksa site. Beside a large walnut tree are stone steps, red pillars and a two-story pavilion with blue-green dancheong paint. A man in an olive jacket and gray scarf looks down at a walnut, and the branches in front carry pinnately compound leaves and green walnuts.

English Walnut

The Man Who Brought the Walnut Is in the Goryeosa's Biographies of Treacherous Officials: The Gwangdeoksa Walnut and Yu Cheong-sin

📍 Gwangdeoksa Temple (30 Gwangdeoksa-gil, Gwangdeok-myeon, Dongnam-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do)

An illustration of a persimmon tree in a late-autumn village covered in frost. In front of low farmhouses, a stone wall and a harvested field, a woman in an orange vest kneels and puts persimmons in a basket. A few orange persimmons remain on the bare branches.

Asian Persimmon

Dried Persimmons Scarier Than a Tiger: The 530-Year-Old "First Persimmon Tree Under Heaven" and Sangju Dried Persimmons

📍 Oenam-myeon, Sangju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do ("The First Persimmon Tree Under Heaven")

An illustration of a woman smelling the fragrance of a yellow quince beside a large quince tree, against low roofs, a stone wall and fields of an autumn village. Beside the woman, who wears a gray-green cardigan and a spotted shawl, wide mottled bark and yellow fruit are visible.

Chinese Quince

"I Am as Useless as This Quince Tree": The Tree for Which King Sejo Granted the Title "Mudong Cheosa"

📍 647 Yeonje-ri, Osong-eup, Heungdeok-gu, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do (Quince Park, Osong Bio Valley Industrial Complex)

A picture based on the Yulgok Plum Tree of Ojukheon in Gangneung. An old plum tree with a split, twisted trunk stands inside a low stone fence, with pale pink flowers on every leafless branch. Beside a tiled wall and the eaves of a hanok, a woman character in a pale pink jacket-style top and a long dark gray skirt, with her hair pinned up high, stands outside the fence looking at the plum trunk. She has a plum-blossom hairpin and plum-blossom embroidery on her chest. The figure and composition are AI creations and do not depict a historical person.

Japanese Apricot

The Plum Tree Tended by Shin Saimdang and Yulgok: The Yulgok Plum Tree of Ojukheon

📍 Ojukheon, 24 Yulgok-ro 3139beon-gil (Jukheon-dong), Gangneung-si, Gangwon-do

A picture of the aisle between shelves inside the Janggyeong Panjeon of Haeinsa Temple. On the right, wooden shelves densely packed with black printing blocks run long in many tiers, and on the left, sunlight entering through the slatted openings of a white wall makes stripes on the floor. A male character in a reddish-brown outer robe with cream collar and cuffs, a green sash and cream trousers walks the aisle, turning his head to look at the shelves. His chest bears embroidery of twigs and leaves. The blocks themselves were not touched and no characters on the blocks were drawn. The figure and composition are AI creations.

Japanese Flowering Cherry

The Spring-Blossom Mountain Cherry That Became the Tripitaka Koreana Woodblocks

📍 Janggyeong Panjeon, Haeinsa Temple, 122 Haeinsa-gil, Gaya-myeon, Hapcheon-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do

A creative scene imagining an abandoned old farm field in New England in early spring. Leafless red maple branches hang across the top of the picture, with small clusters of red flowers drooping at the tip of every branch. A woman character with curly reddish-brown bobbed hair and freckles sits on a low moss-covered stone wall, smiling as she looks down at a slender young tree growing from the ground in front of her feet. She wears a rust-red field jacket, a gray knit, jeans, brown work boots and a red flower hairpin. One hand rests on her knee and one on the stone wall. Behind her are a pond, a leafless forest and young trees scattered across the field; there are no autumn leaves. The figure, place and composition are creative and not a real place.

Red Maple

The Paradox of the "Super Generalist": The Red Maple That Took Over the Forests of the Eastern United States

Maple Grove of Munsusa Temple, Gochang

Japanese Maple

The First Maples to Become a Natural Monument: The Munsusa Maple Grove in Gochang

📍 Munsusa Temple approach, San 190-1 Eunsa-ri, Gosu-myeon, Gochang-gun, Jeollabuk-do

On a November morning along a copper-red metasequoia avenue, a woman character in a coppery reddish-brown long coat, cream turtleneck, gray-brown pleated skirt and dark brown ankle boots rests her left hand lightly on a fluted large trunk and looks to the end of the road. Straight rows of roadside trees, feathery leafy twigs, a dirt road carpeted with fallen leaves, light mist and morning light are visible. This is a creative illustration based on records of the Damyang tree-lined road, not a photograph reproducing the exact layout of the actual site.

Dawn Redwood

The "Water Fir" Thought Extinct, and How It Came to Line a Damyang Road

📍 Metasequoia tree-lined road, Damyang-gun, Jeollanam-do (National Route 24, from Damyang-gun Office to Wonyul Junction in Geumseong-myeon)

Beside a large zelkova tree at the entrance of an autumn village, a male character in a reddish-brown vest and ink-black trousers stands with both feet planted and hands clasped behind his back, looking up at the crown. A gray-white trunk, russet autumn leaves, two orange and yellow zelkovas in the distance, low village roofs and a stream are visible. This is a creative illustration based on records of the Oga-ri trees in Goesan, not a photograph reproducing the exact layout of the actual site.

Japanese Zelkova

Samgoejeong, the Pavilion of Three Zelkovas: The Oga-ri Village Guardian Trees That Watched Over a Village for 800 Years

📍 321 Oga-ri, Jangyeon-myeon, Goesan-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do (at the entrance to Uryeong Village)

A woman character with a dark blackish-brown bob and curly bangs wears a cream straw hat with white cherry blossoms, a chestnut short jacket, a blouse with a high lace collar and a long gray skirt, squatting with both feet on the ground beside a young cherry tree. With her fingertips she lightly supports the underside of a white flower cluster and looks at it. A few sparse branches carry clusters of white single flowers, most branches have only buds, and small new shoots appear in just a few places. Horizontal lenticels on the trunk, a support stake, a soft pale spring sky, lawn and bare distant trees are visible. The wide panel also takes in calm water at the left foreground, a bank where grass and soil meet naturally, and the Washington Monument far away on land. The hat band bears one small copper-colored gruan embroidery. This is a creative scene based on the 1912 story and is not a restoration of the actual planting ceremony.

Yoshino Cherry

A 24-Year Request, 2,000 Trees Ordered Burned, and Cuttings That Returned Home: The Washington Cherry Trees

📍 Tidal Basin (National Mall), Washington, D.C., USA

An anime-style picture of a black-haired Korean character personifying the cornelian cherry tree. She wears a cream-colored outfit with a collar embroidered with cornelian cherry leaves and sleeves patterned like bark, and red oval fruit earrings, and with one hand she tucks the hair beside her ear. Behind her are an autumn fruiting branch, a stone wall, a thatched house and a mountain ridge.

Japanese Cornelian Dogwood

The "University Tree" and Front-Tooth Work Exchange: Gurye Cornelian Cherry Farming (Important Agricultural Heritage No. 3)

📍 Sansuyu Village area, Sandong-myeon, Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do

In late-afternoon light, a hackberry tree on a hill spreads its wide crown. A woman character in a gray-brown hanbok jacket sits at the left of the thick base, one hand on the tree and the other on her knee, looking ahead. Her sleeves and hem have leaf-and-fruit embroidery and her side has a three-color bead ornament. At the edge of the wide panel are a small pavilion and tiled roofs, and along the low band behind are plains, greenhouses and a waterway. The figure, costume and scene are AI creations.

Chinese Hackberry

The Drama That Became Real: Changwon's "Woo Young-woo Hackberry" in Bukbu-ri

📍 102-1 Bukbu-ri, Daesan-myeon, Uichang-gu, Changwon-si, Gyeongsangnam-do (hill of Dongbu Village)

Against an asymmetrically branched Jeongipumsong pine and slender branch supports, a male character in a dark green robe and banded trousers opens one hand to show the way. His clothes bear embroidery of pine needles and bark, pinecone decorations, and a patch on the left sleeve. Beyond the lawn, a densely wooded mountain is visible. The figure, costume and scene are AI creations.

Japanese Red Pine

The Pine That Lifted Its Branch for the King: Jeongipumsong, 600 Years of Wounds and Its Heirs

📍 Songnisan-myeon, Boeun-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do (at the entrance to Beopjusa Temple)

Against a golden ginkgo tree, Yongmunsa Temple halls and an autumn forest, a woman with black hair tied low looks toward the scenery on the right. She wears a purple short jacket with ribbon ties and a skirt with a bark pattern and gold ginkgo-leaf embroidery, with a ginkgo-leaf and tree-ring ornament hanging at her waist. In her hands she holds a ginkgo-leaf fan and a rolled scroll. The figure, costume and foreground arrangement are creative works.

Ginkgo

The Thousand-Year Ginkgo of Yongmunsa Temple

📍 Yongmunsa Temple grounds, Sinjeom-ri, Yongmun-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do