Inje-gun in Gangwon Province — home to birch forests, Baekdamsa Temple and the Speedium motorsport complex — has long been associated with Manhae Han Yong-un, the Buddhist monk, poet and independence activist best known for the poetry collection "Nim's Silence."
Baekdamsa Temple and Oseam Hermitage on Seoraksan, where Han retreated to practice, both lie within the county. Inje-gun has sustained a range of projects to carry on his legacy, including developing Manhae Village and supporting the annual Manhae Festival.
More recently, the county undertook work to restore the "small path through the maple forest, breaking through the blue mountain light" — a line from "Nim's Silence" — to its former character.
This year marks exactly 100 years since the poetry collection was first published.
To mark the occasion, Inje-gun opens a special exhibition Friday. "Places, People, Books and Writings That Shaped the Spirit of Manhae" runs from Friday through Sept. 20 at the Manhae Literature Museum in Manhae Village.
The exhibition was organized to retrace Han Yong-un's life, thought, literary work and contributions to the independence movement on the centenary of the 1926 publication, and to illuminate — through a wide range of materials — how his spirit has endured to the present day.
The show is organized around nine themes spanning Han's life: his entry into monastic life as a young man and his practice on Seoraksan and Geumgangsan; his Buddhist reform efforts and writing career; the March 1st Movement and his struggle while imprisoned; the creation of "Nim's Silence"; his involvement with the Singanhoe and the clandestine organization Mandang; and his later years at Simujang.
On display are the first edition of "Nim's Silence," Han's handwritten manuscripts and calligraphy, photographs, contemporary newspapers and magazines, and materials related to Buddhism and the independence movement — assembled to give visitors a fuller, more three-dimensional view of his life and thought.
The opening ceremony takes place at 3 p.m. Friday at Manhae Village, preceded at 2:30 p.m. by a commemorative performance of "Silence's Roar," an original pansori work by Seonyeong Akhoe inspired by the centenary of "Nim's Silence."
abc@heraldcorp.com
