Buyongji Pond in Changdeokgung’s Secret Garden

A set session time — and 15 minutes or more to the entrance

Royal Palaces and Tombs Center visitor information: the Huwon (Secret Garden) of Changdeokgung is a restricted visit with fixed entry times and capacity. Each language-specific session admits 100 people (50 booked online + 50 sold on site). Korean sessions run on the hour from 10:00 to 16:00 in March–October (to 15:00 in November–February); English at 10:30, 11:30 and 14:30 (plus 15:30 in March–November); Japanese at 13:30 on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays; Chinese at 12:30 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Korean nationals cannot join the foreign-language sessions (up to two may accompany a foreign visitor). A visit takes about 70 minutes.

The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center calls the Huwon a “restricted visit with fixed entry times and capacity.” Each language-specific session admits 100 people (50 online + 50 on site). Online booking opens at 10 a.m. six days before your visit, not counting the day itself; on-site tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. The Center notes that in April–May and October–November both online and on-site tickets sell out very quickly. Find on map

Maya booked at 10 a.m., six days out. She needs two tickets: the Huwon ticket at 5,000 won, and a separate ticket for the palace grounds. Even if you have only come for the garden, you still need the grounds ticket. A visit takes about 70 minutes, and the Ongnyucheon area deep in the garden is closed for conservation work for now.

The way into Changdeokgung is Geumhomun, the side gate Rina used in part one. The Center says the walk from Geumhomun to the Huwon entrance takes 15 minutes or more. Maya goes through Geumhomun well before her session. The notice has a separate line asking visitors to keep to their entry time.

People gather at the Huwon entrance. The guided-tour table lists the garden tours at the same times as the sessions, starting from this entrance. Maya takes a place at the back of the group. From here, she has about 70 minutes.

The square you see from the top of the slope — Buyongji

From the Korea Heritage Service’s description of Buyongjeong (Treasure): the walled passage to the Huwon climbs, then turns left and starts to descend, and at that point the Buyongji pond comes into view below. Buyongji is a square pond 34.5 m east–west and 29.4 m north–south; the square pond and round island reflect the idea that heaven is round and the earth is square. The pond is built of long dressed stones, and at its southern corner a single carp is carved leaping from the water — the king and his officials likened to water and fish.

The Korea Heritage Service describes the approach like this: a passage walled in on both sides climbs gently, then turns left and starts to go downhill, and at that turn the whole Buyongji area comes into view below. Maya slows down right there. The walls end, and there is water beneath her. Find on map

The pond is square — 34.5 metres east to west, 29.4 metres north to south — its edges built straight with long cut stones. Inside it sits one round island with a pine tree on top. The Heritage Service says the square pond and round island reflect an old idea: heaven is round and the earth is square. Maya draws a square in her notebook, and a circle inside it.

The description mentions one more small thing. On a stone at the pond’s southern corner, a single carp is carved leaping out of the water — a picture of the king and his officials as water and fish. Maya traces the pond’s corners with her eyes. It isn’t a carving that jumps out at you; it’s there for people who know to look.

Palace ponds on screen were usually a pavilion framed like a picture. Here, the shape of the pond reaches you first. “The square before the pavilion,” Maya writes. At Gyeonghoeru she had written, “From out here, the square ones first,” and she adds today’s line underneath.

A pavilion with two feet in the water — Buyongjeong

From the Korea Heritage Service’s description of Buyongjeong (Treasure): “buyong” means lotus. Buyongjeong stands on the south side of Buyongji; low hills enclose it on the south, north and west and only the east is open, so the east side, where the name board hangs, is the front. According to the palace records, a pavilion called Taeksujae built in 1707 (33rd year of King Sukjong) was rebuilt under King Jeongjo and renamed Buyongjeong. Its plan is cross-shaped, and two octagonal stone pillars set in the pond carry slender round columns. According to an old geography, King Jeongjo enjoyed the flowers and fished here, and held banquets for men who had passed the state examination.

On the south side of the pond stands a pavilion, Buyongjeong. “Buyong” means lotus. According to the Heritage Service, low hills close it in on the south, north and west, and only the east lies open — so the east side, where the name board hangs, is the front. Maya walks a little way around the pond to find it. Find on map

Seen from above, the plan is shaped like a cross. From the water’s edge, one arm of the pavilion reaches out over the pond: two octagonal stone pillars stand in the water, and slender round columns rise from them. To Maya it looks like the pavilion is standing with two feet in the pond. She adds two short lines to her drawing.

The place has its dates, too. According to the palace records, a building called Taeksujae went up here in 1707, the 33rd year of King Sukjong, and under King Jeongjo it was rebuilt and renamed Buyongjeong. Accounts say Jeongjo came here to look at the flowers and to fish, and held banquets for men who had just passed the state examination. Maya looks at the colour of the water and pictures a king with a fishing rod — then stops there.

The group ahead drifts along the edge of the pond. Maya turns toward the pavilion for one more look. In a garden with a clock, it works better to decide what you will see than to try to stay long in one spot.

A gate and a hall on the hill — Eosumun and Juhamnu

From the Korea Heritage Service’s description of Juhamnu (Treasure): Juhamnu stands on the hill north of Buyongji; it is a two-storey building put up in 1776, the year King Jeongjo came to the throne, to keep the king’s writings and calligraphy. It was a centre of the cultural revival of Jeongjo’s reign, where scholars such as Jeong Yak-yong, Bak Je-ga, Yu Deuk-gong and Yi Deok-mu worked, and it held Jeongjo’s writings, calligraphy, portraits and seals. The ground floor was fitted out for storing royal books, and the upper-floor reading room was laid out to take in the fine views on every side.

North of the pond, beyond the island, the hillside rises in three terraces of flower beds. On the first terrace there is a gate: Eosumun. The Heritage Service explains that the name likens the king to water and his officials to fish. The king went through Eosumun in the middle; his officials used the small gates on either side. Find on map

Maya thinks back to the carp in the corner of the pond. Water and fish in the stones of the pond, water and fish in the gate on the hill — the same image twice in one place. Next to her square, she draws a small fish.

Above the gate stands a two-storey hall, Juhamnu. It was built in 1776, the year King Jeongjo came to the throne, to keep the king’s own writings and calligraphy. The Heritage Service calls it a centre of the cultural revival of Jeongjo’s reign, where scholars such as Jeong Yak-yong, Bak Je-ga, Yu Deuk-gong and Yi Deok-mu worked. The upper floor was a reading room laid out to take in the views on every side.

Maya stays by the pond and looks up at Juhamnu without climbing the hill. The garden was first laid out in 1406 under King Taejong, and buildings such as Juhamnu were added from the reign of Injo to that of Sunjo. Several hundred years are layered around one square pond.

The group moves on. The route carries on toward Aeryeonji and Yeongyeongdang, but this story stops here. On screen, a garden was a still frame. In a garden with a clock, what Maya chose to see first was a square pond, a round island, and one image — water and fish — told twice. Under the first line in her notebook she writes: “Because there’s a clock, you choose first.”

Maya has three tips. Online booking opens at 10 a.m. six days before your visit — in April–May and October–November, don’t miss that moment. Buy a palace-grounds ticket as well as the Huwon ticket. And allow 15 minutes or more from Geumhomun to the garden entrance, so go in early. Changdeokgung is closed on Mondays.

(※ This article includes staged images created with AI.)