In the long tradition of garden making in Korea, adding man-made elements to the purest of spaces is considered a violation and something to be approached with utmost care and reservation. The essential idea behind the Korean art of garden building is to make it look more natural than nature itself. In many cases, what appears to be the result of very conscious efforts. Korean gardens are characterized by a submission to nature in an attempt to attain beauty and function.

Korea has a long history of gardens. The oldest records date to Three Kingdoms period (57B.C.-A.D.668) when architecture showed notable development. An important early history of the Korean nation, Samguk sagi(History of the Three Kingdoms) provides numerous pieces of evidence of royal palace gardens.

The earliest record of a gardens in book is attributed to the Koguryo Dynasty (37B.C.-A.D.668) It says that in the sixth year of the regin of King Tongmyong, the founder of Koguryo, mysterious peacocks swarmed into the courtyard of the royal palace. In the second year of reign of King Changsu (A.D.414), the same source claims that curious birds flocked into the royal palace another indication that the palace had a garden to attract such birds.

The book implies that Paekche(18B.C.-A.D.660) had gardens of higher aestherical by saying that, buring the reign of King Mu (r.600-640), a pond was made to south of the royal palace with the source of water supply located 8km away. Willow trees were planted along all four banks of the pond, which had in the center a miniature island named after a legendary mountain in China where Taoist immortals were said to dwell. Remains of the pond are found today in Puyo, the old capital of Paekche. It is called Kungnamji, or the Pond South of the palace.

There is also the record that in 655, King Uija had the palace of the crown prince extensively renovated and a pavilion named Manghaejong, or the Sea Watching Pavilion, built to the south of his palace. The sea here is assumed to have meant the Kungnamji Pond surrounded by willow trees, located to the south of the main palace.

In Shilla (57B.C.-A.D.935), the founding monarch Pak Hyokkose built a palace in the capital city of Kumsong, which is today's Kyongju, in 32 B.C., according to the history of the Three Kingdoms. The book also says that, during the reign of Ch'omhae Isagum(r.247-284), a dragon appeared from a pond located to the east of the royal palace, and willow trees that lay to the south of the capical city rose by themselves.

The best preserved among all ancient palace gardens is Anapchi Pond in Kyongju, which was recently drained for an excavation and restoration. Built as part of the detached palace of the crown prince during the reign of King Munmu (r.661-681), the artifical pond had five buildings along its shore stretching 1,330 meters, each situated to command a full view of the pond. Of the five, three pavilion-like structures have been restored.

Anapchi has curved embankments on the northern and eastern sides, somewhat resembling the coastiline of a ria. The southern end is perfectly straight while the western side is angular. All of the four sides are lined with dressed stores. In the middle of the pond are three small islands alluding to Taoist sanctuaries.

In an entry dated A.D. 674, the History of the Three Kingdoms records that "a pond was made with mountain-islands, flowering plants were grown, and rare birds and strange animals were raised in the palace." It is believed that plants such as orchids, peonies, lotus and azaleas, and birds and animals like swans, peacocks and deer were kept in the palace. On the shore and around the islands are simulated beaches made of rocks.

When Anapchi was drained and excavated in 1975, many relics dating from the Unified Shilla period (668-935) were found. They included a wooden frame which is believed to have been designed to grow lotus in a limited area in the pond. The entire floor of the pond was covered with pebbles to keep the water clear. On the whole, Anapchi and the surrounding garden were designed in a microcosmic style to symbolize the dwellings of Taoist fairies. The entire area was so arranged as to create the effect of a landscape painting.

Another important Shilla garden in Kyongju is the one at the site of a detached palace in the southern valley of Mt. Namsan. At the site of its p'osokchong Pavilion, believed to have been built in the eight century, is a water channel in which wine cups floated around during royal feasts. The channel defines an abalone-shaped area. The garden seems to have been a lovely sight with thick bamboo groves, beautiful streams and dense woods of pine and zelkova trees.

During Koryo (918-1392), the pleasure-seeking Uijong had various beautiful pavilions constructed in a royal villa in 1157 as part of a project to build a simulated fairyland. He ordered one of the pavilions to be covered with fine celadon roof tiles, which was criticized as an excessive luxury by offcials.

The art of garden making in the Choson period (1392-1910) is best exemplified by the Secret Garden of Ch'angdokkung Palace in Seoul. Comprising some 300,00 square meters of the entire 405,636 square meters of the palace proper, the garden is tastefully laid out with picturesque pavilions and halls, lotus ponds, fantastically shaped rocks, stone bridges, stairways, water troughs and springs scattered among dense woods, all essential elements of a traditional Korean-style garden.

Amisan Garden in the back of Kyot'aejon, once the royal bedchamber of Kyongbokkung palace, provides another attractive example of Choson palatial gardens. It has four brick chimneys adorned with beautiful patterns, storn water holders and fantastic rocks placed among the plants on the terraced flower beds.

Not far from Amians Garden, in the northern section of the palace, a two-story hexagonal pavilion named Hyang- Wonjong stands in the middle of a lotus pond. A beautiful wooden bridge spans the pond to the pavilion. In Tamyang, located in Korea's southwestern Chollanam-do province, a woodland garden of a 16th century nobleman scholar, named Soswaewon, or the Garden of Pure Mind, offers a fine example of Choson literati gardens combing Confucian idealism and Taoist naturalism. Approached by a long arched gateway of a thick bamboo grove, the garden has a rapid stream burbling down a rocky valley by pavilions a lotus pond and a water mill. It is adorned with a variety of trees and shrubs including paulownias, plums, pine trees, maples, plantains, gingko trees, orchids, chrysanthemums and lotuses-all favorite plants among ancient Koreans for both their appearances and symbolic meanings. The idyllic atmosphere of the place inspired many writers and poets.