Toegye Yi Hwang퇴계 이황 has long been admired as one of the greatest Confucian scholars of Joseon, together with Yulgok Yi I율곡 이이. Featured in 1,000-won Korean banknotes, Yi Hwang’s portrait is set against a tree branch with tiny blossoms. Those flowers are plum blossoms. He loved plum blossoms so much that his last words before his death were, “Water those plum flowers.” There is a special reason behind his love for plum blossoms. While he was serving as the governor of Danyang단양, he met a female entertainer named Duhyang두향. It was after he had lost his wife and son, one after another. Duhyang, who was known to have been remarkably knowledgeable in poetry and literature, must have consoled his loss with her poems and writings. She also gave him a plum sapling, which he dug up to take with him when his term in Danyang was over and transplanted it at his school, Dosanseowon도산서원.
Music 1: The Song of Plum Blossoms/ Sung by Jeon Jin-gyeong

That was “The Song of Plum Blossom” sung by Jeon Jin-gyeong. The lyrics begin beautifully.

Dear plum blossoms, spring returns to the old stump.
You could have flowered on the branches where you had bloomed.
But since spring snow is blowing, you wonder whether you should bloom or not.

The song uses the plum blossoms to allude to the passing of time, and the second part longs for love. Yi I was already 48 years old when he first met 18-year-old Duhyang. They never saw each other again after parting ways in Danyang. Perhaps he had sought comfort and fond memories of the smart, young lady from the flowering plum tree she had gifted him. Many years later, Yi passed away at age 69. When Duhyang heard of his passing, she walked four days to Andong to attend his funeral and returned to Danyang only to end her own life by throwing herself into the river.
Music 2: Good, These Are Plum Blossoms/ Performed by Chungang Gayastra
That was “Good, These Are Plum Blossoms,” performed by Chungang Gayastra. Plum blossom is considered one of sagunja사군자, the four gracious plants, because it blooms before the spring’s arrival, when the winds are still cold and the snow has yet to melt. But there is a special kind of plum trees that flower earlier than ordinary ones in lunar December, which probably falls in early or mid-February by the solar calendar. Plum trees that bear white blossoms in an elementary school at Geojedo Island in southern Korea are the first ones to flower in Korea. They are followed by a red plum tree in Geumdunsa금둔사 Temple in Suncheon순천, Jeollanam-do Province. Those red plum flowers are also called “Napwolmae납월매” – “napwol” meaning December and “mae” meaning plum trees. This Napwolmae tree was originally a branch transplanted from an old, dying plum tree. People say the relocated tree is thriving in Suncheon, because it is grateful to be saved from a certain death. We will soon be hearing about plum trees flowering in the southern regions. That means the winter is almost over. Today’s Sounds of Korea episode will conclude with a Gyeonggi-do Province folk song called “Maehwa Taryeong매화타령” sung by Lee Geum-mi.
Music 3: Maehwa Taryeong/ Sung by Lee Geum-mi