Worldwide Locations
Worldwide Locations
Mechanical Toys
Korea's Silla Period
Korea's Silla Period
The elaborate mechanical toys in 7th century Korea is described by a Korean monk some five hundred years later. This essay reveals to the reader a little about the technology and trade of that time.
During
the period 763-764, Silla mechanics contrived a set of automatic
mechanical toys, the Mountain of Ten Thousand Buddhas which utilized
the force of the wind. This description is from Memorabilia of the
Three Kingdoms, written around 1279 by a Korean monk.
The King of Silla hearing that Emperor Tai Zong of China was an ardent
believer in Buddhism, wanted to send a gift to the Emperor and ordered
his mechanics to make one. It was a miniature mountain, about two
meters high, on a multicolored carpet decorated with a carved wooden
base and beautiful jewels. The mountain was composed of exquisite rocks
and stones, and there were dolls of various countries which were
singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments in the valleys and
caves.
Many miniature Buddha images were also placed on the mountain. The size
of the heads ranged from that of Indian millet to that of green beans,
but they had distinct ears, eyes, mouths, and noses. The mountain
itself was hardly visible. It was called "The Mountain of the Ten
Thousand Buddhas". Gold and precious stones were used for various kinds
of flowers, trees, streams, hermitages, towers, and pavilions. Although
small in size, they appeared life-like. There were more than a thousand
dolls in the image of monks at the front, and underneath three golden
bells were hanging in a pavilion with whale-shaped belfries. When the
wind blew, one saw all the monks bow to the ground and chant prayers
since the bells contained automatic devices for moving the monks.
Emperor Tai Zong, on receiving that automatic mechanical toy, used all
kinds of superlatives in praising it. He commented that the
craftmenship was not that of a man but that of a genius endowed by
Heaven. In fact, all who looked at it were amazed at its delicacy.
Although Silla was influenced greatly by Chinese culture and
technology, this elaborate mechanical toy amazed even the Chinese
Emperor.
Author: Sang-woon Jeon.
Post new comment