Memorial Stone of Suwun Choi Jewu
Master Choi Jewu, Preceptor of Donghak enlightened in Yeosi Bawitgol
Master Choi Jewu is the preceptor of Donghak, a religion of contradiction in a feudal society and foreign invasion. His penname is Suwun. He earned a livelihood by teaching in village schools or selling goods because he was poor. He studied medical practice and divination because of his great interest in them. From Gyeongju, Suwun built a thatched-roof house in Yeosi Bawitgol in Ulsan after moving to Ulsan, his wife Mrs. Park’s hometown, and trained himself. A remarkable man came to his house in 1855 and gave him a book. Master Choi was enlightened by the book and created the Cheondogyo religion. The Cheondogyo foundation called the event the ‘Heaven’s Book in 1855’ and built a ‘Memorial Stone of Saint Suwun Choi Jewu, Preceptor of Cheondogyo’ in this place in 1997, and Monument House in 1999.
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LocationNear Daewun 7-gil, Jung-gu, Ulsan
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TipDonghak is the religion created to fight against the contradiction in feudal society. It teaches that ‘each person is heaven’. Donghak was a new hope for the public who had fallen into despair during that time as well as a tinderbox of modernization. After the martyrdom of Choi Jewu, the spirit of Donghak was manifested in the Donghak Pheasant Movement and 1919 Independence Movement.
