책소개

A 2,000-year-old kingdom was breathing beneath every step I took, but back then, it was just a pleasant hill, a part of my neighborhood. It was a city so familiar that I had taken it for granted.
Then one day, the familiar scenery began to feel strange. It was 2023, when the Gaya Tumuli were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The realization that the dirt paths I had carelessly walked upon were actually a heritage of "Outstanding Universal Value" that humanity must preserve came as a fresh shock—and a strange sense of debt.
"How much do I really know about Gaya?"
That curiosity moved me. I stepped beyond Gimhae and traveled to Goryeong, Changnyeong, Hapcheon, Haman, Namwon, and Goseong. I am not an archaeologist digging the earth to prove history, nor am I a historian analyzing ancient texts to verify dates. I simply wanted to be a guide connecting people and culture through travel, looking at these massive burial mounds through a humanistic lens.
The journey that started there became this book, The Breath of Gaya.
We often think of graves as spaces of death. But standing in front of Gaya's tumuli, that thought quickly changes. Ancient tombs were not just places for the dead. They were a universe condensing the worldview of those who lived fiercely, a massive archive showing what humans loved and what they wished to leave behind.
This book is a humanistic journey of iron and earth, tracing the footprints of those "people." The people of Gaya forged a powerful nation and technology with hard, cold Iron, while shaping life and embracing death with soft, warm Earth. Instead of looking at artifacts trapped in museum display cases, I tried to imagine the rough breathing and warm touch of the Gaya people who actually held and used these objects 1,500 years ago.
We will walk along the Hwanggang River in Hapcheon and feel the weight of the earth piled high on the ridges of Jisandong in Goryeong. We will read their aesthetics in the flame-patterned pottery of Ara-Gaya in Haman, and glimpse the spirit of the Iron Kingdom reaching out to the sea in Gimhae and Goseong. On the high plateaus of Namwon and the embankments of Changnyeong, we will breathe in the old names of the land and the wind of today together.
This book is seven walks connecting seven tumuli clusters and cities, a journey to listen to the heartbeat of a forgotten kingdom. We will read life from the tombs, feel the people from the artifacts, and stroll through past times within today's spaces.

목차

∎Prologue _ 7
∎What is World Heritage? _ 9
∎The Myth and History of Gaya _ 15

The First Walk: Gimhae Daeseong-dong Tumuli _ 26
1. Red Burnished Pottery Decorating the End of the Bronze Age. _ 28
2. Prayer for Reincarnation _ 30
3. Between Plain and Stoneware _ 32
4. Outing after 1,700 Years _ 34
5. The Gold Bar of the Gaya Era _ 37
6. The Ironclad Warriors of Gaya _ 40
7. A Horse Wearing a Helmet _ 44
8. Where Did the Pa-hyeong Donggi Come From? _ 46
9. ASMR of the Ancients _ 50
10. The Messenger of Souls _ 5111. The Fall of the Golden Kingdom _ 52

The Second Walk: Changnyeong Gyo-dong and Songhyeon _ 69
1. Gyo-dong and Songhyeon-dong beneath Mt. Hwawang _ 71
2. The Sacrificial Girl 'Songhyeon-i' _ 74
3. Reading Bihwa-gaya through the Gilt-Bronze Crown _ 77
4. The Ogura Collection _ 81
5. The One Called 'Daegan' _ 85
6. The International Order Engraved on a Sword _ 88
7. The Full Set of Iron Cavalry Equipment _ 90
8. The Camphor Tree that Crossed the Sea _ 92

The Third Walk: Hapcheon Okjeon Tumuli _ 108
1. The Jade Field that Almost Sank _ 110
2. The Dragon and Phoenix Awakened in Tomb M3 _ 114
3. Roman Luxury Met in Okjeon _ 119
4. Okjeon Tomb M4, Speaking through Earrings_ 122
5. 6 out of 14 Horse Helmets in East Asia from Okjeon? _ 124
6. A Big Dream in a Small Boat _ 128
7. Dara-guk as Told by the Okjeon Tumuli _ 130

The Fourth Walk: Goryeong Jisandong Tumuli _ 146
1. The Secret Code of Daegaya's Birth _ 148
2. Daegaya is the Older Brother, Geumgwan-gaya the Younger? _ 162
3. Daegaya Gold Crown _ 166
4. Gilt-bronze Crown Showing Golden Ratio _ 168
5. Gaya's Founding Myth Engraved on a Clay Bell _ 160
6. The Cruel Custom: Human Sacrifice _ 164
7. Great King (Daewang) or Great Gan (Daegan)_ 168
8. What Did They Eat and How Did They Live? _ 173
9. Daegaya Style Earrings _ 177
10. The Era of Exile _ 181

The Fifth Walk: Haman Marisan Tumuli _ 201
1. Order of the Sky Engraved on Stone _ 204
2. Beyond Form to Objet _ 207
3. The Shape of Authority Toward the Sky _209
4. Invitation of 900 Small Scales _ 212
5. Continuing the Lineage of Ara-gaya Plastic Arts _ 216
6. The Masterpiece That Went to Gyeongju _ 217
7. The Vessel on the Lotus _ 221
8. The Unextinguished Flame _ 222

The Sixth Walk: Namwon Yugok-ri and Durak-ri Tumuli _ 239
1. The Land of Boundary _ 239
2. Land of Iron, Memory of Gaya _ 242
3. The King's Mirror and the Signature of Patterns _ 244
4. The Mirror of Descendants and Beasts _ 246
5. Iron Vessel Containing Fire _ 248
6. The Mystery of the Chicken-headed Ewer _ 262
7. The Story Contained in the Iron Helmet of Namwon _ 267
8. The Innate Luck of Unbong _ 261

The Seventh Walk: Goseong Songhak-dong Tumuli _ 274
1. The Maritime Kingdom, Goja-guk _ 275
2. Antenna Toward the Universe _ 278
3. The Truth Revealed by Three Hills _ 282
4. The Jar with a Hole _ 286
5. The Awakened Giant: _ 291

[Epilogue] _ 304

책리뷰

저자소개

I am a lifelong traveler and educator who has spent decades bridging the gap between Korea and the wider world. My journey began in the late 1980s, a pivotal era when Koreans first gained the freedom to explore the globe. Starting my career at a travel agency, I spent those years traversing the world. I later moved to the airline industry, working with Air New Zealand, Northwest Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, where I delivered dreams and the thrill of discovery to countless passengers.
Today, I share my wealth of experience at Kyungsung University in the Department of Hotel and Tourism Management. Beyond teaching, I serve as a dedicated mentor, guiding students toward their own global careers. In this book, I invite you to walk with me through the ancient ruins of Gaya, blending my worldly perspective with the deep, quiet breath of history.