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Daegu Yakryeongsi Festival

Herb Medicine Market
May 4-9, 2002

The 700m alleys around Namseongro Streets in Daegu called "Yakryeongsi" are always filled with the aromas of herb medicine.  Yakryeongsi -- often called "herb medicine alley"-- is packed with 350 herb medicinerelated shops such as oriental clinics, herb medicine shops, herb medicine export & import companies and ginseng shops.  Yakryeongsi dates back to around 1600, the mid-Joseon Dynasty, when a herb medicine market was held in spring and fall around guest houses in Daegu fortress (now Gyeongsang Gamyeong Park) to obtain medicine to be offered to the royal court and promote medicine trade with foreign countries.  In 1908, the Yakryeongsi was relocated to the present site.  The festival aimed at preserving the old tradition of Yakryongsi and promote oriental medicine starts with the "gosa" rite, a traditional shamanistic rite, to honor the spirit of Sinnongssi, a Chinese, who started to use herb roots and tree barks as medicine for the first time and pray for the prosperity of the herb medicine alley, as well as the good health and well being of the citizens.  Diverse events are featured during the festival, including free-of-charge Oriental medical diagnosis, an exposition of Oriental medicine-related relics and materials, sampling and selling of Korean cakes made of herb medicine, pounding rice for cakes, display and sampling of herb medicine food, an exposition of 50 wines made of Korean herb medicine such as ginseng, Angelicaegigantis Radix, fruit of the Maximowiczia chinensis.  Other popular events among tourists include a herb medicine chopping contest that is held at 2pm on May 10 and a herb medicine open auction that is held at 11:30am on May 11.  Furthermore, "the 2002 Daegu International Oriental Medicine Expo" is scheduled for May 8-12 at the Daegu Exhibition and Convention Center.

Nearby tourist attractions include Dalseong Park, Gyeongsang Gamyeong Park and the Daegu Traditional Confucian School.  Also, in Deulangil, a food alley located between Hwanggeum-dong and Dusan-dong in downtown Daegu, there are 260 restaurants featuring various cuisines offering Korean, Japanese, Chinese and Western foods.

For More Information:

Air/ Seoul  Daegu (takes 55 minutes, 17 flights a day between 7am to 8pm)
Railway/ Seoul  Dongdaegu (Saemaeul Train: 32 departures a day/ takes 3 hours and 10 minutes, Mugunghwa Train: 42 departures a day/ takes 3 hours and 50 minutes)
Bus/ Seoul  Daegu (takes 4 hours, Luxury bus: 86 departures a day/ regular bus: 19 departures a day)

Korea National Tourism Organization
(KNTO) toll free 1.800.868.7567 or visit the KNTO at www.tour2korea.com

Daegu Tourist Information Center
82-53-627-8900
English, Japanese, Chinese service available

Daegu Airport Tourist Information Center
82-53-984-1994
English and Japanese service available

Dongdaegu Station Tourist Information Center
82-53-939-0080
English and Japanese service available

Yakryongsi Preservation Committee
82-53-253-4729, Fax. 82-53-257-1950
www.herbmart.or.kr

Edited by Karen Devine

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