The great leader Comrade
"Historical sites and relics are objective reminders of what kind of culture our ancestors created, how they lived and how they developed."
Sosan Castle is situated at Sonnae-Dong, Mangyongdae District, Pyongyang. The castle can be found northwestern part of the juncture where the rivers Taedong and Pothong converge. To the east flows the River Pothong with the outer wall of the Walled City of Pyongyang in the front, and to the southwest runs down the River Taedong with high and low mountains stretching to the west, where Mangyong Hill can be seen afar. The castle extends about 800metres to the western outer wall of the Walled City of Pyongyang and over 500metres to the southern place where the River Taedong joins the River Pothong.
The castle's main peak is Sosan(Mount West) 92.6metres high, and its north, west and south parts are linked with the ridges, gradually lowering to the east to become flatland. The castle's inside is quiet and neat with three valleys lowering to the east to become flat.
The castle is rectangular with north and south long, whereas east and west short. The three sides are enclosed with the peak and ridges and one of them is linked with the flatland, so it is one of the typical castles built in the period of Koguryo Kingdom.
Now the walls of Sosan Castle can only be seen in the west ridges and in some northern areas. Since a populated area has been formed inside the castle, its appearance could hardly be recognized.
Sosan Castle was formerly called Jokdusan Castle and its historical record can be found in a Korean geographical classic called "Sinjung Dongguk Yojisungram (Enlarged Edition of Korean Geographic Handbook)". The Handbook reads: Jokdusan Castle built of the earth is located in the east of Pyongyang River. It is 5 100 chok(a chok is as long as a foot.--Tr.) in circumference and 11 chok in height and built by Kim Pu Sik when the revolt was made by Myochong. (quoted from Sinjung Dongguk Yojisungram, Vol. 51, Kojokjo Pyongyangbu Pyongan Province)
According to the findings, the castle is about 2 170metres around — eastern wall runs about 720metres, western wall over 530metres, southern wall about 350metres and northern wall about 470metres.
The original shape of the walls can not be clearly identified; it now looks like earthern walls.
The archeological exploration of the northern wall around the north gate shows that it was built of mud mixed with stones and weathered gneiss layer by layer. The western wall was built on the ridge with the earth mixed with small rocks. It is known that the wall on the southern ridge was built with the quadrangular pyramid-like stones at the bottom and the earth laid above them. The height of the remaining wall here now is about 155cm and its bottom width is about 170cm, and unfortunately many of the interior and upper parts were largely ruined. The wall's eastern slope is horizontally cut and the first stones are laid inside the walls. From there extends the combination of the earth and big flat stones, its width being about 120cm. Further lies another 50cm-wide untouched soil. The four front wall stones discovered are of quadrangular pyramid shape, all of which are of tufaceous sandstones and porphyrite. These stones have also been found in the area around Mt. Ryongak, Chilgol and Palgol. Several quadrangular pyramid-like stones also have been excavated at the damaged layer of the southern part of the eastern wall.
Though there are no castle facilities clearly visible because the walls of Sosan Castle have already been ruined, the feasible traces of wall gates are seen at some points of imaginable easy human passage in the southern and northern segment of the castle.
There are no visible fort facilities such as a general's terrace and a watchtower. Yet many pieces of red tiles belonging to the period of Koguryo have been excavated in the hilly parts to the southeastern edges of the castle, which proves that there must have been the facilities including a general's terrace and a watchtower.
And these facilities must have been in the peak where the western wall joins the northern wall and the peak where the southern peak joins the western wall from which the interior and surroundings of the castle can be watched carefully.
Many pieces of remains have been found in the walls and the interior of the castle.
They include the pieces of earthenware and tiles belonging to the periods of ancient Korea, Koguryo, Koryo and the following Korean feudal dynasties. Notable in the relics and remains are many pieces of red tiles in the period of Koguryo. Particularly, many of them have been found at the excavating spot No.1 of the south part of the eastern wall and at other several places including the southern wall and the interior of the castle.
The kind of red tiles excavated there are convex and concave tiles—the convex tile is sorted into two according to its size and the concave one into seven according to its pattern. In detail, the latter is sorted into the patterns of string, net, reed mat, diamond shape, flame (flower), fir leaves, vertical line, and of them, the pattern of string can be classified into thin and thick ones and the pattern of net into 5 kinds according to the size and form, the pattern of diamond shape into 3 according to the pattern form.
Compared with other relics from the period of Koguryo, which includes many tiles, there have been more kinds of tiles emearthed in Sosan Castle - 6 kinds in the Fort on Mt. Taesong, 5 at the eastern castle in Chongam-Dong, 8 at Jongrung Temple, 9 in the City Walls of Pyongyang, 8 in the Fort on Mt. Jangsu, 3 in Sansongza Castle, and 3 at Tongdaeza remains.
Pieces of the earthenware belonging to several periods have been discovered, yet they are broken so that it is hard to recognize the form.
Sosan Castle is regarded as an auxiliary castle in defending the City Walls of Pyongyang, the capital of the country, due to the use of natural and geographical conditions, location, style of building walls, ways of processing stones, and red tiles of the castle.
The castle is associated with the immortal exploits achieved by President
President
Sosan Castle serves as valuable relic to explain the culture of Koguryo which had been a powerful country for more than one thousand years.
