Lucky Hertz_Mojeongtap Trail in Nochusan Mountain(Big luck), 2025, interactive, mixed media, sound, dimensions variable, 2min 24sec.
♧The vibration of fortune that shakes the earth of the first village under the sky, as wishes held in stones pile up
Local legend related to Mojeongtap Trail in Nochusan Mountain
Reference 1
Nochusan Mother’s Tower Path is a sacred trail of rock cairns built out of a mother’s unconditional love and profound grief. Walking along the valley in Daegiri, Wangsan-myeon, surrounded by 3,000 rock cairns, one can feel an overwhelming sense of warmth and peace—almost as if being embraced by a mother’s love.
These towers were painstakingly built by an old lady named Cha Ok-soon, and behind them lies a story of deep sorrow and unwavering determination. Originally from Seoul, she married into a family in Gangneung and was living a happy life with her four children. However, tragedy struck when she lost two of them unexpectedly, leaving her heartbroken.
One night, in the depths of her grief, she had a dream in which a mountain spirit appeared and told her that if she built 3,000 rock cairns in a valley, peace would return to her family. Clinging to this divine revelation, she set out to find the perfect place and eventually discovered Nochusan Valley, a site said to hold the spiritual energy of the great scholar Yulgok.
From that moment in 1986, she dedicated her life to stacking stones, one by one, as a prayer for healing. Over the years, natural disasters like typhoons and heavy rains would sometimes wash away her painstakingly built towers, but she never gave up. With the unwavering strength of a mother’s love, she continued to stack one stone after another until she finally completed all 3,000 stone towers in 2011.
Today, Nochusan Mojungtap-gil is known as a place where heartfelt wishes are said to come true.
Reference 2
Lady Cha Soon-ok’s life was marked by hardship. After marrying, she had four children, but lost two sons in a tragic accident. Her husband also suffered from a mental illness, leaving her to bear the weight of misfortune. Then, one night, she had a dream in which a mountain spirit appeared and told her that if she built 3,000 stone towers in a valley, peace would return to her family.
Determined to follow this divine revelation, she began searching for the right place to build. Living in Gangneung at the time, she eventually settled in 1986 in the remote valley of Nochusan Mountain, located in Daegiri, Wangsan-myeon, Gangneung—often called “the first village under the sky.” From that moment on for 26 years, she devoted her life to stacking stones until she passed away in 2011 at the age of 68.
Today, the path she created, lined with thousands of rock cairns, is known as Mojungtap-gil or Nochusan Mojungtap-gil.
[Source] The Academy of Korean Studies – Encyclopedia of Korean Local Culture (http://aks.ai/GC00300375, http://aks.ai/GC00305006)
