Ijidang Hall, Okcheon

Ijidang Hall in Okcheon originates from Gaksin Seodang, a village school named after the local neighbourhood that the righteous-army leader and Neo-Confucian scholar Jungbong Jo Heon built and taught in while living in Okcheon in the late 16th century, drawn by its outstanding scenery. About 80 years after his death, around 1674, Kim Man-gyun took the lead in renewing the building, adding a pavilion wing on the left, and Song Si-yeol gave it its present name, Ijidang. Kim Man-gyun, Song Si-yeol and Jo Heon were connected both by regional ties to Okcheon and by academic ties to the Giho School, a Neo-Confucian scholarly lineage, and this relationship played a key role in Ijidang's continued use and upkeep as a jeongsa, a scholar's private study retreat, after Jo Heon's death. Ijidang is sited on a hillside overlooking Seohwacheon, a tributary at the upper reaches of the Geumgang River, with a broad flat rock and the slow-flowing stream spread out in front and striking rock formations rising behind, affording fine scenery in every season. It is a composite building that combines the character of jeongsa architecture with that of a nujeong, or pavilion, with a 'ㄷ'-shaped floor plan and two-storey pavilion wings on either side, clearly showing the plain, refined architectural style of the late Joseon period. In particular, the pavilions flanking the main hall define the outer space of the Ijidang precinct and were built as spaces for rest and contemplation, for admiring the fine scenery spread out ahead and pursuing the unity of heaven and man; adding a two-storey pavilion to jeongsa architecture in this way is an extremely rare form.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Okcheon, Chungbuk

Designation

Treasure · 보물