Dosanseowon Confucian Academy, Andong

Yi Hwang (1501–1570), known by his pen name Toegye, is the scholar on the thousand-won note and the one Korean philosopher whose reading of Neo-Confucianism reshaped the subject in Japan as well. He retired to this hillside above the Nakdong river, built a small study hall, and taught here. Four years after his death his students added a shrine and lecture halls, and in 1575 the king sent a name-plaque. The academy became the centre of learning for the whole southeast. What to notice is how plain it is. The buildings are the size and finish of an ordinary house — no gilding, no flourish, the lecture hall barely larger than the room Toegye actually used. That restraint is not poverty; it is the argument the man made about how a scholar should live, put up in timber.

Original Text

Visiting

Opening hours

Summer 09:00-18:00 Winter 09:00-17:00

Closed

N/A (Open all year round)

Admission

Adults 2,000 won / Teenagers & Children 1,000 won

Parking

Available

Information

+82-54-856-1073

Visitor information: Korea Tourism Organization · KOGL Type 1

Where it is

Region

Andong, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적