Okdongseowon Confucian Academy, Sangju

Okdongseowon Confucian Academy in Sangju was established to commemorate the scholarship and virtuous conduct of Bangchon Hwang Hui (1363-1452), a loyal official who served three kings at the end of Goryeo and four kings in early Joseon, and who was a leading figure in laying the foundations of Confucian learning and driving the policy of venerating Confucianism in early Joseon. The academy's origins lie in 1518, when a hoengdang (school hall) was built and a portrait of Hwang Hui enshrined there. In 1580 the Baegokdong Portrait Shrine was built, and Hwang Hui was baehyang - enshrined with a spirit tablet - there. When it was elevated to the status of a seowon (Confucian academy) in 1714, Jeon Sik (1563-1642) was also enshrined, and in 1786 Hwang Hyo-heon (1491-1532) and Hwang Nyu (1578-1626) were additionally enshrined. In 1789 it received a saaek, a royal charter granting an inscribed name plaque, under its present name, Okdongseowon. When Heungseon Daewongun ordered the abolition of Confucian academies in 1871, Okdongseowon was the only academy enshrining Hwang Hui that escaped damage, and it has preserved its original form well to this day. Memorial rites (hyangsa) for the four worthies - Hwang Hui, Jeon Sik, Hwang Hyo-heon and Hwang Nyu - continue to be held. The main buildings of Okdongseowon - the gate pavilion (Cheongwollu), the lecture hall (Onhwidang) and the shrine (Gyeongdeoksa) - are arranged in a straight line. The academy lacks the east and west dormitories (dongjae and seojae) that housed students in other academies, and has relatively few supporting facilities. This reflects a characteristic of seowon architecture in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a period when the ganghak (teaching and scholarly study) function of academies weakened while their role in memorial rites gradually grew stronger. Okdongseowon also holds many items of recorded heritage, including three portraits of Master Hwang Hui, a total of 241 volumes of printing woodblocks for five titles - the Collected Works of Master Bangchon, the Bangan-jip, the Hwangssi Sebo (Hwang Clan Genealogy), the Janggye-igo and the Manojip - as well as around 300 old documents and 11 hanging plaques.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Sangju, Gyeongbuk

Designation

Historic Site · 사적