Shingled House and Folk Artifacts of Sin-ri, Samcheok

This heritage designation refers to the neowajip (shingled houses) found in the Sin-ri area of Samcheok, and to the folk artefacts belonging to these houses. A neowajip is a house whose roof is covered with wooden shingles - thick pine timber cut into boards of a suitable size - used in place of roof tiles. Until the early 1970s, various types of shingled house were found throughout this area, but most have since been remodelled and disappeared, and only the houses now designated as heritage retain their original appearance. Shingled houses are found mainly around the Gaema Plateau and in the mountainous areas of Hamgyeong-do, Pyeongan-do and Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, as well as on Ulleungdo Island; they occur chiefly in mountainous regions with heavy snowfall and a large temperature difference between summer and winter. The floor plan of a shingled house is almost always a double-row house (gyeopjip) laid out in the shape of the Chinese character for "field" (田); within a single house it has an enclosed layout combining a wooden-floored hall (maru), several rooms such as the main room (anbang) and the men's quarters (sarangbang), a kitchen (jeongji), and even a stable (magu). This is a response to climate and to the external environment: joining each room to the next minimises the building's exposure to the outside and traps as much as possible of the warmth generated inside, so as to withstand extreme cold, while keeping the stable inside the house protected the livestock from wild animals. In the detailed interior layout, the main room, the men's quarters and a storage room were placed, depending on the house, to the left, right or rear of the central wooden-floored hall (daecheong), with the kitchen, a packed-earth floor area (bongdang) and the stable arranged around them. The bongdang was usually in front of the daecheong: on entering the house through the front door one stepped directly onto it, and from there each room, the kitchen and the stable could be reached. The bongdang served the role of an entrance hall in a modern house, and was also used as an indoor working space. Other distinctive features of the shingled house include the roof, where small triangular openings were made on either side of the ridge to let smoke from inside escape; houses of this type are also called kkachigumeongjip ("magpie-hole houses") and are also found in large numbers in the northern part of North Gyeongsang Province. In addition, a corner of the main room or the men's quarters held a "kokeul," a hearth used for both heating and light; the wall between the bongdang and the kitchen held a "dudungbul," used solely for lighting; and one side of the kitchen held a "hwati," a place for keeping embers. Other folk artefacts include a water mill and a trough-shaped hand mill for hulling grain; a "chaedok" (a jar-shaped storage container woven from bush-clover twigs); a "gimchitong" (a wooden tub for storing kimchi); "seolpi" (a kind of snowshoe worn over straw sandals for walking on deep snow); a lattice window ("chang"); and a "jurumak" (a carrying bag tightly woven from straw rope and fitted with a strap, used for carrying loads). The shingled houses of this region are valued as important material for studying the types and development of shingled houses in the mountainous areas of Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. Note: this heritage is generally open to visitors, but access may be restricted owing to the owner's personal circumstances.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Samcheok, Gangwon

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산