House with an Oak Bark Roof in Daei-ri, Samcheok

This gulpi house stands on the north bank of a stream in a valley running a long way from east to west, just below the Neowa House of Daei-ri, Samcheok (a national folklore heritage). It is not known exactly when it was built, but judging from its condition it appears to date from the nineteenth century. Gulpi generally means oak bark, and a house roofed with this bark is called a gulpi house. Around the 1930s, when neowa (thin wooden or stone shingles used as roofing) became difficult to obtain, people in mountainous areas rich in oak trees found oak bark easier to gather instead, so a gulpi house is almost identical to a neowa house except that gulpi replaces neowa as the roofing material. Houses of this type are found in mountainous areas centred on the Gaema Plateau, including Hamgyong, Pyongan and Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province, as well as on Ulleungdo Island, and occur mainly in mountain regions with heavy snowfall and a wide gap between summer and winter temperatures. The floor plan is a double-row house in the shape of the Chinese character for "field" (田), with an enclosed layout that brings together under one roof a wooden-floored hall (maru), several rooms such as the main room (anbang) and men's quarters (sarangbang), a kitchen (jeongji), and even a stable (magu). This is a response to the climate and the outside environment: joining the rooms together minimised the building's exposure to the outside and kept in as much of the warmth generated inside as possible, so as to withstand extreme cold, while keeping the stable inside the building was meant to protect livestock from wild animals. In detail, the interior is arranged around the daecheong (main wooden-floored hall) at the centre of the house, with the anbang, sarangbang and dojangbang (storage room) placed to the left, right or rear as appropriate, and the kitchen, bongdang and stable arranged around them. The bongdang, an earthen-floored space, is usually in front of the daecheong; on entering the house through the front door one steps straight into the bongdang, from which each room, the kitchen and the stable can be reached. The bongdang served the same function as an entrance hall in a present-day house, and was also used as an indoor work space. Among the other distinctive features of the neowa house, the roof has small triangular openings to the left and right of the ridge to let smoke from inside escape; houses of this type are also called ggachi-gumeong-jip (magpie-hole houses), and many examples are also found in the northern part of North Gyeongsang Province. There is also a kokeul, a fire pit in the corner of the anbang or sarangbang used for both heating and lighting; a dudungbul, a lighting fixture set into the wall between the bongdang and the kitchen; and a hwati, a facility in one corner of the kitchen for keeping embers alive. Together with the neowa houses found in Samcheok, it is regarded as valuable material for research into the types and development of mountain dwellings in Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. Note: This heritage site is generally open to visitors, but viewing may be restricted for personal reasons of the owner or others.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Samcheok, Gangwon

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산