Hasan Beacon Station

Bongsu, or beacon stations, were a military communication system used in an age when communication technology was not yet developed. They were set up on mountain peaks with a clear view, to alert the central government to the safety of the borders and coasts, using fire by night and smoke by day. The beacon system was established in 1149, the third year of King Uijong of Goryeo, when the number of fires for beacon stations of grades one to four was fixed by regulation, and measures were put in place for the livelihood of the beacon-station troops. The system was reorganised under King Sejong of Joseon: regulations for the five-fire signalling system were established, beacon towers were built along the coasts of every province, and beacon routes were fixed, giving the system a new form. At each station an ojang, or squad leader, and beacon-station soldiers worked in rotating shifts. In normal times one fire was lit; two when an enemy appeared; three when the enemy approached the border; four when the enemy crossed the border; and five when engaged in battle with the enemy. In 1894, the thirty-first year of Emperor Gojong, the spread of the telegraph led to the decision to abolish the system, and the following year all beacon stations and their troops nationwide were abolished, ending the beacon system entirely. Beacon stations were classified by function into gyeongbongsu, the capital beacon station; naejibongsu, inland beacon stations; and yeonbyeonbongsu, coastal and border beacon stations. The gyeongbongsu was the central station at which all beacon signals in the country converged; it stood on Mongmyeoksan Mountain in Seoul and was known as the Mongmyeoksan or Namsan beacon station. Yeonbyeonbongsu were set up on the front line of the sea and land borders and were called yeondae, or beacon towers; naejibongsu were the intermediate stations linking the yeonbyeonbongsu to the gyeongbongsu, and were the most numerous of the three. Hasan Beacon Station is a yeonbyeonbongsu on the summit, 132m above sea level, of a hill in Gangyang-ri, Onsan-eup. It received signals from Igil Beacon Station in Seosaeng-myeon and relayed them to Gari Beacon Station in Namhwa-dong, Nam-gu. The distance to the corresponding stations was 4.2km south to Igil Beacon Station and 9.1km north to Gari Beacon Station. Hasan Beacon Station is enclosed by mountains to the west and by the sea to the east, south and north, giving it an excellent view, and to the south lie Seosaengpo Waeseong, a Japanese-style fortress, and Seosaengpo Manhojinseong, the walled garrison of a manho, a local naval commander. The yeondae, the station's central facility, is nearly circular, with a base circumference of about 44m and a surviving height of about 2m; it is presumed that the beacon station's auxiliary building, the bongdaesa, once stood on the flat ground nearby.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Ulju, Ulsan

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물