Gijang Fortress

Gijang Fortress is located at an elevation of about 350 m on Suryeongsan Mountain, spanning Seobu-ri and Daera-ri in Gijang-eup and Anpyeong-ri in Cheolma-myeon, Gijang-gun. The wall was built along the mountain ridge in an irregular plan, forming a pogok-sik mountain fortress, a type that encloses a valley; it is highest in the north and runs westward past the south gate site, which lies at the lowest point in the terrain, before continuing eastward and rejoining the line below the northern summit. The upper part of the wall has mostly collapsed, with wall stones scattered down the slope, and openings presumed to be gate sites have been identified to the northwest, southwest and southeast. Relatively well-ordered stonework survives intermittently at the base of the outer wall, while a roughly coursed wall can be seen on top of the collapsed lower section, so that the wall as a whole forms two tiers. Outside the wall, running from the west wall to the east wall, is a moat; on the relatively flat terrace at the summit of the fortress is a circular water-collection reservoir, and roof-tile and pottery fragments have been recovered at various points on the flat ground below to the east and on the flat areas to the west and north. The original wall was built without gaps, laid flat using rectangular split stones roughly 55 cm by 23 cm, and above it a later repaired wall has been identified, built with stone similar to the original, its surface aligned and small stones wedged in between. The original wall was built at a near-vertical slope, but most of it has collapsed and now survives to a height of around 1 m. The original wall was about 5 m wide, and taking the height of the inner face into account, the wall is presumed to have originally been at least 4.5 m high. The extended wall is found 3 m inside the collapsed outer face of the original wall; it was roughly coursed using stones generally measuring 30-50 cm by 20-30 cm by 30-40 cm, and appears to have been built hastily. This wall was built at a slope of about 65-70 degrees; its width is 1.5 m at the western section, widening to 2.5 m towards the east, and it survives to a height of about 1-3 m. On the extended wall to the southwest and southeast, rows of stone set perpendicular to the line of the wall appear at intervals of 2-4 m, suggesting that on sloping ground the wall was built in a stepped fashion to stabilise the stonework. Three gates have been identified, at the northwest, southwest and the southeastern valley, and all are presumed to have been of the open type. Judging from the location of the Cheonggang-ri tomb cluster below the fortress to the southeast, the open-type gate structure known to be of a relatively early style, and artefacts recovered inside the fortress such as Three Kingdoms-period pottery fragments and hemispherical bottle-shaped pottery fragments, it is highly likely that Gijang Fortress was first built before the Goryeo period. It appears to have undergone repairs several times after its initial construction, and the roughly coursed extended wall seen on top of the original wall, along with the site of an inner barbican gate, seem to have been installed during or after the Japanese invasions of Korea of 1592-1598. Gijang Fortress is the earliest mountain fortress surveyed in Gijang-gun, with its walls well preserved, and together with Baesanseongji, an ancient mountain fortress in the Busan area designated a Busan Metropolitan City monument, it is an important site for clarifying the history of Gaphwaryanggok-hyeon, a subordinate county of Dongnae-gun since the Three Kingdoms period.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gijang, Busan

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물