Jindo Island Chiljeollihakgyecheolbi and Noamjae Hall

Carved in 1714, this iron stele records the operation of a hakgye, a scholarly association formed in 1684, the tenth year of King Sukjong, to fund and run a seodang (village school). The front face bears the names of eleven members of the association together with an inscription encouraging scholarly effort. The association appears to have begun principally with the six sons of Park Yun-sun, who were later joined by five more distant relatives. The reverse records the property, chiefly land, that the association purchased, showing that over the thirty years from its founding to 1714 it had amassed twenty-five plots totalling 1.7 gyeol (a traditional unit of land area). It was common for dong-gye (village mutual-aid associations) to run a seodang or to carry out educational activities such as maintaining a yangsajae as a secondary function, but it was unusual, as at Chiljeon-ri, for a rural community to found a dedicated educational institution — Noamjae, a seodang — establish a hakgye, raise funds, create hakjeon (endowment land to support education), and then erect an iron stele to secure its continuation in perpetuity. This iron stele stands as a monument to the enthusiasm for education among the people of a remote island region some three hundred years ago, and it provides valuable material for the study of rural social history in the late Joseon period and of the history of education and social change in remote areas.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jindo, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물