Sajikdan Altar, Changnyeong

Sajikdan was an altar where rites were performed to Sa, the god of the soil, and Jik, the god of grain. The earliest record relating to the Sajikdan altar of Changnyeong-hyeon in the Joseon period appears in the Sinjeung Dongguk yeoji seungnam (New Augmented Survey of the Geography of Korea), published in 1530, and it continues to appear thereafter in such documents as the Yeojido seo (1757-1765), the Gyeongsangdo eupji (1832), the Joseon hugi jibang jido (Later Joseon Local Maps, 1872), and the Gyonamji (compiled during the Japanese colonial period). All these records state that the altar lay one li (an old unit of distance) west of the county seat, and the actual location and orientation of the surviving altar match these records. The Changnyeong Sajikdan altar is presumed to have been built before at least the 16th century, and records also survive of its repair by the county magistrate Yi Jeon-su. A surface survey in 2006 (by the Gyeongnam University Museum) and an excavation in 2011 (by the Samgang Institute of Cultural Properties) identified the altar itself, the foundations of its enclosing wall, steps, an auxiliary building site, terraces and stone revetments. The summit of a small hill 102 m above sea level was cut and levelled to form a flat platform, with the altar built at its centre. A distinctive feature is that the altar was not formed by piling earth onto the platform, but was created by cutting the higher central part of the hill into a square shape in the course of levelling it; where the squared outline was disturbed during cutting, earth was added or broken stones were used to make up the difference. No steps leading up to the altar itself have been identified. A wall was built around the edge of the levelled platform; its foundations were confirmed on the east, west and south sides, but no wall was found on the north side. Steps were set outside the wall at the three entrances on the east, west and south sides, each differing in width and length according to the terrain. A single-bay building site was identified to the south-west of the altar, presumed to be where the spirit tablet was kept when rites were not being performed. The slope of the hill below the platform was cut into terraces that are close to vertical, reinforced in places with stone; these extend over the whole slope down to the foot of the hill, and at present some six or seven or more terraces can be made out with the naked eye. The Changnyeong Sajikdan altar does not, in its essentials, depart greatly from the ritual conventions for sajikdan altars of the Joseon period, but it has been adapted to suit the local terrain. The facts that the altar was formed by cutting the hill rather than building it up, that there is no stone wall on the north side, and that terraces were cut across the whole hillside are features unique to Changnyeong, not seen elsewhere in the country. The Changnyeong Sajikdan altar retains its original form well and shows pronounced regional characteristics of a local Joseon-period sajikdan altar, making it important material for the study of such altars.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Changnyeong, Gyeongnam

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물