Historic House of Jugam Hermitage, Jangheung

This is the head house of the Jangheung Wi clan, set deep within Naedong village in Bangchon, Gwansan-eup, Jangheung County. Bangchon is a well-known single-clan village of the Jangheung Wi, who began to establish their lineage base there in the early 17th century, after the Imjin War. The present Wi Seong-ryeol House traces its origins to the site chosen by Wi Jeong-cheol (1583–1657), eldest son of Wi Deok-hwa (1551–1598), when he moved to Bangchon. The site is said to have been where the county office of Jangheung-bu stood in the Goryeo period. The house faces west, with its main quarters (anchae) and men's quarters (sarangchae) arranged accordingly; it now comprises a shrine, the anchae, the sarangchae and a shed building. Of these, the shrine is thought to have been built during the Cheongye era of Ming China (1621–1627), and is notable for its scale, style and age. According to an old document of 1657 recording Wi Jeong-cheol's division of his property, the house that passed to his eldest son, Wi Dong-jeon (1602–1667), then comprised a three-bay shrine, a twenty-bay tiled house and a five-bay daecheong hall. The house therefore dates to the early 17th century; its layout was later altered, and only the shrine survives in its original form. The shrine measures three bays across the front and one and a half bays deep; the roof is a gable roof whose roofline, seen from the side, resembles the shape of the Chinese character 人 (person), and the half-bay at the side is left open as an eave bay. Its structure rests square columns on roughly dressed stone plinths in a three-purlin frame, with the rear and side walls finished in board over an earthen wall. The shrine still houses a wooden funeral bier, a palanquin-shaped structure 3 m long, 60 cm high and 65 cm wide, used for funerals. Bangchon is one of South Jeolla Province's foremost single-clan villages of the Jangheung Wi, already well known for its history, folklore and architecture, and the Wi Seong-ryeol House, as head house of the clan, is valued as a record that reveals the historical and social character of the clan through the construction and layout of its buildings.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jangheung, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산