Quiet Time Enjoyed in Hangae Village | Travel Course | K-Travel Mate

Seongju Sejong Daewangja Taesil is located on the summit of Taebong (胎峰) below Seonseoksan in Wolhang-myeon, Seongju-gun. It contains a cluster of 19 royal placenta chambers, including those for 18 legitimate and illegitimate sons of Sejong and Crown Prince Danjong. A taesil is a place where the placenta of royal princes or princesses was kept. Among the 19 chambers, 14 retain their original form, but those of five princes who opposed King Sejo's usurpation have had their stone artifacts destroyed except for the square lotus petal-engraved base stone. In the case of King Sejo’s taesil, a special stele called Gabongbi (加封碑) was erected in front of the taesil stele after his ascension. Created between 1438 and 1442 (the 20th to 24th year of King Sejong’s reign), Taebong originally held the tomb of Lee Janggyeong, the founder of the Seongju Lee clan, but the royal family relocated it to use the site for the taesil. In 1977, artifacts such as a buncheong inhwa-mun bowl and lid, a flat-bottom jar, and commemorative stones were discovered during restoration. Sejong Daewangja Taesil is the only site in Korea where a complete cluster of royal prince placenta chambers exists and is an important heritage showing the change in royal taesil construction from Goryeo to Joseon. (Source: National Heritage Agency)

Seongju Hangae Village is a typical clan village where the Seongsan Yi clan has lived for generations. Yi Woo, who served as Jinju Moksa during the reign of King Sejong of Joseon, first migrated here and established the village. Currently, descendants of Wolbong Lee Jeong-hyeon form a clan village and it is a hanok preservation village. To the north of the village, Yeongchwisan (331.7m) extends as left blue dragon and right white tiger, and Baekcheon flows to the southwest, making it the best geomantic site in Yeongnam. It is also known as the birthplace of many famed Confucian scholars, including Lee Jin-sang from the late Joseon period, as well as Eungwa Lee Won-jo. Hangae Village features unique walls offering a distinctive sight. The walls are divided into outer and inner walls. The outer walls are high on the mountain-facing and the side of the house blocks due to most village houses being on slopes, while the walls delineating front and back residential areas are lower. The inner walls are lower than the eaves of houses and visually block or connect the spaces on both sides. Overall, the main mud and stone walls harmonize with traditional hanoks, naturally guiding the village’s flow and blending beautifully into the village scenery.

Seongju Gyeongsan-ri Seongbak Forest is a forest created outside the west gate of Seongju Eupseong (town fortress), where 52 royal willow trees aged 300 to 500 years grow. According to records in the 『Gyeongsanji』 and 『Seongsanji』, it is said to have been made following feng shui principles to prevent the unexplained deaths of children outside the west gate during the mid-Joseon period. Beyond its simple name as a forest outside the fortress, it is a valuable space containing diverse history and life stories of Seongju. Composed solely of old royal willow trees forming a monospecific forest, it has academic value and is a traditional village forest created according to the village’s feng shui, history, culture, and faith, thus it is designated and protected as a natural monument for its high values in local identity, folklore, and historicity. It also serves as a traditional village protective forest (Bibolim), reflecting the ancestors’ traditional view of nature to preserve the village's scenery, which adds significant academic value. Currently, Seongbak Forest is used as a space for festivals and various events, as well as for residents’ walking and sports activities, serving as a multifunctional space. The royal willows turn light green in April to May, and in August, the forest is spectacularly decorated with the purple blooms of wild Liriope spicata.

This seowon was established by the disciples of Han-gang (寒岡) Jeong Gu (鄭逑), a civil official and scholar of the Joseon Seonjo period, to commemorate his scholarship and virtue and to provide Confucian education to the local people. The location of the seowon is where Han-gang founded Hoeyeon Chodang (檜淵草堂) in the 16th year of Seonjo (1583) and nurtured talented individuals. After Han-gang's death, his followers built a seowon on the site of Hoeyeon Chodang in the 5th year of Injo (1627) to enshrine Han-gang as the main deity and held memorial rites; it was officially recognized in the 16th year of Sukjong (1690). Initially, the site included lecture halls, shrines, and buildings such as Jigyeongjae (持敬齋), Myeonguijae (明義齋), and Yanghyeoncheong (養賢廳), but these were dismantled during the seowon abolition in the 5th year of Gojong (1868). The shrine was restored in 1975, with new east and west dormitories built in 1976 and walls repaired, recovering the seowon's former grandeur.

Dokyongsanseong Fortress, located in Geumbong-ri, Gacheon-myeon, Seongju-gun, sits atop Dokyongsan Peak at 955m elevation, a branch of Sudosan, the main peak of the Sobaek Mountain Range. The fortress has a circumference of 7.7km (height 2.5m, width 1.5m) and contains abundant water sources and wide usable space, designed as a pogyuksik (encircling) mountain fortress for long-term battles. The exact construction date is unknown but is believed to date back 1,500 years to the Seongsan Gaya period. It was discovered during the Japanese invasions of Korea. In 1675 (the first year of King Sukjong of Joseon), Governor Jeong Junghwi renovated the fortress, which then had seven guard posts facing east, west, south, and north; an arched east gate; a water gate; and a south small gate. There were also eastern and western military grain storage facilities that held provisions for Seongju, Hapcheon, and Geochang. During the Japanese occupation, weapons and artifacts such as iron axes, spears, arrows, tridents, saddles, and armor were excavated from the military armory. Starting in 1997, Seongju-gun planned the restoration of the fortress walls, repairing the damaged walls and restoring the arched east gate to its original form. Within the fortress lie scattered sites of government offices and residences. Historical records about Dokyongsanseong come from the 1677 Gyeongsanji compiled by Lee Won-jeong, which notes the deployment of troops from Hapcheon and Geochang and mentions three valleys, a guesthouse, and a military armory inside the fortress, indicating its scale at the time of Jeong Junghwi’s renovation.