▲ This photo provided by the Korea Heritage Service (KHS) shows the "Daljeon Jaesa of the Yeogang Yi Clan in Pohang" in Yeonil-eup, Nam-gu, Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, as a national folk cultural heritage. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE)(Yonhap)

 

SEOUL, Aug. 26 (Yonhap) -- A shrine residence in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, has been designated a national folk cultural heritage, as it was used to manage the graves of Joseon-era Neo-Confucian scholar Hoejae Yi Eon-jeok and his family and conduct ancestral rites.

 

A shrine residence, or jaesa, is a building constructed near a graveyard for conducting Confucian ancestral rites.

 

The Korea Heritage Service said Wednesday it had designated "Daljeon Jaesa of the Yeogang Yi Clan in Pohang" in Yeonil-eup, Nam-gu, Pohang, as a national folk cultural heritage.

 

Daljeon Jaesa originated as a small hermitage where Buddhist monks lived while guarding the graves. In 1754, Okseongru Pavilion, two side rooms used for preparing ancestral rites and accommodating clan members, and a storage building for grains and other items used in rituals were added, giving the site its present-day form as a jaesa.

 

The Korea Heritage Service said the site is an architectural heritage that shows the transformation of a Buddhist-style hermitage established to manage a graveyard into a Confucian shrine residence that served as a center for ancestral rites as well as scholarly and cultural activities within the clan.

 

Records including "Daljeonamgi" and "Inscription on the Ridge Beam of Daljeon Jaesa" also provide information on the site's construction, expansion, management and operation.

 

Architecturally, the site represents a typical late Joseon-era jaesa complex, in which the graves of Yi Eon-jeok's family, memorial stele, shrine residence and grave maintenance land are organically integrated.

 

It features a "teun-M-shaped" layout characteristic of jaesa architecture in northern Gyeongsang Province, while retaining elements of the original hermitage, including a structure called inbeopdang that served as monks' quarters and housed a Buddhist statue, as well as ikgong-style bracket sets and a plank-board ceiling.

 

The Korea Heritage Service plans to work with the local government and the owner to systematically preserve and manage Daljeon Jaesa and utilize it as a historical and cultural tourism resource.

[ⓒ K-VIBE. 무단전재-재배포 금지]