GK:2.2.2 Form and structure of rural villages
Geography of Korea: II. Population and Living Space > 2. Villages and Rural Communities > 2) Form and structure of rural villages
목차
2) Form and structure of rural villages
The rural village constitutes one type of human planning project done in response to the natural environment. Accordingly, the village’s spatial form and structure signifies and represents the particular characteristics of its inhabitants. The form and structure of a village will vary according to the natural environment of its location, historical background, socioeconomic factors, and the values and lifestyle of the villagers themselves.
(1) Village forms
Villages are classified by form according to the density of their houses into clustered rural settlements and dispersed rural settlements, while clustered rural settlements can be further subdivided according to their road network and geometric layout into compact villages, row villages, and street villages.
Korean rural villages are largely clustered rural settlements. The primary reason for the formation of clustered settlements has to do with topography. Most rural villages in Korea are found in valleys or foothills, where land for building homes is limited compared to the plains, and for this reason homes here tend naturally to be concentrated. What’s more, locations that are safe from flooding and which have easily accessible drinking water are also limited. The fact that according to the tenets of pung su (feng shui), which exercised such influence over the selection of village sites, the availability of so-called “auspicious locations” (in Korean, myeongdang) was limited, also contributed to the concentration of village dwellings.
Farming culture, which relied so heavily upon cooperative labor, along with the small-scale distribution of arable land and land ownership, were other major influences in the “clusterization” process of rural settlements. The time savings and labor efficiency that result from village homes being situated adjacent to, or even amidst, the village farmland, is self-evident, and thus having homes that were dispersed would be of little use. The Confucian culture that permeated village life as well as the large number of single-clan villages were other contributing factors to the formation of clustered settlements. Finally, with the passage of time and accumulated history, the formation of clustered settlements became more encouraged. Put another way, a village with a long history is more likely a clustered settlement, while a village with a short history is more likely a dispersed settlement.
By contrast, dispersed rural settlements in South Korea are quite limited to places like the Taebaeksan Mountains in Gangwon-do province, the Taean Peninsula in Chungcheongnam-do province, and to orchard communities on Jeju Island. Dispersed rural settlements not only have shorter histories than clustered settlements, but are also generally more engaged in dry-field farming. Rather than geometrically shaped, most clustered rural villages are irregular in shape. Homes in the typical compact village are packed closely together separated by walls or fences with narrow and winding alleyways running between them. Though houses are small, their courtyards are relatively expansive. The reason for the formation of such clustered villages is that over the passage of time homes were built to fit with the appearance of the land. This type of clustered village developed in harmony with its surroundings and with nature.
Row villages consist of homes built in rows in such places as foothills or along the coast and which follow such things as natural features, roads, or waterways. Among these, those rural settlements that have a particularly close relationship with the road and which are formed parallel to it are terms street villages. Korea does not have many rural settlements of the row village type. Row villages can be seen among some of the planned communities found on reclaimed or coastal villages.
Street villages, which form along roadways and which are engaged primarily in commercial activities, are not exceptionally developed in Korea relative to other countries. This can be attributed to the fact that in traditional Korean society commerce was downplayed, the management of the country’s roadways was neglected, and also much of the populace also lived off from the main roads. And because in traditional society many viewed roads as avenues of infectious diseases, malevolent spirits, and immoral ideas that undermined public morals. As a result, the formation of street villages did not really begin in Korea until the eighteenth century with the rapid development of national commerce.
(2) Village structures
It is difficult to generalize about the structure of rural settlements as they can differ from community to community. That said, if one looks at those shared elements of Korean traditional villages, one often finds that to enter a village from the outside world one first had to cross a stream or pass over a hill. Though often such an approach was the natural and inevitable result of the principle of “mountain in the rear, water in the front” that played such a decisive role in the choice of village location, it was also not uncommon for villages to intentionally plan the approach to their village to pass over such natural thresholds. In this way the village’s approach, by compelling the traveler to pass by and stop for a moment at sites sacred to the village, would act as a sort of rite of passage.
The village entrance had spatial elements that carried symbolic meaning, elements that harmonized aspects of indigenous folk beliefs, pung su (geomancy) thought, and Confucianism, all of which profoundly influenced Korean traditional modes of thought and ways of life. In terms of pung su, there was the selection of the auspicious spot—one that best channeled and captured positive gi energy—for the village’s location; from the aspect of indigenous beliefs, one could find such features as dolmuji (stone mounds just outside the village that played the role of blocking calamity from entering), sotdae (a sort of sacred pole for communicating with the heavens), jangseung (village guardian totems), and either solitary nogeusu (literally, an “old and enormous tree” that was considered sacred) or groves of sacred trees; and from the aspect of Confucianism one could find such things as stele to honor filial behavior or chaste and loyal women, erected to both educate and inspire the village residents in Confucian ideals of filial piety and loyalty or to display village exemplars of such behavior to any outside visitors. Among these elements, the dolmuji, village guardian shrine, and sacred tree, as symbols of the village’s hopes for peace and prosperity, were also sites were the villagers would gather every year to offer up prayers and make sacrificial offerings. Though such symbolic village features could vary somewhat in their configurations from village to village, most villages had at least one, and more often two or more, of such elements. Among these, perhaps the most common feature to be seen at the entrance to a traditional Korean village was the sacred tree or grove. These not only held symbolic meaning but were places for the villages to gather for relaxation, holding council, or recreation.
Moving to the village interior, what is immediately noticeable is that the village’s center or highest point is occupied by its largest home. This is because the village’s wealthiest and socially high-ranking residents occupy the most geographically advantageous—or from a geomancy perspective most auspicious—locations. In what is termed a clan village (where most residents are extended branches of the same clan), this location is usually occupied by what is called the jongga 宗家 (literally, “lineage house”)—the home belonging to the head-family of the clan in question. On the hand, the homes of residents of lesser socioeconomic status are located on the village periphery and on relatively lower ground. Thus in traditional times it was possible to distinguish the two groups by reading the landscape.
The village also contains communal space, of which the most representative is perhaps the village well. As the source of the village’s household water, the well was of critical importance going back to the village’s foundation, and it is not uncommon for villages to have formed around their well. Not surprisingly, there are numerous examples of the well being situated at the heart of the village. The well was also a site for the village women to socially interact and exchange important news.
A clan village will have structures made notable by their appearance, such as the village shrines, pavilions, and the village schoolhouse. Village shrines were sites for memorializing and performing rites for ancestors’ notable displays of loyalty, filial piety, or scholarship, and as such were typically located in the village interior. Pavilions, as sites of recreation and study, were usually situated in scenic and tranquil spots along streams or woods a little distant from the village. The village schoolhouse, or seodang, was established with the aim of educating the children of clan. Though this structure had a clear and important practical function, it also served to display the prestige of the village and the authority of the village’s leading families to outsiders.
A traditional Korea village is typically situated on the side of a hill or mountain. One will often notice that the mountain or hill behind the village is scattered with grave mounds shaped to resemble a Korean mountain.
The landscape of the traditional Korean village began to change with the urbanization and industrialization of the 1960s. In particular, the “New Village Movement” (Saemaeul undong) of the 1970s saw the reconfiguration of the village’s traditional landscape. Approaches to villages along with village streets were expanded and straightened and the village entrance underwent major changes, with much of its traditional symbolic features lost and new features like village meeting halls, communal warehouses, and elderly community centers taking their place. Clan villages in particular suffered severe population drains due to the phenomenon of urbanization, even as changes in social values resulted in the severe weakening of clan ties. Many village structures like shrines, the village jongga, and pavilions, were left devastated, falling into neglect and losing their roles as symbols of clan prestige and authority.
