Yi Jong-ok Shingled House (19th century onward) other sites in rural Gangwondo Daei-ri, Gangwondo, Korea

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Yi Jong-ok Shingled House (19th century onward) other sites in rural Gangwondo

Daei-ri, Gangwondo, Korea

                                                                                    
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The Yi Jong-ok house is one of only a handful of neowajib (shingle-roof houses) that survive in Korea. This type of housing is unique to the province and represents an adaptation to the harsh, mountainous climate, where heavy snowfall and torrential rains are not uncommon. The terrain in the local area is unsuited to rice cultivation, which traditionally forced local residents to resort to low-yield slash-and-burn farming. The houses built by these hardy families are generally square in plan with a large common area in the center, a type of indoor courtyard sheltered from the environment. The roofs of neowajib are built of planks of pine that expand and contract depending on the precipitation. In dry weather, the planks shrink to the point that light enters through holes in the roof. When wet, the planks expand to cover the holes and keep out the rain.

Many houses in northern Gangwondo are built with a barn or storage shed attached to the south side of the house. The same is true of neowajib, except that the idea is taken further with the barn actually open to the interior of the house, making it easier to feed and care for the animals without leaving the house.

This particular house was originally constructed by a very poor family, but it is interesting to note that it still manages to preserve a distinction in living space by gender, in keeping with the Neo-Confucian ideology of the Joseon era.

Below: Plan of the house (modified drawing adapted from Hangukui Geonchuk Munhwajae 3: Gangwonpyeon by Park, Kyung-rip.

Bibliography:

All images copyright 2004 Tim Ciccone (photographed late March 2004)

Cheol, Ju-nam. Hangukui Minga
Seoul: Yonsei University, 1999

Park, Kyung-Rip. Hangukui Geonchuk Munhwajae 3: Gangwonpyeon. (Architectural Heritage of Korea, v. 3 Gangwon Region).
Seoul: Kimoondang Publishing, 1998.

Cultural Properties Administration