Sabin Seowon

About this place

Sabin Seowon is a seowon established to honor Cheonggye Kim Jin, a scholar of the Joseon period, and his five sons, and to educate later generations. Kim Jin (1500-1580) was a scholar of the mid-Joseon period who showed outstanding talent from a young age, and he broadened his knowledge by seeking out renowned Confucian scholars to learn from them. After passing the saengwon examination in 1525 (the 20th year of King Jungjong), he devoted his whole life to scholarship and to nurturing younger students. After his death, the state conferred on him the title of Minister of Personnel (Ijo Panseo). Kim Jin's five sons - Kim Geuk-il, Kim Su-il, Kim Myeong-il, Kim Seong-il and Kim Bok-il - all passed the state examination, and as the descendants prospered generation after generation, the Uiseong Kim clan became a leading distinguished family of the Andong region. Sabin Seowon began in 1685 (the 11th year of King Sukjong) as Gyeongdeoksa, a shrine enshrining the tablets of Kim Jin and his five sons, and was elevated to a seowon in 1709 (the 35th year of King Sukjong). It was torn down under the seowon abolition order of 1868 (the 5th year of King Gojong), and in 1882 (the 19th year of King Gojong) only the lecture hall that could be used as a gathering space and the kitchen building (jusa) for preparing rites were rebuilt in Saui-ri, Imha-myeon. Later, as the Imha Dam was constructed, it was moved to Imha-ri in 1987, and in 2005, under a reconstruction project plan, it was relocated to its present site, where several buildings were restored. Inside Sabin Seowon, besides the lecture hall Heunggyodang and the jusa, there are the shrine Gyeongdeoksa, the east and west dormitories, a gate pavilion, the ritual storehouse (jeonsacheong) and other buildings. The lecture hall and the jusa are traditional tiled-roof houses that follow the architectural style of the Andong-region literati and are well preserved in their form. At the seowon, rites are held each year in March and September.