Sincheon Seowon

About this place

Sincheon Seowon was established in 1945 to carry on the teachings of Maengam Kim Yeong-ryeol (?–1404), a meritorious subject of the early Joseon period, and to educate his descendants. In the 2nd year of King Jeongjong (1400), Kim Yeong-ryeol helped quell the Second Strife of Princes and place King Taejong on the throne, for which he was raised to third-class Jwamyeong Merit Subject in the 1st year of King Taejong (1401). In the 4th year of King Taejong (1404), while serving as Champan Seungchubusa, he achieved the merit of fighting and capturing one Japanese ship and taking Japanese soldiers prisoner. He was later posthumously appointed Right State Councillor. Sincheon Seowon sits facing south in a pine grove overlooking the Wangsin plain. At the entrance stands a sindobi (spirit-path stele). Passing through the four-pillar gate, the sacrificial-kitchen building, the Sajugak, stands to the right, and directly ahead is the lecture hall, an educational space. Behind the lecture hall, passing through the inner three-gate called Namdeongmun, is the shrine where ancestral rites are held, the Gyeonghunsa. Enshrined in Gyeonghunsa are the danseo (royal document in vermilion) written by King Taejong and the portrait of Master Kim Yeong-ryeol.