Dongnakseowon

About this place

Dongnakseowon is a Confucian academy that enshrines the spirit tablet of Yeoheon Jang Hyeon-gwang, a scholar of the reign of King Injo of Joseon, to honor his learning and virtuous conduct; it stands on a hill by the Nakdong River. Jang Hyeon-gwang was a civil official who served as Uchamchan of the State Council (Uijeongbu) under King Injo. He devoted himself to scholarship and to fostering younger scholars, and there is a record that during the Byeongja War of 1636 he raised a righteous army and gathered military provisions to send to the front. The name Dongnak means 'the Irak of the East': just as Irak was a symbol of Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucianism, the name conveys the wish that Dongnakseowon become the fountainhead and symbol of Joseon Neo-Confucianism. When the master passed away, in 1655 his disciples built a shrine at Bujiam-jeongsa, where he had taught, thereby establishing the form of a seowon; they enshrined his tablet and renamed it Bujiam Seowon. In 1676 it received a royal name-plaque from the state and became a chartered academy. Demolished in 1871 under the Regent Heungseon Daewongun's edict abolishing the seowon, it had its shrine restored in 1932, and in 1971 all of its buildings were rebuilt to their present appearance. The buildings within the precinct include the shrine Gyeongdeokmyo, the lecture hall Jungjeongdang, the eastern dormitory Yunhoejae, the western dormitory Geunjipjae, and the outer three-bay gate Jundomun. Of these, the Jungjeongdang has a wooden-floored hall in the center flanked by rooms on either side, and the floored hall is said to have been used as a gathering place. Directly in front of Jundomun stands a ginkgo tree more than 400 years old; it is said to have been planted by Jang Hyeon-gwang himself and has been designated a protected tree.