Samgang Gangdang

About this place

Samgang Gangdang is a building erected by Cheongpungja Jeong Yun-mok (1571–1629), a scholar of the reign of King Gwanghaegun of Joseon, to cultivate the next generation. Jeong Yun-mok was the third son of Jeong Tak, Prince Seowon, and a scholar renowned for his cursive-script calligraphy. Having received the teachings of Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong and Hangang Jeong Gu, he was well versed in Neo-Confucianism, and he was especially esteemed as a master of cursive script for his outstanding brushwork. The building of Samgang Gangdang lies on the east side of Samgang Village, facing the banks of the Nakdonggang. To the right of the lecture hall is a study hall. The area behind was the site of a shrine, which has now been demolished and no longer exists. The lecture hall is a hip-and-gable-roofed building four bays wide and two bays deep. The central two bays form a wooden-floored hall laid with a plank floor, with one ondol room on each of the left and right. The signboard inscription "Baekse Cheongpung" (Pure Wind of a Hundred Generations) hanging in the lecture hall was copied by Jeong Yun-mok from calligraphy at the tomb of Bo Yi and Shu Qi, which he modeled after visiting the tomb when he accompanied his father to Ming China in the 22nd year of King Seonjo (1589). The study hall is a gable-roofed building four bays wide and one and a half bays deep, with a kitchen on the right and a wooden floor and ondol rooms in the remaining three bays. Although the building is small in scale overall, its roof framing and window frames reveal the quaint architectural structural style of the mid-Joseon period.