Jipyeong Hyanggyo Confucian School

On a slope behind Jipyeong-myeon, a village in eastern Yangpyeong known for its rice wine and country market, stands Jipyeong Hyanggyo. It was the state school of the old Jipyeong county in the Joseon period and a shrine where rites were offered to Confucius and other sages. Past a red gate and a three-door entrance, steps lead up to the lecture hall and the shrine on stacked terraces. It is just over ten minutes on foot from Jipyeong Station, so it is easy to reach by train.

History: 1773, or before 1684?

A hyanggyo was a state-run school set up in the provinces during the Joseon dynasty. The government granted it land, servants and books, and Jipyeong Hyanggyo had one teacher and places for 30 students. When the Gabo Reforms introduced a new school system, its teaching role ended; today it keeps up its ritual role with the Seokjeon rites in spring and autumn and incense offerings on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month.

Sources disagree on when it was built. The national heritage record gives 1773, the 49th year of King Yeongjo. However, a ridge-beam inscription found during repairs to the lecture hall has been read as showing that the school was founded in the early Joseon period and moved to its current site around 1684. No other detailed records survive.

Yangpyeong has two hyanggyo for a reason. Today's Yangpyeong county was formed in 1908 by merging Yanggeun and Jipyeong counties, so the old Yanggeun Hyanggyo and Jipyeong Hyanggyo both remain. Jipyeong Hyanggyo was listed as Gyeonggi-do Cultural Heritage Material on 19 September 1983.

What to see

• Layout: the complex follows the jeonhak humyo plan, with the study area at the front and the shrine behind and above it. First comes the red hongsalmun gate, then the outer three-door gate, its central roof raised higher than the sides.
• Myeongnyundang: the lecture hall where students gathered, five bays wide and two deep. The three central bays have a wooden grid floor laid in the pattern of the character 井, the end bays are heated ondol rooms, and the hip-and-gable roof forms an 八 shape from the side. The east and west dormitories flank the courtyard in front.
• Daeseongjeon: the shrine, three bays wide and two deep, sits highest of all behind the inner gate. It holds the spirit tablets of Confucius, other Chinese sages and 18 Korean scholars.
• Terraces and steps: thanks to the stepped stone terraces and steep stairs, the lecture hall looks out over the Jipyeong fields and the ridges beyond.

Tripto tips

• Visiting: admission is free and there is parking. If you hope to see inside the lecture hall and shrine, check with the hyanggyo in advance (+82-31-774-1530).
• Time needed: 20–30 minutes is enough.
• Getting there: about 700 m from Jipyeong Station on the Gyeongui–Jungang Line, a walk of just over 10 minutes. The address is 333 Jipyeong-ro, Jipyeong-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun.
• Combine with: about 250 m away is the Jipyeong-ri Battle Monument, recalling a Korean War battle fought here, and Jipyeong Market is a short walk of roughly 700 m.
• Best time: the Seokjeon rites are held each year in the second and eighth lunar months. To see a ceremony, check the date with the hyanggyo; for a quiet look at the architecture, pick another day.