Geumsan Hyanggyo Confucian School

Up a flight of stone steps on a hill in Sang-ri, Geumsan-eup, Geumsan Hyanggyo is a school that rose again after the Imjin War. The original school stood in another village and was burned during the war, then rebuilt on this site in 1684. Its shrine and lecture hall survive in good shape, and old documents listing the district's scholars and their rules have been preserved, making it an important source for Geumsan's local history.

History

Geumsan Hyanggyo seems to have been founded in early Joseon at Baekhak-dong in today's Haok-ri, Geumsan-eup; the exact year is unknown. After it burned during the Imjin War (the Japanese invasions of 1592–98) it was patched up and then moved to its present site in 1684, with several repairs since. The lecture hall and annexes were restored in 1967, and on 23 December 1997 about 3,835 m² of the school grounds were designated a South Chungcheong Provincial Monument. The shrine hall had already been listed separately as provincial heritage material in 1984.

What to see

• Red gate and stone stairs: pass the red hongsalmun gate and climb broad stone steps to the outer gate, painted with taegeuk symbols. Because the school sits on a hill, the view of the front from the bottom of the steps is especially striking.
• Myeongnyundang: the lecture hall, five bays wide and two deep, under a hipped-and-gabled roof. The school's signboard reads "錦山鄕校" (Geumsan Hyanggyo).
• East and west dormitories: three bays wide and one deep, with hipped roofs sloping on all four sides.
• Daeseongjeon: the shrine hall, three bays by three. It honours Confucius and other Chinese sages, while the side shrines hold the tablets of 18 Korean scholars and two Song-dynasty Chinese scholars. The order in which they are enshrined has changed over time.
• Other buildings: the inner gate, a teachers' room, a store for ritual vessels and a storeroom.

The layout follows the "school in front, shrine behind" pattern.

Old documents kept at the school

The school holds 45 titles in 171 volumes of woodblock-printed books and 13 titles in 17 volumes of manuscripts. Among them, the Hyangan and Cheonggeumnok registers of local scholars and the Gyeyak Jangjeong and Wanui rulebooks offer a window into Geumsan society in the Joseon period.

Tripto tips

• Visiting: how much is open depends on the school. Contact the hyanggyo ahead if you want to see the shrine area.
• Rites: the seokjeon ceremony is held in spring and autumn, and incense is offered on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month.
• Getting there: it is in central Geumsan-eup, about 600 m in a straight line from Geumsan Bus Terminal.
• Time needed: 20–30 minutes is enough.
• Nearby: don't miss Chilbaek Uichong (the Tomb of the 700 Patriots), a historic site about 2 km away. In 1592 the militia leader Jo Heon, who had raised volunteers in Okcheon and retaken Cheongju, fell in the Battle of Geumsan together with his remaining 700 men, and his students gathered their bodies into a single grave. The memorial stele erected in 1603 was blown up during the Japanese colonial period, but locals hid the fragments and it has since been pieced back together. It is the same war that burned the school.