Oegosan Onggi Village

In Oegosan Onggi Village, in Onyang-eup on the southern edge of Ulsan, glossy brown jars stand in rows of dozens and hundreds along the lanes and in every workshop yard. Built by potters who gathered here from all over Korea after the Korean War, it is the largest onggi village in the country. Workshops still shape and fire onggi today, and the village's Ulsan Onggi Museum displays a jar certified by Guinness World Records as the world's largest onggi.

History: a village founded by one potter

Until the 1950s this was a poor hamlet of about 30 households. During the Korean War, refugees poured into nearby Busan and demand for onggi soared. Heo Deok-man, a potter who ran a workshop in Yeongdeok, North Gyeongsang, looked for land close to Busan, built a kiln here and began firing onggi in 1957. He is known as the creator of the Korean chambered climbing kiln (noborigama).

In those lean years, apprentices and potters from across the country flocked to him and the village grew fast. Onggi went by rail from Namchang Station to Seoul and was exported as far as the United States. The 1960s and 70s were the golden age, and by the 1970s the village had more than 200 households and was split off from Gosan-ri as "Oegosan".

Plastic containers brought hard times, but exports to Japan from 1980 revived the trade. After Heo Deok-man died, his apprentices opened their own workshops one by one, creating the village you see today. An onggi hall opened in 2000, and the Ulsan Onggi Festival has been held every year since.

What to see

• Ulsan Onggi Museum: opened in November 2009 as an onggi culture hall and became a registered specialist museum under its present name in 2013. The permanent gallery shows about 300 pieces, and the museum's emblem is a giant jar certified by Guinness in 2011 as the world's largest onggi.
• Workshop lanes: browse and buy everything from huge storage jars to everyday tableware in the workshops and shops around the village. Yards full of jars are the village's signature sight.
• Onggi Academy: hands-on sessions such as "Make your own onggi" let you shape clay yourself. In 2026 they run from March to October with online booking.
• Fermentation Academy and Ulju Folk Museum: also in the village, offering fermentation classes such as making jang (soy and chilli pastes), the foods onggi was made to hold, and displays on Ulju's folk traditions.

The breathing pot

Onggi is earthenware coated with a natural ash glaze and fired. Tiny pores in the clay let air pass through, which is why it is called "the breathing pot". That made it ideal for fermenting soybean paste, soy sauce and kimchi, and it recalls the days when every Korean home had a terrace of jars in the yard.

Tripto tips

• Opening hours: Ulsan Onggi Museum 09:00–18:00, admission free. Closed Mondays, 1 January and on the days of Seollal and Chuseok.
• Time needed: 1–2 hours for the museum and a walk round the village; about 2.5 hours with a pottery session.
• Getting there: Namchang Station on the Donghae Line metro is about 1.8 km from the village in a straight line. Buses 415, 715, 735 and 1715 towards Namchang Station also pass the village. By car, the nearest exit is Onyang IC on the Busan–Ulsan Expressway.
• Parking: available in the village.
• Souvenirs: for heavy jars, ask the workshop about delivery; small side-dish pots and cups are easy to carry.
• Information: Ulsan Onggi Museum +82-52-237-7894.