Kim Beom-u's House

This is a house in the neighborhood where novelist Jo Jeong-rae lived as a child, originally owned by the Kim family, who were large landowners. It is a place of memory where the author, then an elementary school student, often played with the youngest son of this house in the annex attached next to the main gate of the inner quarters. In the novel "Taebaek Mountains," it is depicted as the home of Kim Sa-yong, a dignified and conscientious large landowner. Kim Sa-yong is the father of Kim Beom-u. The scale of the house, including the sarangchae (men's quarters), double inner quarters, storage area, jangdokdae (jar terrace), and stone walls, allows a good understanding of the lifestyle of a large landowner. In particular, the pigsty at the right front corner of one wing prompts much thought. It shows that even a large landowner raised pigs to avoid wasting food scraps. While the grand mansion called Hyeonbu-jip, which appears in the novel, reflects the Japanese-style housing of the newly wealthy, this house is built in the traditional hanok style.

The village of Bongnim-ri, where the house is located, sits on a sunny low hill overlooking Beolgyo-eup. Using the Honggyo Bridge that crosses the Beolgyocheon Stream in front of the village, one can enter Beolgyo-eup, where Boseong Guesthouse, the setting of "Taebaek Mountains," is located. Other background sites, Hyeonbu-jip and Sohwa's House, are about a 30-minute walk from Kim Beom-u's House, so a combined visit is recommended.