Visiting Bukchon

Bukchon, literally "north village," is a section of Seoul that has not been destroyed by high-rise apartments, and with its charming old hanok, or traditional Korean homes, is now a fashionable and chic part of town.

Nice restaurants and shops make a stroll through the old neighborhood a popular pastime these days for Seoul residents as well as tourists.

I’ve been working on a presentation, to be given at the Bukchon Cultural Center, in which I’m look at a bit of the culture and background of the old north district of central Seoul.

In doing some historical research, I’ve found the meaning of some of the neighborhood names. I lived in Bukchon when I first came to Korea in 1965, 60 years ago, in Samcheong-dong. I learned then that it was named for the Samcheong Park, in the hills just north of our neighborhood. I was told that the “three clear” things referred to in the name were the water, the mountains and — although I remembered it as “air” — records say the third item is the people. Maybe air pollution was not a concern in traditional Korea.

But it turns out there’s another explanation. The area was home to a Taoist shrine to the “three pure deities” — the great pure god, the heavenly pure god and the jade pure god. I find the deities argument more persuasive. The worship of these deities was carried out by the Sogyeokseo, a Joseon-era (1392-1910) office that oversaw Taoist rituals, and also gave its name to the nearby Sogyeok-dong neighborhood.

You can pick the explanation you like best and tell others the next time you go to Samcheong-dong.

Then there is Palpan-dong. When I lived in Samcheong-dong, I knew people in nearby Palpan-dong, and being the intrepid student of Korean and Chinese characters that I was, I believed that "pal" (eight) and "pan" (as in a pan-gyo, a word I found to mean a plank bridge) must have meant an “eight-plank bridge” over the stream in Samcheong-dong.

When I lived in Samcheong from late 1965 to the summer of 1966, I saw the stream covered and a roadway built on top of it. People today, when they ride in their cars on the Samcheong roadway, likely do not even know that there is a stream beneath the road. I saw it being built, and we had to traverse a narrow roadway on the side of the stream before it was covered over.

So, was "palpan" a bridge over the stream? Wrongo bongo. I misread the character. I assumed it was a plank or board, but it is actually the "pan" that means "minister," like prime minister or minister of a government office. It turns out that the neighborhood is named for eight ministers who lived there. That makes sense, since it was close to the palace and the “six ministries road” in front of the palace, where the U.S. Embassy and the Sejong Cultural Center are today.

Who were the eight ministers? There are different opinions. On the one hand, the Gangneung Kim family association will tell you the names of the eight Gangneung Kim members who were the ministers. In fact, they will tell you that there were eight ministers in the early part of the Joseon period, and then eight more ministers in the late Joseon era. But some historical sources are not sure that all eight ministers were from the same clan, or even the number of ministers living in that neighborhood. Well, close enough.

Then there is Gye-dong, which is part of the Gahoe-dong administrative district. Gahoe means "beautiful meeting place." That’s okay. But Gye-dong is more interesting. Originally, it was Jyesaeng-dong, named after the Jyesaeng-won offices from the early Joseon Dynasty, which provided welfare for the poor. Later, it became Gyesaeng-dong, but during the Japanese colonial period, they dropped the “saeng” and made it Gye-dong.

Bukchon is an area that has not been taken over by high-rise apartments, and to see a neighborhood of traditional hanok homes is a welcome sight in the center of Seoul, otherwise a metropolis of apartment complexes. I, for one, am glad we can hold on to one piece of Korean tradition — and buy a nice snack or a meal, while we are at it.

Mark Peterson (frogoutsidethewell@gmail.com) is a professor emeritus of Korean studies at Brigham Young University in Utah. The views expressed here are his own.