Pohang ancestral shrine designated national folk cultural heritage

Aerial view of Daljeon Jaesa, the ancestral shrine of the Yeogang Yi clan in Pohang. [Provided by Pohang City]

The city of Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province announced Wednesday that Daljeon Jaesa — an ancestral shrine of the Yeogang Yi clan located in Yeonil-eup, Nam-gu, where the clan's grave rites and traditional ceremonies have been preserved — has been officially designated a national folk cultural heritage by the Cultural Heritage Administration.

Daljeon Jaesa was built to manage the tombs of Yi Eon-jeok (1491–1553), a leading Neo-Confucian scholar of the Joseon era known by his pen name Hoejae, and to conduct ancestral rites for his family.

The complex began as a small hermitage where Buddhist monks lived while tending the burial grounds, but was expanded in 1754 with the addition of Okseongnu pavilion and supporting structures — including side rooms and a storage building — taking on the form of a clan shrine it retains today.

The site offers a rare window into a transitional period in which the clan moved away from the practice, common after the mid-17th century, of entrusting tomb care to Buddhist monks, and instead established a Confucian space where the family conducted rites directly and strengthened clan cohesion.

The shrine's role as an intellectual and cultural center for the clan — beyond its function as a ritual space — has been well documented, lending it considerable historical and academic significance.

Particularly valuable are surviving records such as the "Daljeonamgi" and the ridge-beam inscription of Daljeon Jaesa, which clearly trace the shrine's founding and subsequent changes over the centuries.

Members of the Yeogang Yi clan performing ancestral grave rites at Daljeon Jaesa. [Provided by Pohang City]

Following the designation, Pohang will pursue a precise structural survey and restoration of Daljeon Jaesa, with 70 percent of the costs covered by the central government and 15 percent by the provincial government.

The city also plans to install round-the-clock disaster-prevention facilities and assign specialist personnel to protect the heritage site from various hazards.

A Pohang city official said the designation had further elevated the value of the region's cultural heritage, and pledged to continue working with the Cultural Heritage Administration to secure national heritage status — specifically the "treasure" designation — for other significant Joseon-era architectural landmarks in the area, including the main halls of Oeo Temple and Bogyeongsa Temple.

kbj7653@heraldcorp.com