Seowon ( Korean : 서원 ) were the most common educational institutions of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty . They were private institutions, and combined the functions of a Confucian shrine and a Confucian school. In educational terms, the seowon were primarily occupied with preparing young men for the national civil service examinations . In most cases, seowon served only pupils of the aristocratic yangban class. On 6 July 2019, UNESCO recognized a collection of nine seowon as World Heritage Sites .
6-590: Yerim Seowon is a former seowon in Miryang , Gyeongsangnam-do . It is located in Bubuk-myeon on the slopes of Jongnamsan , in the valley of the Miryang River . The Yerim Seowon was built in 1567 by Yi Do-u to enshrine Kim Chong-jik , a Confucian scholar and politician who was native to Miryang. At that time it bore the name "Deokseong Seowon." Destroyed during Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea in
12-623: The 1590s, it was rebuilt in 1606. in 1634 it was relocated to its current location in Miryang-sa. The seowon, like most of those across Korea, was demolished by order of the regent Daewon-gun in 1868 (1871). However, beginning in 1874, local scholars once again began to gather there, although it no longer served as a school. It continues in use as a shrine today, and was designated a tangible cultural treasure of Gyeongsangnam-do in 1974. Seowon Seowons first appeared in Korea in
18-514: The 16th century used the seowons as their political bases. They were modeled after early private Chinese academies of classical learning shuyuan . The latter originated in the 8th century under the Tang dynasty , and were later dismantled under the Yuan dynasty to become preparatory schools for the imperial examinations under government control. Most seowon were closed by an edict of
24-663: The early Joseon Dynasty , whose establishment were driven mainly by the Sarim Neo-Confucian scholars. While the exact year of seowon introduction in Korea is not known for certain, in 1418 King Sejong issued rewards to two scholars for their work in setting up seowons in Gimje and Gwangju . The first seowon to receive a royal charter was the Sosu Seowon in Punggi , presided over by Toegye , which
30-463: The regent Daewon-gun in the turbulent final years of the 19th century. He banned the unauthorized construction of seowons in 1864, and removed their tax exemption in 1868; finally, in 1871, he ordered all but a handful closed. The provincial yangban were outraged by these measures, and this is among the reasons that Daewon-gun was driven from power in 1873; however, the seowon remained closed. Seowon , Korean Neo-Confucian Academies
36-525: Was given a hanging board by King Myeongjong in 1550. While historian Michael Shin mentions that the earliest seowon was established in North Gyeongsang by Ju Sebung (1495–1554). Large numbers of seowons were established by leading seonbi (literati), or by local groups of yangban families. Some of the Sarim scholars who retired to villages in the wake of literati purges of
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