Korea's largest surviving neighbourhood of traditional Hanok houses was the focus of our two night stay in Jeonju, famous for its charming architecture, timeless traditions as well as the dual gastronomic seductions of Bibimbab and Makgeolli Alleys.
Less than 2 hours south of Seoul by KTX trains is the lazy provincial capital of Jeonju, an unremarkable sprawl of urban city blocks at first glance until one arrives at its Joseon Dynasty town centre known locally as Hanok Maeul, an enclave of traditional culture and performing arts headlined by master artisans designated as Living National Treasures in their respective crafts from handmade paper goods to musical storytelling.
Jeonju's undisputed claim as the most traditional city in Korea owes largely to its feudal era prestige as hometown to Joseon Dynasty's royals, complete with ancestral shrines and associated ceremonial rites that continue even today. It's not quite Korea's Kyoto -- that claim would likely belong to Gyeongju -- but at least a Kanazawa or Kurashiki in its preservation of artisanal craftsmanship and its historical townscape of elegant Hanoks.
Travelers familiar with Japan's Machiya houses would immediately recognize Hanok's similarity in terms of raised platform floors, but for an entirely different purpose. While the Machiya floor is designed to maximize air circulation in Japan's humid summers, the Hanok floor is primarily designed to incorporate a 2000-year-old system of underfloor heating to mitigate Korea's bone-chilling winters.
Much like Kyoto's Machiya houses and Beijing's Siheyuan courtyards, Hanoks had been driven to near extinction by 20th century urbanization especially in the breakneck speed of economic development after the Korean War. At Jeonju's Hanok Village some 800 traditional houses have carved out their own niche based on tourism and artisanry for the present and future survival of Korea's indigenous architecture.
Following our pattern of renting Machiya houses in Kyoto and Kurashiki and our own Hanok at Naganeupseong the previous two nights, we would have loved to rent an entire Hanok in Jeonju except for the surprisingly high prices. At the end we settled for a small room at this historic courtyard house, an authentic century-old structure judging by the remnants of knob-and-tube wiring from early 20th century.
Cramming into this claustrophic room was indeed a fuller immersion into the whole Hanok experience than our previous stay at a modern Hanok at Naganeupseong. We had to duck through a 4-feet-tall door to access the bathroom; there was no other furniture aside from the antique mirrored vanity and an equally tiny foldable tea table; and there was no TV. Luckily a detached storage space was provided next door for our large luggages.
Half a block north of our guesthouse was the centerpiece of Jeonju's royal heritage, the 400-year-old complex of Gyeonggijeon (경기전) built to enshrine the funerary tablet and portrait of King Taejo, founder of the Joseon Dynasty and ancestor to five centuries of Korean kings.
A replica portrait still graces the shrine that also safeguarded Joseon Dynasty's priceless annals during Hideyoshi's invasions across the Sea of Japan. The original painting plus six historic portraits of latter kings are now preserved in the state-of-the-art, climate controlled Royal Portrait Museum within Gyeonggijeon's grounds, unfortunately closed during our visit due to COVID-19.
Unlike the official state shrine of Jongmyo intended for appeasing the spirits of the past kings on behalf of the Korean nation, Gyeonggijeon was designed as an intimate hometown shrine for the royal family in typical Confucian fashion, albeit on a considerably grander scale than for the king's Yangban bureaucrats.
Having installed Confucianism as the dynasty's state religion, the Joseon kings also prescribed a Confucian school that served as the authoritative education institute for this southwestern provincial capital. Tablets for Confucius and other prominent Chinese and Korean scholars are still enshrined at Jeonju's historic Hyanggyo (전주향교), now a favourite filming locale for K-dramas.
The pictured lecture hall of Myeongryundang still hosts the occasional seminar and music recital to this date, though the flanking student dorms have been vacant for decades. Surviving into 21st century is the local legend involving two 400-year-old gingko trees in the courtyard, believed to grant academic success to high school seniors ahead of the dreaded national exam.
The centuries-old gingkos have since become one of Jeonju's famous tourist draws in autumn foliage season, along with these plum blossoms of springtime with their ivory white petals contrasting against the historic school's earthen walls. These maehwa featured subtly different colour palettes from the pure white that we admired two days ago at the nationally famous Seonamsa monastery, and the sultry neon pink at Suncheon Bay National Garden.
Overlooking both the Confucian school and the royal shrine is a local hilltop crowned by the Omokdae (오목대) pavilion, famous for its panorama over the Hanok Village and ideal for stretching one's legs on the perennially sock-polished wooden floor.
Omokdae once overlooked Jeonju's southern ramparts, dismantled by the colonial Japanese in the 1910s and leaving the 250-year-old gate of Pungnammun (풍남문) as the sole landmark surviving from the old city walls.
Legend has it that granite blocks from the dismantled walls became cornerstones of the photogenic Jeondong Cathedral, a Romanesque church built next to the old execution grounds where 18th century Korean Catholics were martyred. It's a gruesome chapter of Jeonju's history blissfully ignored by the Korean couples taking their obligatory photoshoots here in their elegant 21st century Hanbok.
That's plenty to explore for the one sunny day we had. For the rest of our weekend trip to Jeonju the weather was downright cold and drizzly, which called for some rainy day alternatives.
Our Plan B turned out to be a tremendously entertaining afternoon at the retro playground of Jeonju Nanjang (전주난장, see map), a hands-on museum-cum-theme-park recreating innumerable daily scenes in post-war Korea from the 1960s to the 1990s. From the toy store with its collection of Kamen Rider-style weapons in original boxes to elaborate mother-of-pearl-on-mahogany decos at the police chief's office to a complete 1970s disco with a DJ booth, this was an enormous labyrinth that offered nostalgic glimpses of Korean life in recent history.
Koreans born in the 80s or earlier would time-travel to their middle school classroom with familiar scenes of then-state-of-the-art typewriters, everyone's lunchboxes stacked on top of the space heater, and of course dusters and chalk for throwing at the mannequin teacher ... or each other. School uniforms with prefect badges, 1970s textbooks and school bags all made for great selfies.
A classic 1975 Hyundai Pony (who wouldn't want one?) was parked with swagger in a Hanok courtyard, just down the block from the partial shell of a tank likely from the Korean War. The neighbouring barrack with believable wax models of budae-jjigae hotpots were just some of the excellent props for Korean guys to reminisce about their days of compulsory military service.
The pictured Busan Radio Store and its collection of vintage 1950s shortwave receivers were among the authentic exhibits worthy of a K-drama set for a shantytown in the Park Chung-hee era. Between the completely free and playable old-school arcade (think Street Fighter 2 and Tetris), amusement-park-style archery and hoop-shooting games and dozens of other themes, this was an amazingly undiscovered attraction that occupied several hours of our rainy afternoon. At the time of writing the Jeonju Nanjang still doesn't exist on Google Maps and is largely unknown to foreigners. As the entrance is hidden inside a back alley, refer to this map if you're interested in visiting.
More indoor options exist in the form of various craftsman workshops and mini-museums at this undisputed capital of traditional Korean artisanry. One good place to start is the Jeonju Crafts Exhibition Hall (전주공예품전시관) with its ownable selections of hand-made home decor, dinnerware and utensils, stationery and fashion accessories.
Prices were surprisingly affordable for the artisanal skills and creativity injected into each collectable piece. I would have purchased entire sets of tableware if luggage size wasn't an concern, and settled for a classy handmade necktie for a steal of 18000 Won (CAD$21).
A well-hidden gem inside the maze of convoluted alley is the Jeonju Traditional Hanji Center (전주전통한지원), the local artisan workshop for Jeonju's famous handmade mulberry paper, another vestige of the town's feudal history as the book publishing capital of Joseon Korea. Among the bewildering selection of folding fans, book covers and wall decos, we scored some beautiful sheets of decorative paper with woodblock-printed Hangul calligraphy for repairing our broken Ikea lamp at home.
Just around the corner, Jeonju Traditional Wine Museum (전주전통술박물관) offers a rare glimpse into the world of Korean liquors with an on site distillery and weekend workshops for visitors to filter their own Jeonju-style Moju, a thick, low-alcohol beverage with medicinal properties.
Half a block to the north is the Sori Culture Centre featuring weekend live performances of Pansori, a Joseon Dynasty performing art now enjoying a 21st century resurgence especially here in Jeonju. Right next door is the small but fascinating Jeonju Kimchi Cultural Centre (전주김치문화관) focusing on everything banchan with documentaries and toucheable models.
With more time we could have made our own Taegeukseon fan from raw mulberry paper and bamboo strips at the Jeonju Fan Culture Centre (전주부채문화관). Two full days in the Jeonju Hanok Village was just barely enough to scratch the surface of this thousand-year-old city on the forefront of preserving and perpetuating Korea's cultural heritage.
For a different insight into local life in 21st century Jeonju, the 200-year-old Nambu Market (남부시장) remains the best bet for everything from fried chicken for watching baseball on TV to dried squids for grandma to one of those ajumma sun visors for mom. Sadly the much anticipated weekend night market was cancelled due to COVID-19 during our visit.
For restaurant reviews, please see the next post on Jeonju's best traditional eats.IF YOU GO
Jeonju is less than two hours from Seoul by highspeed KTX trains with multiple daily departures. Upon arrival, a myriad of local buses (12, 60, 79 etc.) connect from the train station to the Hanok Village. But if you have large luggages like we did, a taxi should cost a reasonable 8000 Won (CAD$9) or so and get you there in about 10 minutes.
