This study aims at interpreting Korean Rural Landscape by applying the analytical tool thus developed to the lifestyles of ordinary people found in their permanent dwellings both before and after Korea first opened its door to the world in 1896. By so...
This study aims at interpreting Korean Rural Landscape by applying the analytical tool thus developed to the lifestyles of ordinary people found in their permanent dwellings both before and after Korea first opened its door to the world in 1896. By so doing, this study hopes to contribute to building a framework with which to understand the tradition of ordinary people by exploring the uniqueness and basic characteristics of Korean Rural Landscape. This study relies primarily on field studies and publications including, without limitation, the televised documentaries, as well as newspapers and scholastic writings and relating to, the agrarian and residential landscapes changed over time. In the Vernacular world, the present does not passively inherit the past. Rather, it is re-born each time, reflecting the society and history of the period. It does not change, but is shaped by the necessities of the period. This may be the reason why there are different Korean Rural Landscapes over a rather short period of time. For instance, the pre-modern Korean Rural Landscape tends to be shaped almost entirely by the nature, while the intention of people begins to find much more expressions in the modern Korean Rural Landscape. As the commodities become more readily available to people thanks to industrialization, such ready availability has brought about changes in the materials used in, as well as functions of, Rural Landscape.