The present study aims to analyze the structural characteristics of pillar-wall structures and to determine the period and quarter of their life in an effort to explore the process and pattern of their timely and spatial changes and development. For t...
The present study aims to analyze the structural characteristics of pillar-wall structures and to determine the period and quarter of their life in an effort to explore the process and pattern of their timely and spatial changes and development. For this aim, structural characteristics of domestic buildings with pillar walls were examined by splitting the regions in four and also by referring to the data of pillar-wall buildings in the Japanese Islands. Based on the examinations, it was possible to trace back the developments of Baekje Kingdom's pillar-wall buildings as they appeared (Period I), came into wide use (Period II) and became diffused and extinct (Period III).
In the first place, pillar-wall buildings entered an appearance revolving around the basins of the Geum River (Period I), and spreaded into the stronghold areas. This period is supposed to be sometime of Hanseong Period or the early half of the 5th century if Japanese data were positively accepted to be authentic. The structures of buildings in this period were of regular square or rectangle + small and medium + IIa type. Among them, pillar-wall buildings of I and II types were likely to show up at the same time. Besides, buildings of Ia type are presumed to be built for persons of high standing while those of IIa type are thought to be general residences or production-related facilities judging from excavations.
Pillar-wall buildings began to come into wide use (Period II) mainly in the capital and local areas of Baekje Kingdom at a time ranging from the latter half of the 5th century after the transfer of its capital to Ungjin upto the former half of the 6th century after the transfer of the capital to Sabi. Majority of structures were built on mountains or hills mainly in the region of Gongju. On the Mt. Jeongji, particularly, pillar-wall buildings of IIa type started to be constructed from around the latter part of the 5th century onwards. In the beginning of the 6th century, pillar-wall buildings had already been built around the summit or on the slope of the mountain for kings to perform ancestral sacrifices. At this time, there existed buildings of combination in regular square/rectangle + medium and large + Ia/Ib type together with rectangle + large + IIa + D type.
In Japan, pillar-wall buildings were constructed mainly in Nara in addition to such regions as Kyoto, Dottori, Nagoya and Osaka, all on the hills in the rectangle + large + Ia + A/B type. It is noteworthy to find Korean hypocaust or a underfloor heating system of a room in Dakatori area where there was a strong influence from the Korean peninsula. Lots of incident facilities that were used for production are very suggestive of their connection with the group of immigrants from the Korean peninsula and the central government of Japan.
During the period of diffusion and extinction of pillar-wall structures (Period III), palaces, temples and pillar-wall buildings were extensively constructed thanks to the government initiative for full-scale development of the then capital. Even in the strongholds located in the suburbs of the capital, typified buildings with pillar walls were constructed. Buyeo was the center of the region and Iksan and parts of Jeonnam province were stronghold areas. The structures of buildings were of flat land + typified + small and medium + Ic type equipped each with exits and entrances, cooking as well as heating facilities and columns of wooden fences. In case of the buildings in the capital, pillar-wall buildings were in the center of the complex with such incident buildings as houses of flat land type, pavilion type and other miscellaneous buildings on both sides of pillar-wall buildings while in the outer block there were dugout relics and production-related facilities of the pavilion-type houses.
Meanwhile, Baekje Kingdom imported new elements of construction like temple construction style and construction style of Bei wei (北魏) Buddhism through exchanges with Beichao (北朝) in China that started from the latter part of the 6th century, influencing the style of pillar-wall buildings. Centered around Buyeo and Iksan regions, typified buildings of regular square + small and medium + Ib + B equivalents type were constructed with fences and ditches installed. The buildings of the outer blocks were located mostly on the hills assuming the form of general houses attached with rectangle + IIa type + C equivalents + exits and entrances + hypocaust. The Period III may be thus classified as the time when pillar-wall structures were typified and diversified by class and usage.
In the Japanese Island, on the other hand,it was the period when pillar-wall buildings were constructed in the urban area and the trend continued to the former half of the 7th century during which the construction boomed thanks especially to a long string of experts in culture, technology, and art who flooded from Baekje Kingdom including Dr's in Five Classics of Ancient China in the forefront. The structures of buildings showed a combination of flat land + regular square + large + Ib + A, B equivalents + exists and entrances + fences. The pillar-wall buildings in the center were accompanied with flat land- and pavilion-type buildings as incident facilities with their space split by wooden fences, ditches or water ways, the same pattern of development as seen in Buyeo region during the Period III. After the fall of Baekje Kingdom approximately in the mid or latter part of the 7th century, however, no more pillar-wall buildings were found to be built
From the review as above, it becomes evident that pillar-wall buildings have played an extremely important role in bridging Korea and Japan in the old history and survived complex processes of transformation throughout the whole society of Baekje. In this paper, it was attempted to gain an insight into the structural characteristics of pillar-wall buildings preponderantly but it is regret to say that my lack of capacity and shortage of accessible data prohibited me from precisely defining the structure and category of most important parts of a building like roofs and walls and classifying the types, origin and genealogy of pillar-wall structures. I promise myself to correct and complement the present study whenever further and better data are collected.