A 400-Year-Old Hanok Beside the New Town: Homyeong in Yecheon Awakens ‘Tourism That Connects Time’

Bringing Together the Yeonan Lee Clan Ancestral Home, Archery, and Traditional Archery

Beyond the Provincial Government New Town for Differentiated Tourism

The Potential for a Stay-Type Tourism Hub

In Homyeong, Yecheon County, Gyeongsangbuk-do, two different timelines coexist. On one side, apartments and commercial facilities are springing up around the Gyeongbuk Provincial Government’s new town, rapidly expanding the urban landscape. On the other, centuries-old traditional houses and the clan culture of distinguished families continue to preserve the way of life of Joseon literary scholars.

Yecheon Homyeong Embracing the New Town, Asking the 'Tourism Path' at a 400-Year-Old Traditional House
[Photo by Byunggeon Kwon]

The new possibilities for tourism in Yecheon may lie in connecting these two currents of time. Homyeong, which the National Assembly Policy Reporters Group and the Metropolitan Economic and Tourism Specialist Reporters Group visited on September 1, offers a vivid example of this potential in the Yeonan Lee Clan Byeoljwagong Branch Ancestral Home in Songgok-ri.

Although neither a glamorous tourist facility nor an artificially crafted experience space, the main hall’s wooden floors and curved pillars, along with the shrine just beyond the wall, still bear the marks of nearly 400 years of a single family’s history and the legacy of Yeongnam’s confucian tradition.

Local stakeholders noted that the value of preserving a single hanok was not the sole focus. Whether archery (yanggung) and traditional Korean archery (gukgung), ancestral homes and confucian culture, and the Gyeongbuk Provincial Government new town could be woven into a unified tourism course and narrative has emerged as a new challenge for Yecheon’s tourism sector.

Jinmo Kim, head of Homyeong-eup, explained the history and cultural resources of Homyeong to the visiting reporters, highlighting the area’s tourism potential. Once characterized largely as farmland, Homyeong’s status has changed dramatically since the establishment of the Gyeongbuk Provincial Government new town. Today, about 28,000 residents live in 35 villages, making it one of Yecheon’s leading population growth areas and a new residential hub.

If the new town has changed what Homyeong is today, the collection of traditional houses in Songgok-ri preserves its past. At the center is the Yeonan Lee Clan Byeoljwagong Branch Ancestral Home.

According to records, this property, registered as Gyeongsangbuk-do folklore material, was built by Lee Eung (Nulheon), a disciple of Confucian scholar Yi Hwang (Toegye) during the late Joseon Dynasty, for his son Lee Deokchang (Sago, 1569–1616).

Lee Deokchang, a student of Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, passed the civil service exam and was appointed as a government official after demonstrating loyalty during the Japanese invasions of Korea (Imjin War). On the land where his ancestors had resided, he constructed the home and hung the signboard “Sagogu Ryeo (The Old House at Sago).”

In this one hanok, we see the intellectual lineage from Yi Hwang to Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, and the imprint of the turbulent Imjin War era, all contained within its walls.

The building itself is also a record of how Joseon noblemen lived.

The ancestral home backs onto low hills, faces south, and its yard gradually rises with the natural slope leading up to the main residence atop a stone platform. To the east, separated by a wall, a shrine is located in its own space.

This sequence of main house, gate quarters, and shrine is not merely a layout of buildings; it exemplifies Confucian family life in Joseon—rituals, household management, hospitality, and the gendered division of space.

The main house also retains the typical closed-square (“ㅁ”-shaped) style, with a sarangchae (men’s quarters) attached. Though the wooden floor and some inner rooms of the anchae (main quarters) were modified over the centuries, the pillars, wood floors, and yard still maintain the essential framework of space.

Lee Uichang, the 16th generation head of the Yeonan Lee Clan Byeoljwagong Branch (age 82, former principal), personally guided the reporters around the property, sharing family lore and stories tied to the ancestral home.

His pride was evident, but so were his concerns: as descendants now primarily live outside the region, maintaining old wooden buildings becomes increasingly difficult. In addition, some of the valuable ancient documents and records that had been passed down through the family have been lost, intensifying the need for systematic investigation and preservation of historical records.

While the cultural heritage remains, the pressing question is how it can be passed on to future generations. Lee emphasized, “Yecheon is home not just to archery, but also to traditional Korean archery and numerous historic hanok. We need to tie together these scattered cultural resources to build Yecheon’s unique tourism competitiveness.”

At this point, Yecheon’s representative symbol—the ‘bow’—emerges as a new linkage. Yecheon stands out in the history of Korean archery, having produced numerous athletes and coaches and serving as a hub for modern archery. However, the bow’s relevance in the region predates that, being intimately tied to its traditional culture.

If the dynamism of modern archery, the tradition of gukgung, and the scholar’s culture preserved in the clan home can be woven into a single narrative, the scope of tourism in Yecheon could greatly expand.

This approach moves away from simply visiting an archery field or touring old houses—instead, it links archery experiences, clan traditions, confucian spirit, local cuisine, and rural scenery into a single route.

In particular, Homyeong’s advantage lies in having a stable base of residents and visitors backed by the new Gyeongbuk Provincial Government town, setting it apart from other rural areas with heritage sites.

This means that by making the new town the starting point—not the endpoint—of tourism, visitors can be drawn outward to Yecheon’s old downtown and rural cultural heritage, establishing an expanded tourism model.

The Metropolitan Economic and Tourism Specialist Reporters Group took a group tour of the Yeonan Lee Clan Byeoljwaggong branch ancestral home located in Homyeong-eup, Yecheon County, on the afternoon of the 1st and took a commemorative photo afterward.
[Photo by the Joint Press Corps]

Until now, local cultural asset policies have focused on “how well can we preserve the originals?”, but new questions must be raised: namely, “how can we turn preserved heritage into living local assets?”

Simply locking up a traditional house for protection does not make it a true tourism asset. Only when the site’s historical characters, eras, learning, and lifestyle are brought back to life through storytelling and hands-on experiences by visitors does old architecture become relevant content for today.

Sunhee Choi, head of PR and communications for Yecheon County, stated, “Leaning quietly against the foot of the mountain, this hanok has diligently witnessed centuries of Yecheon’s history and confucian spirit. It is a precious cultural asset that passes on the lives of our ancestors to us today.”

The strength of Homyeong-eup does not lie in choosing between the new town and the clan home. Rather, the unique asset of Homyeong is that one can experience the region’s most modern and most ancient legacies in a single place.

If Yecheon’s strong “city of archery” brand, already well established, is extended to include gukgung and confucian culture, it will create a wholly new story.

What tourists require is not the sheer number of cultural artifacts, but a compelling reason to visit.

Rather than building new structures alongside the 400-year-old hanok, the key lies in awakening the dormant stories inside and connecting them to today’s modes of travel. This is where Yecheon tourism’s next opportunity lies.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.