Saudang Head House with hundreds years of history, where you can experience traditional culture
Hanok has its own beauty for its margins, where contains the spirit of the ancestors. Saudang is located in the Yundong Village surrounded by Kkachisan Mountain and Yeonbisan Mountain. Saudang's beauty is magnified with the local residents who has taken good care of the village. Saudang takes an important role keeping 600 years of history as head house, not only its own structure, but the wisdom and impression of its cultural context.
Saudang is a head house used for Kim Yongcho's memorial house, who has contributed for the Joseon dynasty. The Saudang Head House is located in Gyeongbuk Seongju Yundong Village.
The name "Saudang" is derived from Kim Gwanseok's pen name, who has returned back to Yundong Village. Since then, it is a root residency of surname Uiseong Kim's descendants.
There are temple called "Saedeoksa" and monuments, 13 rooms for ancestors' memorial ceremonies.
In the middle stays Uiseong Kim's head house "Saudang", represents over 600 years of history.
So called "Keunjip", the head house is not only the oldest son's house, but also the core of village's spiritual circle. Also it is registered as Gyeongbuk Cultural Heritage No. 561 for its affect to the local research and the architectural conservation value. Currently the house is occupied with the 21st generation son Kim Gidae and his wife Ryu Jeongsuk, preserving and succeed the cultural of the traditional value.
There are old historic houses around the town in Yundong Village. There is Saudang found along with the stone wall, covered with its traditional tile. There are seven Hanok houses, lined up around the bottom of the mountain. The curve of black tiles are connected each other. The first thing you can encounter is Daemunchae. Cozy lawn, various wild flowers and trees welcome the guests. You can see the cozy and nostalgic atmosphere of yard through the entrance. There are various kind of pots located in the house, peppers are ripening in the vegetable garden.
The host family resides in Sallimjip(private home), you can experience tea ceremony in tea cultural center located under Saudang and Yeongmodang. Yeongmodang is a memorial building for Kim Yongcho. Saudang is a neat and simple structure. It has a beautiful shape with a straight pillar under the low ceiling, curved eaves under the sky.
There is a Tea Ceremony Etiquette Education Center inside of Saudang, to experience tea ceremony or courtesy training, mostly visited by group of students. The host's precious tea pots are displayed in the center. Visitors come from long distance to enjoy the aromatic tea, which is carefully prepared by the host.
There are many groups of family visitors with children on the weekends. Saudang has plenty of playful traditional learning tools around the house, such as Mangtaegi, Jige, Key which are the farming tools of olden days, or loom, ink stone, old books, cymbals, drum, gong, and etc. (all of those have tags on it) The Bar Mitzvah ceremony is held at this spot. Saudang is a cultural place, where all around the corner of the house is full of memories, open for the visitors all year round.