Jeju, the largest of some 3,300 islands in Korean territory, is a volcanic island, some 1.7 million years old. Mt. Halla, a now dormant volcano and South Korea’s tallest mountain, rises 1,950 meters above sea level at the center and gradually levels out into gently sloping land. Traces of hardened lava are readily found throughout Jeju, at ground level and below. The dark basalt, full of holes, defines the landscape of this scenic island.
Stone enclosures called jatseong were built around state-run horse farms during the Joseon Dynasty, in order to allow horses to graze and keep them penned in. Very little remains of the walls at the base of mountains due to development and damage, whereas those in mid-mountainous areas remain relatively intact, testifying to the island’s traditional livestock farming.
Stones stand the test of time. This is why stones are used to erect monuments commemorating heroic feats or stacked to build boundaries. Stones abound on Jeju, and the people who settled here have learned to make ingenious use of them for myriad purposes: blocking entry to prohibited areas, banking up water, diverting wind flow, and penning in horses. In this sense, the legendary magic of the stones of Jeju lies in their capacity to harness the volatility of nature and transience of time. But this could not be done without laborious efforts. Hence the myth of an old lady giant painstakingly digging up the earth and carrying it in her skirt to build Mt. Halla, thus creating the island.
The age-old stones of Jeju stand against the blue sea and sky, immersed in deep silence. Their surfaces are coarse, their color black. Their curves and haphazard holes convey their identity; piled up on top of one another, they form a wall, hugging and burying into each other’s shoulders. Stones with soft edges roll around on the ground; they wear tattoos of bronze-colored moss. Silver grass and yellow canola flowers encircle the walls, covering their naked black bottoms.
There is something untouchable about these stone walls that have existed over many centuries. All we can do is look through the few remaining historical sources or examine the traces left on the stones, whether they may be scars or marks of goodwill. Yet, we hope to feel the warmth lingering in them and learn their stories as blunt witnesses to the times.
Coastal Weirs Yielding an Abundant Catch
The first stone walls to appear on the island would have been the coastal weirs, considering that fishing existed before the emergence of modern humans. Called wondam or gaetdam in Korean, they are low dams, around one meter high, built on the coast by loosely stacking stones, which function as large nets. The fish that come in with the rising tide would be trapped inside, unable to escape when the tide ebbs.
One of the characteristic features of the Jeju sea is that a rocky area, a lava field, lies between the coast and the ocean. This distinctive topography was formed by lava from volcanic eruptions flowing into the sea. In some places, the lava flow extends as far as two kilometers. Local people call this strip of sea floor geolbadang. It is one of the reasons why the method of fishing using stone weirs emerged.
Stone weirs take different forms depending on the shore’s topographic condition. On a bay shaped like a bow curving toward the land, stone walls are built connecting the capes, whereas on shorelines with a boulder standing tall in the middle, the walls are built on either side. In sunken areas that are filled with water even at low tide, simply building a low stone enclosure makes a great fishing net. Around 10 to 20 weirs like these can be seen in each village.
The fish most favored by Jeju islanders are anchovies that measure 10 to 20 centimeters in length. They are called mel in Jeju dialect, and every August, when schools of anchovies venture inside the stone weirs, all the villagers come holding a scoop net or gourd to gather the fish. The catch is distributed evenly as the weir is the common property of the villagers who work together to build and repair it. The anchovies are seasoned and then cooked or fried. Anchovy soup (melguk) is a favorite dish among the Jeju people. Made with freshly caught anchovies, cabbage leaves, red pepper and assorted other ingredients, the light soup is simply superb. Leftover anchovies are dried or salted to be used as seasoning or served as a side dish.
Over the years, the stone weirs have been damaged due to the construction of coastal roads, and as most fishing boats these days handle and dry the fish on deck, stone-weir fishing is mostly left to the elderly. Nonetheless, the sight of the black stone walls revealing their shape amid the white waves at low tide evokes memories of the days when the whole village celebrated an abundant catch.
Stone weirs for fishing, called wondam, make use of the natural topography of the shore and the ebb and flow of the tide. Hundreds of these “stone nets” used to be scattered around the coastal areas, but few retain their original condition.
Protection from the Elements
There is a sacred tourist spot on Jeju called Samseong- hyeol, which is made up of three large holes in the ground. Legend has it that three demigods, or the founding ancestors of three clans, emerged from the holes and spread the seeds of five grains on the island. Although the exact time is unknown, it can be presumed that certain powers possessing advanced agricultural technology emerged and established dominance in the ancient kingdom of Tamna, the old name for Jeju. The kingdom had maintained tributary relations with the Goryeo Dynasty and was subject to its control until 1105, when the island was officially annexed by Goryeo and named Tamna County.
Records from this time tell the story of Kim Gu (1211-1278), deputy magistrate of Jeju, who initiated construction of the first batdam (field fence) on the island.
“The farmlands in Jeju had no boundaries, so the strong and powerful would slowly encroach on another’s territory, causing the people deep distress. After becoming deputy magistrate, Kim Gu heard of the people’s plight and had them stack stones to build walls to mark the boundaries, thus alleviating their suffering.” - Dongmungam (“Korean Literary Mirror”)
As the population grew, farmland gradually extended from the low plains to mid-mountain areas. But most of the land was covered with rocks, stones and volcanic ash soil, so despite the plentiful rainfall all the water would get soaked into the ground. Ecofallow was the prevalent method of farming during the Goryeo period. After a year of farming, the land was left to rest for a year or two for the soil to regain fertility. During this time, it would become covered with grass and the terrain changed due to heavy rains, making it difficult to mark the boundaries between fields.
Stone field fences, called batdam, were built of basalt collected from the fields to provide protection from strong winds and prevent soil erosion. The total length of the stone walls found across the island amounts to 22,108 kilometers. They were designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System by the Food and Agriculture Organization in 2014.
This led to land disputes and local heavyweights taking advantage of the situation to take land from the weak, which prompted Kim Gu to instruct the people to build stone walls of uniform height on their fields. Kim’s tenure lasted from 1234 to 1239. Records from the time serve as a basis to determine when stone field fences were most prevalent on the island.
The stone fences brought many changes. Land disputes declined, as did crop damage from horses and cows put out to pasture. They also helped crops to grow since they prevented soil erosion caused by heavy rains and provided protection from harsh winds, helping to maintain consistent soil moisture. Now that farming required less work and yielded greater harvests, the once rocky and barren highlands were transformed into farmland, on which families relied for their livelihoods.
Today, agriculture constitutes the largest share of Jeju’s economy compared to other parts of the country, the bulk of which is field farming. The island is most famous for its sweet mandarins (gamgyul), but is also a major cultivator of winter vegetables, such as radishes, carrots, broccoli and cabbages. Jeju carrots and broccoli account for 70 percent of the national production, while its radishes, cabbages and autumn potatoes account for around 40 percent.
Providing protection from the elements, Jeju’s batdam have played an important part in agriculture. In 2014, they were designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In celebration, an annual batdam festival is held on the island.
According to a survey, the total length of the field stone fences, built in many different shapes and sizes over the past thousand years, is estimated to be some 22,000 kilometers. Weaving their way across the island from the coast to the hills like a huge spider web, the batdam have been recognized not only for their agricultural and landscape values but also as important cultural heritage.
Walls Repurposed for Military Defense
In fields with low stone walls, low-growing crops like potatoes and carrots are grown, whereas in those with high walls, grains such as millet and barley are raised. The seemingly haphazard walls are in fact the work of skilled masons.
In the late 13th century, the people of Jeju, who used to spend their days harvesting seafood or bickering with neighbors over farmland boundaries, suddenly found themselves swept up in turbulent regional conflicts, right after Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongolian Empire and grandson of Genghis Khan, conquered Song China and established the Yuan Dynasty. The Mongols launched a series of campaigns against Goryeo, forcing the royal court to flee to Ganghwa Island. Exhausted from the prolonged war, the Goryeo government eventually decided to submit to the Mongols and return to the capital, Gaegyeong (today’s Kaesong). But the Sambyeolcho, the three elite patrol units of Goryeo, refused to comply with the government’s pro-Mongol policies and mobilized resistance groups based on Jin Island, off the southwest coast of the peninsula.
In the ninth month of 1270, Goryeo sent military troops to Jeju, which was where the resistance forces were expected to retreat to, and gave orders to construct stone walls on the coast to prevent their landing. The first military-purpose stone walls were built by connecting and reinforcing the existing walls on the shores that had been built to block waves and secure vessels. Stones found along the shores are round, weathered by the waves. So unlike the walls on farming fields, the defense walls could not be stacked in a single line but had to be piled up in several s. The hard labor was imposed on the locals.
The government’s ambitious plans were thwarted, however, when it failed to prevent a counterattack from the Sambyeolcho who landed on Jeju three months later. The Jeju people, resenting the government’s forced labor and exploitation over the years, sided with the resistance forces. They reconstructed the coastal walls for use as military camp sites, but they were not strong enough to withstand Mongol attacks. After suffering a crushing defeat on Jin Island the following year, the Sambyeol- cho reassembled in Jeju and continued putting up resistance, only to be subdued by the Goryeo-Mongol allied forces in early 1273.
For hundreds of years thereafter, from late Goryeo, when the Yuan Dynasty began to decline, to the end of the Joseon Dynasty, the stone walls along the Jeju coastline defended against attacks by Japanese raiders looting food and water. During the Joseon period, Jeju county magistrates were usually appointed from the ranks of military officers to contend with the Japanese pirates. In the 19th century, Western ships began to visit the shores of Jeju, arousing doubts about their motives. These stone walls, named Hwanhae Jangseong, meaning the “Great Encircling Wall,” can be viewed while walking along the Jeju Olle trails. Unfortunately, little of the walls remains intact, so it is hard to feel the grandeur the name evokes. Nonetheless, the view of the stone walls around the smoke signal tower of Byeoldo in Hwabuk reminds us of the desperate plight of the Jeju people who had nowhere to flee.
If one looks closely at Jeju’s stone walls, one can notice that their appearance has changed remarkably over time. That is, their shape and purpose have changed in line with changes in lifestyle and environment.
A fortress was built by Goryeo’s special patrol units in Aewol-eup in 1271 for their last resistance against the Mongols. Called Hangpaduseong, the fortress consists of double walls. The outer wall, six kilometers long, is built of earth on aof flat stones, and the inner wall, around 800 meters in circumference, has stones stacked in the middle. Parts of the earthen fortification remain.
A stone fortification was constructed along the coastline as a defense against invasion by sea. Traces of the wall, called Hwanhae Jangseong, remain in 19 coastal villages, of which the section in Hwabuk-dong on the northeast coast is relatively intact. Here the remaining stretch of the wall is some 620 meters long and 2.5 meters high.
Enclosures for Grazing
Although relations between Jeju and the Mongols were inevitably rife with conflict and confrontation, human and material exchanges during the hundred or so years brought many changes to Jeju society. One example is livestock breeding. Livestock grazing was as old as farming on the island, but the first proper horse ranches were established by the Mongols in 1276, shortly after Yuan subdued the Sambyeolcho and assumed direct control of Jeju. Together with 160 horses, the Mongols brought their stock-raising experts and built “Tamna Ranch” in Seongsan. This marked the beginning of Jeju’s horse industry.
However, clashes between nomads, who moved from place to place, and settlers, who wanted to gain control of the land, intensified after Yuan withdrew and the island was absorbed by the Joseon Dynasty. In 1429, increasing crop damage from grazing horses and escalating disputes over shortage of pasturage prompted Go Deuk-jong (1388-1452), a local government official, to suggest measures to King Sejong for the stable management of horse ranches. He proposed a plan to divide the mid-altitude zone of Mt. Halla into 10 sections andstate-run horse pastures in each of them. Key to the plan was the construction of stone walls to prevent the horses grazing in hilly areas from entering the coastal farmlands. Thus, stone walls, called jat or jatseong, were built in heights ranging from some 1.2 to 1.5 meters around the island. Both state-owned and private horses were grazed in these farms.
Horse breeding flourished on the island. The horses bred here were used mainly for military purposes or as presents to the royal family. A breeder named Kim Man-il (1550-1632) raised thousands of horses on his private farm in the mountainous part of eastern Jeju. During the Japanese invasions (1592-1598), he donated 500 horses to the country and continued to do so in subsequent wars, which prompted King Seonjo to grant him the title of “meritorious subject.”
The expansion and renovation of jatseong continued. Those built in the high mountainous areas to prevent horses from getting lost in the deep woods or freezing to death were called sangjatseong (“upper horse farm fences”), while those in the middle region, constructed where farming and grazing could be alternated every other year, effectively expanding the farmland, were called jungjatseong (“mid-level horse farm fences”). During the Japanese occupation (1910-1945), these state-run pastures were turned into communal farms. Large sections of the horse farm fences surrounding Mt. Halla have been lost or damaged; only around 60 kilometers remain intact today.
If one looks closely at Jeju’s stone walls, one can notice that their appearance has changed remarkably over time. That is, their shape and purpose have changed in line with changes in lifestyle and environment. Stone walls have been raised to protect mandarin trees, and are being installed as barriers on either side of the ever-expanding roads. To make the walls sturdier, they are encased in wire netting or gaps between the stones are filled with cement. But some things remain the same. The walls look sullen because they harbor complex emotions, torn between wishes to preserve old values and the urge to accept change. This duplicity of desires is also a long-standing heritage of Jeju.
한국국제교류재단
