Kim Jongwon    Lee Junga    Lim Jeongcheol    Hwang Sookyoung    Kim Jeongeun

10.18399/acta.2011.14.2.009

ancient forest pibo forest (裨補林) ecological preservation ecotope Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft geomancy (fengshui) PNV (potential natural vegetation) yŏpsŭng forest (厭勝林)

Relic forests comprise very original and unique cultural vegetation corresponding to the indigenous culture in Korea. This study examines Korea’s traditional Confucian values as a determinant that allows even fragmented relic forests to survive, and tries to consider the preservation of the surviving forests. As research materials, five relic forests, which are typical and representative of such forests in terms of their size or structure, were selected: namely, Mansongjŏng of Andong, Sŏngbaksup of Sŏngju, Karosup of Ŭisŏng, Sangnim of Hamyang and Kyerim of Kyŏngju. Through a survey on the historical records of each relic forest, an eco-sociological reinterpretation of the origins of the forests was carried out. Also, an on-site phytosociological investigation of the relic forests and their habitat conditions was accomplished. The transformation of the cover-abundance value was used to indicate the tree species performance of each relic forest. All of the five relic forests were thought to have originated from “forests artificially created by certain classical scholars” from the dictionary interpretation of Chinese characters in the historical records. As a result of this study, however, it was found that all of the relic forests originated from natural forests. In spite of the efforts to preserve these relic forests, this misunderstanding about the origins of relic forests, was found to have resulted in the qualitative and quantitative degradation of the forests. Due to the Chosŏn Dynasty’s Confucian values, Korea’s relic forests could survive until the beginning of the twentieth century; however, they have undergone changes from ancient prehistoric times to today’s urban industrial times along with the decline of Confucian values. As a result of this study it was concluded that even the surviving relic forests are mostly disappearing. Korea’s relic forests are not a space of landscape gardening for amusement but are rather a ‘relic forest-traditional village ecotope’, namely a unique cultural space in which nature and humans are in harmony.