Waeseong refers to the castles constructed by the Japanese invaders during Imjinwaeran or Jeongyujaeran(a war following Imjinwaeran) from Seoul to Pyeongyang, mainly on the south coastal(Namhaean) area of Korea, and their main purpose was to procure ...
Waeseong refers to the castles constructed by the Japanese invaders during Imjinwaeran or Jeongyujaeran(a war following Imjinwaeran) from Seoul to Pyeongyang, mainly on the south coastal(Namhaean) area of Korea, and their main purpose was to procure a military foothold at the south coastal area, and their secondary purpose was to make such castles to be the camp for the commanders and military, and at the same time, the station of war supplies. The Namhaean Waeseongs of Korea were constructed at Gadeok, Ungcheon and Yeongdeung-seong('seong' means a castle in Korean) in 1592 and at Seosaengpo, Gijang, Jaseong-dae, Angolpo, Geoje Island in 1593. About 30 of these Waeseongs exist on the Namhaean area only, and, in some inland areas, some structures that show the angle feature and fortification technique of Waeseong are found though entire and specific remains haven't been excavated yet. I collected and analyzed existing archaeological research results regarding Waeseong and the data obtained my own field trip to Waeseong. As a result, it was found that Waeseong had the international characteristics which represent both the traditional Japanese and Korean features of castles in respect of fortification technology. Also, it was also discovered that the these characteristics had contributed themselves to the development of modern Japanese castles for great part. Their specific contributions can be explained as follows. Firstly, The development process of the Japanese stone statue is as follows; firstly, establishment of stone temples, secondly, figure paintings, thirdly, old Daepan-seong('seong' means a castle in Korean), fourthly, the Namhaean Waeseong, fifthly, Bijeon Myeonghwakok-seong, sixthly, the modern stone statue, and lastly, Gangho-gi re-make seong. In the middle of this process, Waeseong is situated. Secondly, the Korean Waeseong is situated on a salient hill adjacent to a river or sea, and the second or third castle walls were surrounding the first or main castle walls which were located at the center of an entire castle. Thirdly, Castle stones can be classified into some categories including natural stones, severed-side stones, trimmed stones and ornament stones, and the order of their development process is firstly, natural stones, secondly, severed-side stones, thirdly, trimmed stones, and lastly, decoration stones. Especially, among the castles repaired during the later part of the Waeseong period, there are some cases in which three stages were used in turn, or, mixed stones including ornament stones were used for the modern Japanese castles. Fourthly, In respect of fortification technique of Waeseong, the corner of Waeseong had a different angle according to each different construction group or people; some had a 63° to 60° angle, and the other had an angle about 50° or above. However, at the end of Jeongyuwaeran, some had a bigger angle like 70° or 80°, and some had separate-style castle walls in which aforementioned two kinds of bigger coner angles were utilized all together as the layered castle walls were made to elevate the castle hills. At the end of the war time, there appeared some castles which had parabola castle walls. One can figure out that all these are originated from Waeseong. Fifthly, In respect of the structure of the castles, the unique features of Waeseong can be found from the modern Japanese stone statues, including Chiseong(low fence set up on the castles), Jeokdae(a part constructed at the two wings of a castle door to protect it from the enemy), Deungseongro(a road to climb a castle), Haeja(a pond or lake surrounding a castle) and Gosik Goryeo-mun('mun' mean a door in Korean). As above, Waeseongs on the Namhaean area of Korea are unique castles which have the international features mixing the Japanese-style fortification technique as its basic construction style and the fortification style of the Joseon Dynasty. At its primary time, Waeseong showed the strong influence by the Japanese-style, but, at after its prosperity, it showed much greater influence by the Korean fortification style than that of the Japanese style. Meanwhile, the Waeseong fortification technique was conveyed to the mainland Japan and contributed to the development of the modern Japanese stone statues.