Ikseon-dong () is a legal-status dong located in the center of , Jongno-gu, Seoul. It borders to the north, to the south, Nagwon-dong to the west, and and to the east. Transportation is convenient thanks to the nearby and , and Jongno 3-ga station on the subway. Within the dong are the Jongno 1·2·3·4-ga-dong Community Center and the 'Uri Sori Library', among other facilities. As of 2020, the population is around 1,000.
Ikseon-dong is famous for its hanok (traditional Korean house) village built from the 1920s onwards, and remains one of the oldest concentrated hanok districts in Seoul. During the Japanese colonial period, many artists lived here, including female pansori singers. After liberation, people from various social strata coexisted. Ikseon-dong, which once thrived on gisaeng restaurant (yojeong) tourism before declining, became a home for sexual minorities in the latter half of the 20th century, and has been a tourist attraction since the mid-2010s. Since the late 2010s, the neighborhood has been undergoing gentrification, causing rapid changes and criticism that its unique identity is being lost.
Name origin
The name Ikseon-dong first appeared during the administrative reorganization of April 1, 1914. At the time, it was formed by merging parts of Gunggong, Ikdong, Donneyong-dong, Nidong, and Handong of the Jeongson-bang (貞善坊), Donneyong-gye (敦寧契) in Jungbu, .Gyeonggi-do Notice No. 7 The name combines '선 (善)' from Jeongson-bang and '익 (益)' from Ikdong. Ikdong itself derived its name from the wing corridors (翼廊, iknang) of , which was famous for its long row of wing corridors known as 'julhaengnang'. The surrounding area came to be called Iknang-gol (翼廊―), which was shortened to Ikdong.
History Goryeo period Gyodong (校洞) in Jungbu, Hanseongbu, Joseon, covered the area that is now Gyeongwun-dong, Nagwon-dong, Jongno 2-ga, and Jongno 3-ga. Honorary Professor Choe Jong-hyeon of Hanyang University's Department of Urban Engineering inferred from a record in which Yi Bang-won (Taejong) ordered "build a secondary palace (Changdeokgung) on the land east of Hyanggyodong" that Gyodong was already a large village in the early Joseon period, large enough to be deliberately avoided when constructing palaces. Furthermore, considering that Jongno, , and the flanking were roads laid out in straight lines during the Joseon period, he concluded that the diagonal alleys intersecting these roads must have existed from the preceding Goryeo period. One trace of this is Donhwamun-ro 11na-gil, which runs north–south through Ikseon-dong; in the Goryeo period this alley was the , with a path running along the left bank of the stream.
Joseon period Ikseon-dong contained the and . Donneyong-bu was the government office that managed the king's relatives who did not belong to the . Nudong Palace was the residence of the descendants of . Cheoljong was born in a house on the site of Nudong Palace, and after ascending to the throne, he built a new house on his former homesite for his elder brother, , to live in. That house is Nudong Palace. Within Nudong Palace was , a shrine enshrining three figures: Jeon-gye Daewogun, Wanyang Budaebuuin Choe, and Yongseong Budaebuuin Yeom.
Originally, this area belonged to Jeongson-bang (貞善坊). The Dongguk Yeoji Bigo records that under Jeongson-bang were the sub-districts of Birojeon-gye, Imgisonson-gye, Gimmannyeon-gye, Sumundong-gye, Gobyeongjo-gye, Donneyong-bu Sang-gye (敦寧府上契), Donneyong-bu Ha-gye, Pajajeon-gye, Hamijeon-gye, Daemyodong-gye, Uijeon 1-gye, and Uijeon 2-gye, of which Ikseon-dong corresponds to part of the Donneyong-bu gye. The records that under Jeongson-bang were Daemyodong-gye, Uijeon 1-gye, 2-gye, Hamijeon-gye, Pojeon-gye (布廛契), Sumundong-gye, Gimmannyeon-gye, Imgisonson-gye, Birojeon-gye, Gobyeongjo-gye, Donneyong Sang-gye, Ha-gye, and Pajajeon-gye, of which Ikseon-dong corresponds to part of Donneyong-gye.
Following the Gabo Reform, the five bu were abolished and five seo (署) were established. At that time, the sub-administrative units of Jeongson-bang in Jungbu (中署) were as follows. In the late Joseon period, a dong (洞) was a unit of residents' living space based on alleys; a single dong did not necessarily correspond to a single bang (坊) or gye (契), and could belong to multiple bang or gye. BangGyeDongJeongson-bangDaemyodong-gye (大廟洞契)Myodong (廟洞), Hamyodong (下廟洞), Taejeongdong (太井洞)Gimmannyeon-gye (金萬年契)Daemyodong (大廟洞), Madong (麻洞), Nudong (樓洞)Jeongson-bang Donggu (洞口)Seungmun-gye (承文契)Seungmundong (承文洞)Imgisonson-gye (林己孫契)Madong (麻洞), Nudong (樓洞)Eouigung-gye (於義宮契)Eouuidong (於義洞)Donneyong-gye (敦寧契)Donneyongdong (敦寧洞), Jangdaejangdong (張大將洞), Handong (漢洞), Nudong (樓洞), Ikdong (益洞), Gungdong (宮洞), Nidong (泥洞), Seungmundong (承文洞)Nongpo-gye (農圃契)Nongpodong (農圃洞), Sumundong (水門洞)Gubyeongjo-gye (舊兵曹契)Nidong (泥洞)
Japanese colonial period
In 1914, the Japanese colonial government reorganized the existing dong of Gyeongseong-bu by dissolving and merging them into new jeong (町) and dong. Around 1921, , which cuts east–west through the center of Ikseon-dong, was opened. Around this time, Min Yeong-chan also lived in Ikseon-dong. The former private residence of , known as Wanhwa Palace (完和宮), was also in Ikseon-dong; an educational facility called Bando Women's Academy (半島女子學院) was later established there.
From the late 1920s to the early 1930s, Ikseon-dong was developed into a hanok district by real estate developer . As Japanese settlers living south of Cheonggyecheon in Namchon began expanding northward into areas predominantly populated by Koreans in the 1920s, Jeong Se-gwon countered this by building hanok communities for Koreans in Bukchon, Ikseon-dong, Bongik-dong, Chebu-dong, Changshin-dong, and other areas. He typically purchased a large hanok estate, demolished it, and built numerous small hanok tightly packed together. In Ikseon-dong, he developed lot 33 (formerly Wanhwa Palace) in 1929, and lots 166, 33-16, and 19 (formerly Nudong Palace) the following year. Meanwhile, the last owner of Nudong Palace, , sold the palace and used the proceeds to buy land in Hongeun-dong; in 1988, his grandson Yi U-yeong built a hotel there.
Many artists also lived in Ikseon-dong. The homes of Hong Myeong-hui (known as the 'Palheongmun house'), , , Yi Gi-yeong, and were all located here. The house of calligrapher and painter and Yi Byeong-jik later became the gisaeng restaurant Ojin-am. Famous pansori singer also lived in Ikseon-dong, and in 1931 donated her home to serve as the office of the Joseon Music Association. In 1937, purchased a house in Ikseon-dong and gave it to the (조선성악연구회), the successor to the Joseon Music Association, for use by and as well. This house was at lot 159 in Ikseon-dong; by 1994, the society's office rooms and the rooms used by the masters had already been demolished, leaving only the hanok where they practiced, which at the time was being used as a restaurant called 'Hanok'. According to Park Rok-ju's 1974 memoir, Kim Jong-ik also bought a home for her in 1937; in her later years, Park Rok-ju lived in a hanok at 21-4 Donui-dong, separated from Ikseon-dong by a single alley.
Post-liberation 20th century
According to testimony from Ikseon-dong residents, the neighborhood in the 1960s–70s had prominent figures living north of Samil-daero 30-gil, working-class residents around lot 166, and a working-class entertainment district to the south. were scattered throughout Ikseon-dong; as of December 1969, the three highest tax-paying establishments in Seoul—Ojin-am (monthly ₩1.23 million), Okryujang (monthly ₩1.02 million), and Daeha—were all located in Ikseon-dong. Among these, Ojin-am (梧珍庵) was a yojeong established around 1953 in a 700-pyeong hanok built in the early 1900s. In 1972, and held discussions there that led to the July 4th North–South Joint Statement, and it was frequently visited by political and business figures; along with Samcheongak and Daewon-gak, it was famous as one of the centers of yojeong politics in the 1970s–80s. At its peak, it employed some 70–80 staff and received the same number of guests per day. The influence of this yojeong culture is why hanbok shops and fortune-telling shops still remain in Ikseon-dong today. However, from the 1980s onwards, the wealthy began moving to Gangnam, and as the working class saw their children leave home, the elderly predominantly remained in Ikseon-dong. Between the houses were metalworking workshops supplying the jewelry district along Jongno 3-ga, and hanbok sewing workshops producing wedding trousseau items.
Meanwhile, from just after liberation, a large red-light district called Jongsam (鍾三) had existed from Tapgol Park to Jongno 5-ga; it was entirely eliminated between September and October 1968 in an operation called 'Nabi Jakjeon' (Butterfly Operation) under Seoul Mayor . After Jongsam was dissolved, the spaces formerly used as brothels became vacant, and by the late 1970s gay bars began opening around Pagoda Theater, forming an LGBT community spanning Nagwon-dong, Ikseon-dong, and Donui-dong.. Gay men who had been gathering in Sindang-dong and Euljiro since the 1960s migrated to the Nagwon-dong area after the Seongdong Theater in Sindang-dong closed in the early 1990s, and men in their 20s–30s who had begun gathering in Itaewon around the same time also moved to this area in the 2000s as gay venues there declined.
21st century
Despite its central urban location, Ikseon-dong retained its hanok and aged houses built in the modern era until the late 1990s. In 1997, 63% of residents supported redevelopment, and in 1999 redevelopment was blocked once due to hanok preservation concerns, but parts of Ikseon-dong were partially developed with officetel buildings. In the meantime, Jongno-gu Office pursued full-scale redevelopment of Ikseon-dong, and on May 6, 2004, an area of 31,121.5 m² around lot 165 was designated the Ikseon Urban Environment Improvement Zone.Seoul Metropolitan Government Notice No. 2004-124 , May 6, 2004. The residents pushing for development planned to build five-story commercial buildings adjacent to and, further inside, 13–14-story officetels, hotels, and apartments; the Seoul Metropolitan City Urban Planning Committee, noting the proximity to Insadong, recommended that traditional Korean elements be incorporated into the architecture.