a Glimpse into an old house 운림 고택

Joseon 조선 dynasty(1392–1910) had the institution of Naesi 내시 who was a eunuch official, having served at the palace as a court attendant. Kim Byeongik 김병익(1842∼1925) was a Naesi at the royal court in the late Joseon dynasty. 

He came from the Kim family having resided in Imdang-ri village 임당리 in Geumcheon township 금천면, Cheongdo county 청도군 in Gyeongbuk 경북 province which had continued over 400 years, sixteen generations. His family line started a few years back before the Japanese invasions of Korea in 1592. 

Kim Byeongik, whose pen name was Ullim, was the 15th descendent of the Kim family. He held high office in the palace, in the later year, he retired to his home in Imdang-ri and built his own house, which has been well conserved until now. The house is called Ullim old house 운림고택. 

Ullim house has a building structure that had been popular in the 19th century. Similarly, the house style of the wealthier Yangban 양반 family, the highest social class in the Joseon period, has separate quarters as influenced by the Confucian culture: male quarters, secondary male quarters, and female quarters. However,  this house has extra gates to shut off access to the outside world for the women residing in the house.

Besides, gate quarters, servants' quarters, a main storehouse, a secondary storehouse, and a shrine are also located inside. The retired Naesi set his house facing towards north-west in the direction of the palace, not south, expressing his undying loyalty to the king in the palace. A south-facing home has been the most preferable in Korea.

This house has also unique and distinct features from other houses; the male quarters are unusually located to make it easier to see people passing through the gate at the entrance of the female quarters. The inner gate attached to the secondary male quarters is the only entrance to the female quarters. From the male quarters, all those who enter through the gate are easily visible, intending to minimize the likelihood of contact between the women living in the quarters and others, particularly men. With the only exception of parental death, the wives were not allowed to leave the house for their life.

                                         

The secondary male quarters, female quarters, and two storehouses, which are joined together by both of their sidewalls, form a square courtyard in the middle. The shrine and garden pond are located right in front of the main gate.

Naesi could not be a father, he was still allowed to marry a woman to form a family as the basic unit of Confucian traditional society and adopt a child from another family or an orphan or castrated boy to carry on the family line even though not sharing the same bloodline. 

It was inevitable that their stepsons came from diverse families. The Kim family's genealogical record found recently at the shrine includes the names of the male line of descent from the 2nd to the 16th generation, and shows us its descendants had almost different surnames, appearing to be almost unprecedented in Korea.

The institution of Naesi was formally abolished in 1908. The 17th generation descendent was also castrated but didn't work in the palace as a court attendant. Since the 18th generation descendent, they have maintained a normal father-son relationship.

*내시(內侍, Naesi), a Korean movie filmed in 1968