In Andong, the Nakdong River bends around Hahoe Folk Village before continuing through a landscape of fields, wooded slopes and low hills. The water is not merely a scenic backdrop: it helps explain the village’s name and the way its settlement sits within the terrain. From the village, Buyongdae Cliff rises across the river, while lanes thread between tiled roofs, thatched houses and old trees.
Hahoe and Yangdong, another historic village in southeastern Korea, were founded in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries and expanded over later generations. UNESCO describes both as representative clan villages shaped by the Confucian culture of early Joseon, the dynasty that ruled Korea from 1392 to 1910. Their setting was chosen for more than defense or convenience; mountains, water and farmland were understood as sources of material and spiritual well-being.
