Gujorari is a coastal village at the southeastern tip of Geoje Island. The village hall of Gujorari holds 184 old documents drawn up between the late 18th century and the early 20th century. The old documents of Gujorari are characterized as “old vi...
Gujorari is a coastal village at the southeastern tip of Geoje Island. The village hall of Gujorari holds 184 old documents drawn up between the late 18th century and the early 20th century. The old documents of Gujorari are characterized as “old village documents” as the villagers were the subjects that made the documents or had direct or indirect connections with them. Old village documents were made to promote the administrative functions of a village and linked to the life of the villagers, thus offering hints about the aspects of village life. The old documents of Gujorari show the characteristics of Gujorari as a seaside village and commoners` village.
The most essential issues of community life in the village of Gujorari involved the passengers` host and Eojo. The passengers` host served passengers, brokering the sale and purchase of goods commissioned by passengers. In Gujorari, the position of passengers` host was given to Jonwis and Gongsawons, the representatives of the village. They performed public duties such as entertaining government officials on a visit. In a process of establishing the practice, they made a document called “Wanui” in case of internal agreement, submitted a “Deungjang” to the government office, and received a certification from the office to ensure the observance of Wanui content.
Eojo is a method of catching fish by anchoring a boat on the path of fish and setting a net there. There were 13 Eojo spots owned by the village of Gujorari. The Eojos of Gujorari were not privately possessed by the government office or the villagers. They were managed by the village, being thus categorized as “Myeondongjo.” The people of Gujorari made a Wanui based on their voluntary agreement on the allocation method of Eojo and got a certification for the agreed content from the government office.
These findings indicate that the people of Gujorari went through a process of reaching an agreement on the styles of community life, codifying it through “Wanui,” and establishing a mode of operation. When the content of agreement was not observed, they submitted a Deungjang to the government office, obtained an Ipji, and got a certification from the office to solve the conflict. They also tried to grant the authority of the government office to the content of regulations that the villagers agreed on.