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Beyond the Novel Seaside Village: Discovering Gijang’s Sea and the Lives of Its People Jeonggwan Museum Presents Special Exhibition “Seaside Village, The Sea of Gijang

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Jeonggwan Museum, part of the Busan Museum, announced that it will hold the 2026 special exhibition “Seaside Village, The Sea of Gijang” from September 8 to December 6 in the Special Exhibition Hall on the first floor of Jeonggwan Museum.

The exhibition takes Oh Yeong-su’s novel Seaside Village as its starting point to illuminate Gijang’s sea and the lives of its fishing-village residents, while exploring the lifestyles, culture, and collective memories of local people who have made their living from the sea for generations.

The exhibition consists of five sections, beginning with the novel Seaside Village, moving through the life and culture of Gijang’s fishing villages, and then tracing their origins further back into the past.

Section 1, “The Man Who Captured the Seaside Village,” explores the life and literary world of author Oh Yeong-su, the background to the creation of Seaside Village, and Ilgwang in Gijang, which served as the setting for the work.

Sections 2 through 4, from “People Who Live by the Sea” to “A Seaside Village Living Together,” highlight the livelihoods and community culture of Gijang’s seaside villages, including the lives of fishers and female divers who have depended on the sea, anchovy fishing and underwater harvesting, changes in fishing implements, fishing village associations, and communal fishing grounds.

Section 5, “The Beginnings of Generations of Seaside Villagers,” looks back at the long history of maritime life and fishing activities in the Gijang area through archaeological artifacts such as fishing-net sinkers, fishhooks, and harpoons excavated from sites including the Cheonggang-ri Site and Yongsu-ri Site in Gijang.

The exhibition will present approximately 100 items, including a first edition of the novel Seaside Village, fishing gear and tools used by female divers, documentary records and old photographs, materials related to fishing-village communities, and artifacts associated with ancient fishing practices.

Major exhibits include a first edition of Oh Yeong-su’s novel Seaside Village, a female diver’s suit, a diving buoy* and catch net**, the Map of Seaweed Rocks in Hak-ri***, and fishing implements from the Three Kingdoms period excavated from the Dongnae Shell Midden.

• ●Diving buoy: A buoyancy device used by female divers when gathering seafood.

** Catch net: A net used by female divers to hold harvested seafood, used together with the diving buoy as a set.

*** Map of Seaweed Rocks in Hak-ri: A map produced in 1909 recording the geographical characteristics and ownership of seaweed rocks in Hak-ri Village, present-day Ilgwang-myeon, Gijang-gun, Busan.

Visitors can also gain a detailed view of Gijang’s ports and fisheries, the production and distribution of seafood, and the lives of fishing-village residents from the late Joseon period through the modern and contemporary eras through historical records and photographs, including Namcheon Ilrok, Hanguk Susanji, and a 1936 Maeil Sinbo article.

The exhibition will be open from September 8 to December 6, Tuesday through Sunday, from 09:00 to 18:00. Admission is free.

The museum is closed every Monday. If Monday is a public holiday, it will close the following day instead, while remaining open as usual on public holidays.

For more information about the exhibition, visit https://museum.busan.go.kr/jeonggwan or call 051-720-6900.

Jeonggwan Museum Director Dong Jin-suk said, “This exhibition begins with the sea of Gijang depicted in Oh Yeong-su’s Seaside Village and is designed to offer visitors a broader look at the lives and culture of fishing-village residents that stretch back much further in time.”

She added, “We hope this exhibition will help visitors discover that Gijang’s sea has been more than simply a natural environment: it has been a place of life and livelihood that has sustained people’s work, communities, and memories across generations.”