Ui-won: The 18-19C Joseon scholar's garden of imagination

Abstract

A ui-won is a garden created by and enjoyed through the mind by late-Joseon dynasty scholars. Its enjoyment was however not always constrained to the mind, as at times it was reproduced into forms such as the written word and painting. The garden is the stage where one strives to transcend human limits and finitude, the mise-en-scene created by imagination and inspiration. The ui-won is the product of the effort to create this realm through the imagination. The practice of ui-won began in earnest during the eighteenth century, when the economy and culture of the Joseon society prospered and matured. In the difficult and unsympathetic life that scholars in the city led, a ui-won appeased the pang of unfulfilled desires in reality while vicariously gratifying the dream of spiritual transcendence. Also, as it was shared among fellow scholars in the form of poetry, essays and paintings as a sophisticated form of leisure, it facilitated the communication and understanding between them. The ui-won, satisfying the aesthetic taste and cultural demand of the time with its foundation on a hypothetical world of free imagination, also sheds light on the contemporary quest for a new way of communicating gardens in this digital age.