As the word, hermit, suggests, it is related to the literature in a close space.

Some writers of the Goryo Dynasty and the Joseon Dynasty were attracted mostly to mountainous parts, lived in seclusion hiding from the eyes of the world, and wrote their literary works.

Why they lived in seclusion and wrote literary works was the combination of the political reason and the voluntary reason. Thus, Gangwon-do province and Wonju were preferred places for writers who wanted to hide from the world in many cases because of the political reason, because Wonju and its vicinity areas are well known for mountains that are not easily accessible.

It seems that they all just hid from the world but it was not. They cemented their beliefs and philosophies, kept cultivating their mind and spirit to help the society become a better place, continued to teach young scholars, and tried to have other people of the world learn their ideologies and philosophies through their literary works including poetry.

It was not a sheer seclusion. It was their continuous try to meet the world though they lived in seclusion and wrote their works. In this perspective, it is called Seclusion Literature.

Let’s bring up some examples.

Won Cheon-seok(1330- death year unknown), who was born and raised in Wonju, was a great scholar. He served as a chancellor of the National University for Education of the Goryo Dynasty, or Gukjagam, the highest educational institution. However, the politics of the late Goryo Dynasty era became chaotic, he became very cynical about the politics, retired and came home to Wonju, his hometown, and lived up in Mt. Chiaksan(now one of national parks). While living up in a deep terrain of Mt. Chiaksan, he served his parents and wrote around 1000 poems reflecting how the society was in the late Goryo Dynasty and the early Joseon Dynasty, his ideas and philosophies.

Lee Dal(1539-1612) was born in Wonju as the son of a concubine but elevated his sorrows of the inevitable low social status to a literary realm. He lived in a remote village called ‘Son-gok’ of Wonju, taught Heo Gyun(1569-1618) who later became a prominent politician and poet, novelist, scholar, and writer, and left lots of poems.

Won Ho(1396-1463), who was born and raised in Wonju, was a recognized scholar. In 1453, Prince Suyang killed ministers of the palace and seized the throne, and Prince became a king himself. In defiance of this treacherous treason, Won Ho resigned from his public position, came back to Wonju, his hometown, and built a small cottage by himself, secluded himself from the outer world, and lived there, never leaving his home until his death, meaning that he did not want to serve the king who took the throne forcefully and he wanted to keep the fidelity to his former king. While he hid from the world, he, nevertheless, worked on his literary pieces and left anthologies of poetry.

Kim Chang-il(1548-1631) was a scholar who served under a king in the middle Choseon Dynasty era and he also served as a commander of an army raised in the cause of justice to fight off the Japanese army that invaded Korean peninsula. This kind of army was not a regular, standing army, but they were formed mainly with peasants and former soldiers who were determined to fight against the Japanese army that invaded the Korean peninsula and tried to take over the Joseon Dynasty. Later, Kim Chang-il felt sick and tired of political strife between parties in the dynasty and the purge of scholars and government high-ranking public officials made him feel determined to leave the world and relocated to Wonju. He also left lots of poems while living in Wonju for the rest of his life.

They all seemed to make themselves secluded from the world but it was not actually. Secluding from the world, living in a remote area of Wonju, and writing their own literature do not simply mean that they completely turned their back on the world. They wrote poetry, helped and taught younger generation, and committed to helping the society become better.