IREUM, GYEOL · LIBRARY
Reading ancestral-seat and clan history
Learn what a name cannot establish about a clan, and how sourced history differs from a symbolic story.
A Hanja surname does not establish an ancestral seat
People using the same Hanja surname can have different ancestral seats, known as bon-gwan. The field is optional and should be filled only when known. Both the selected Hanja surname and the entered seat must match a curated entry. The site does not infer a clan from a name alone.
Four currently supported histories
The current entries are Papyung Yoon, Gimhae Kim, Jeonju Lee, and Miryang Park. Their summaries link to sources from the Academy of Korean Studies and the cities of Gimhae and Jeonju. An unsupported seat does not prevent a reading. It simply leaves out history that has not been prepared and checked.
The record and the metaphor are labeled separately
The clan card first presents a sourced historical summary, then a separately labeled metaphor inspired by it. Preserving records can be placed beside Earth as an image of a foundation. That literary connection is not evidence about a historical person’s character or a present-day descendant’s temperament.
The ancestral seat does not alter the arithmetic
The Heaven number comes from surname strokes. Entering or clearing a seat does not change any grid. Clan history is confined to the Heaven card; it does not enter the synopsis, complete story, or practical reflections. A family’s history is not used to assign an individual a predetermined life.
Reading sources and suggesting corrections
Genealogies, encyclopedias, and local records can have different scopes and dates. Follow the source links to read their context. If you notice an error, contact the service with the seat and a supporting source link. You do not need to send a real name or sensitive family documents to suggest a correction.