Kimchi-gwang (Korean kimchi storehouse)

A shelter built above the jars

Kimchi-gwang, also called kimchi-gak or kimchi-um, is a small storehouse for kimjang kimchi. A Korean architectural encyclopedia says the form was used mainly in Gyeonggi Province. Because kimchi jars were buried to moderate temperature changes, the storehouse needed a frame large enough for people to reach the jars. It was commonly placed behind a kitchen on slightly raised ground to limit rainwater entry.

The below-ground jars and the above-ground shelter are distinct parts of one installation. The linked buried-winter-kimchi-jar record covers the vessel; this page focuses on the framed shelter, its entry and the pit underneath.

Pit and frame

The floor pit could be rounded or elongated, depending on the shelter footprint. Jars were buried with spaces between them so people could reach them and soil was less likely to slump into the openings. The encyclopedia says jars were set deep enough that their lids did not touch the soil. The frame was built from the outside ground surface after the pit work, rather than erected inside a deep underground room.

Two roof-frame arrangements are recorded rather than one standard blueprint. One uses three principal rafters meeting in a triangular form, with smaller rafters and thatch. Another uses two posts and a ridge member, with rafters descending toward the ground and a thatched covering. The written account gives no dimensions, measurements or construction chronology.

A close side entrance

The entrance was made in a side wall and arranged so the cold wind did not blow straight through; the opening was also screened from direct view outside. The small roofed structure protected the below-ground jars from exposure while leaving them reachable for household storage. The National Institute of Korean History describes winter jars buried in earth with a protective kimchi-gwang shelter above, and also records other storage methods such as wells or streams in summer and later sawdust or rice-husk insulation.

The illustration is a source-guided cutaway showing the relationship between roof, entry, soil and buried jars. It is not a measured reconstruction. The structure is not interchangeable with an open jangdokdae yard platform, a basement room or a modern kimchi refrigerator.

Regional and historical limits

The architectural encyclopedia places this form mainly in Gyeonggi-do and gives specific details about its location, pit and roof-frame variants. The National Institute of Korean History describes buried winter kimchi jars and the protective shelter at the broader Korean scale. The sources do not establish one design for every region, a universal jar arrangement or a first date for the building. No age is assigned here.