• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.64-79
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• 2021

In Korea, mountains constitute 60 percent of the total land area. For a long time, mountains have been deeply involved in people's daily lives, acting as a significant layer of culture. For those reasons, it would be meaningful to shed light on the values of the mountain culture of Korea and seek various ways to utilize them. Therefore, this study aims to explore Korea's mountain enjoyment culture, considering the mountain leisure in the Joseon Dynasty period, when the heritage of mountain enjoying culture was prevalent, and that of the present era. For the analysis, hiking records of the Joseon Dynasty and present-day hiking blog posts related to three famous mountains in Korea were examined. Findings show that people stayed in the mountains for a long time in the Joseon Dynasty, concentrating on the landscape deeply, and various academic and artistic cultures flourished there. In contrast, contemporary people regard the mountain merely as a space to access the peak and climb down quickly within a day. Therefore, the landscape of the mountain cannot be used as a cultural asset beyond natural scenery. However, there are several positive aspects to today's climbing culture. For example, it is easy to obtain information on climbing and feasible ways to conduct various sizes and concepts of hiking due to the development of technology and transportation. In order to develop Korea's unique mountain enjoyment culture in the future, we should propose a 'leisurely hike' that allows people to enjoy the mountain scenery fully and sublimating it into culture, rather than being hiking that is limited to climbing. In addition, it is essential to create suitable spaces, arranging them appropriately to utilize the history and humanities context of the mountain, and connect local facilities and the workforce, thereby causing the development of various mountain enjoyment cultures.