On Jeju Island, now part of South Korea, dynastically-owned ranches developed up until the 19th century spread across the slopes of Mt. Halla which soars upward at the center of the island. However, taking advantage of the mild climate, mandarin orange farms have now become widespread on Jeju Island, taking the place of the old ranches. One origin of those farms is a mandarin orange farm that was established at Seohong-ri on the south slope of Mt. Halla by Japanese living there during the era of Japanese rule. This farm was handed over to Korean residents after World War II, and both the farm and the late Mr. Kang, the planter, are still highly respected.
The purpose of this research is to investigate concretely how the mandarin orange farm in Seohong ri, in the present suburban area of Seogwipo City, was established during the era of Japanese rule, and how it was handed down to the residents after that period. This study involves analyzing cadastral materials such as cadasters and cadastral maps, verifying the register list, and interviewing the residents.
First, according to the examination of the cadastral materials recorded from the beginning of the Japanese jurisdiction, it was possible to confirm that low grade fields and forests were spread out over the upper slopes of the village due to the disuse of the dynastically-owned ranches. From the viewpoint of land ownership, the upper slope of the village was occupied as government-owned ground in the 1910’s. On the other hand, the ownership of the lower slope of the village was complicated as the proprietors of the residential land and those of the surrounding farmlands did not necessarily correspond with the movement of the residents’ settlements. The land on the upper slope of the village gradually came to be owned by the residents, and land on the more gentle slopes were owned by the Japanese. The mandarin orange farms were developed on these lands. However, the area of these farms held by the Japanese did not change during the era of Japanese rule. Moreover it is recorded in the cadastres that the land ownership of the farms was assigned in 1951 to Mr. Kang, who was a Korean who did not live in the neighborhood of Seohong ri.
According to interviews of the residents, even the descendants of Mr. Kang do not know the reason why Mr. Kang acquired the farm. Evidence from his family register and from many interviews reveals that the first Korean owner was killed during the “4・3 Disturbance” and that Mr. Kang then happened to acquire the farms.
In South Korea, generally speaking facilities developed by the Japanese and the people who later acquired them tend to receive negative evaluations. However, the residents gave comparatively positive evaluations of the mandarin orange farms of Seohong-ri because they agreed that the location of these properties was on a degraded slope and that the acquisition of the farms by Mr. Kang after World War II contributed much to the economy of the village. In addition, there is a possibility that such positive assessments were supported by the fact that Mr. Kang had not assumed control of the farms directly from the Japanese. The time of Japanese rule was also a time when the Korean residents of Seohong-ri were able to expand their own lands.
As mentioned above, this research investigated the locations and the extent of the mandarin orange farms that the Japanese established, and examined in detail the changes in the ownership of these lands through analysis of the cadastral materials. Based on this study, it is clear that the cadastral materials provided a means to clarify the process of the transfer of the farms that the residents themselves did not know well.
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