The "University Tree" and Front-Tooth Work Exchange: Gurye Cornelian Cherry Farming (Important Agricultural Heritage No. 3)
Place · Sansuyu Village area, Sandong-myeon, Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do
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Gurye Cornelian Cherry Trees
At a glance
- Tree
- Gurye Cornelian Cherry Trees
- Age · era
- Past ways of life (the "university tree", seed-separating work exchange) / Designated Important Agricultural Heritage in 2014
Story
Gurye-gun says the cornelian cherry tree was also called the "university tree" (daehak namu), and a Rural Development Administration webzine writes that, earning more than rice farming, the tree was a "university tree" that could even pay for children's college tuition. Separating the seeds from the flesh was done by the village's children and women as a work exchange (pumasi), and in the old days they bit off only the flesh with their front teeth and spat it into a bowl. Gurye-gun tells that Sandong girls with worn front teeth were recognized even in other regions, and that in places such as Namwon and Suncheon there was fierce competition to take them as daughters-in-law. The stone walls of the groves were built when the farmland was cleared, and they mark the boundary between trees and fields, reduce moisture evaporation and support the trees against typhoons. Gurye cornelian cherry farming was designated Important Agricultural Heritage No. 3 in 2014 (the cornelian cherry landscape around houses and farmland, wildlife habitat, and traditional farming methods such as fertilizing and seed removal), and as of November 2025 a bid for Globally Important Agricultural Heritage (GIAHS) listing is under way. Every November, when the red fruit ripens, a fruit festival is held around Sandong-myeon.
Sources — 12 records and legends
Records are facts written in the sources. Legends are stories handed down over time. Sources are in Korean.
Record
- The designation table in a Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs press release lists Gurye cornelian cherry farming as Important Agricultural Heritage No. 3, designated in 2014, citing as its features a landscape created by planting cornelian cherries around houses and farmland, varied wildlife habitat, and traditional farming methods such as fertilizing and seed removal. The same material says a bid is under way to list the Gurye cornelian cherry farming system as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage.
농림축산식품부 보도자료(2025-11-02) 「한국의 전통 농어업 유산 4개, 세계중요농업유산으로 공식 인증」 · checked 2026-10-04
- A Rural Development Administration webzine writes that the cornelian cherry tree, which earned more than rice farming, was a "university tree" that could even pay for children's college tuition, and explains that the stone walls of the cornelian cherry village support the trees and create an environment where they can live long. It says machines have been introduced for picking, drying and separating seed from flesh.
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-04
- Gurye-gun says the cornelian cherry tree was also called the "university tree", and explains that the stone walls of the groves were built when the farmland was cleared and serve as boundary markers between trees and fields, reduce evaporation of soil moisture, and act as supports against typhoons. It introduces a cornelian cherry fruit festival, with fruit picking and more, held around Sandong-myeon every November when the red fruit ripens.
구례군 문화관광 — 구례 산수유길 · checked 2026-10-04
- A Rural Development Administration webzine writes that even the roadside cornelian cherry trees in Gurye each have an owner and are carefully tended. Records in the Sejong Sillok Jiriji, Sallim Gyeongje, Dongguk Yeoji Seungnam, Seungjeongwon Ilgi and others show that cornelian cherry was grown in Gurye for tribute payment, that in the 1970s Saemaul Movement it was expanded on empty house sites and fallow land as a main income crop, and that free distribution of seedlings from the late 1960s to the late 1970s helped create today's landscape. The farmland area of Sandong-myeon is a little over 10% of its total area.
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-05
- A Rural Development Administration webzine writes that harvesting cornelian cherries and getting them to market took a long time and much labor. Before the fruit froze, they spread straw mats and shook the trees where poles could reach, or carried a net bag up the tree and picked by hand, then sorted out the leaves and debris that fell with them. They dried the fruit in the sun, spread it on a heated ondol floor to drive off more than 60% of the moisture, then kept only the flesh and dried it completely before it could be sent to market.
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-05
- A Rural Development Administration webzine writes that cornelian cherry roots spread widely but do not go deep, which can be a weakness against strong typhoons and floods, and that the stone walls spread across the village make up for this. The stone-wall lanes wind about like waterways, with house fences built a little higher and field boundaries somewhat lower.
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-05
- A Rural Development Administration webzine writes that there was a time when children were raised on the fruit picked from cornelian cherry trees, and that the Cornelian Cherry Fruit Festival is held in autumn when red fruit hangs in clusters. With the festival and processed goods bringing life to the village, it says, the cornelian cherry also began to be nicknamed the "filial son tree" (hyojanamu).
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-05
Legend
- A Rural Development Administration webzine writes that children and women of the village were mobilized for separating seeds from flesh as a work exchange, and that in the old days they bit off only the flesh with their front teeth and spat it into a bowl. It says there is a saying that a girl from Sandong could easily be recognized even in other regions.
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-04
- Gurye-gun introduces a story that in the old days girls of Sandong-myeon put cornelian cherries in their mouths and separated seed from flesh with their front teeth, that their worn front teeth made them recognizable in other regions, and that in places such as Namwon and Suncheon there was fierce competition to take them as daughters-in-law.
구례군 문화관광 — 구례 산수유꽃 축제 소개 · checked 2026-10-04
- From the Korea Tourism Organization's Korea Travel Guide article: the article introduces a legend that about 1,000 years ago a young woman from Shandong (山東) in China brought cornelian cherry with her when she married into Gurye, and that it spread to become today's Gurye cornelian cherry groves. In Gyecheok Village, Sandong-myeon, stands the oldest founding cornelian cherry tree (sinmok, "first tree") in Korea, called the "Grandmother Tree". The Gurye Cornelian Cherry Flower Festival is held in this area every spring.
한국관광공사 대한민국 구석구석 여행기사 · checked 2026-09-30
- A Rural Development Administration webzine writes that in the work exchange for separating seed from flesh, the amount of work was measured by a bowl and paid accordingly, and that because the bowl size differed from house to house, a saying has been handed down: "The size of the bowl is the character of the lady of the house." It says this communal activity also served to bring the village together.
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-05
- A Rural Development Administration webzine tells a legend that a young woman from Shandong Province in China, marrying into Gurye a thousand years ago, brought cornelian cherry so as not to forget her hometown and planted it in her new home. It also writes that, drawing on the cornelian cherry flower's meaning in the language of flowers, "eternal love", the custom of young people in Gurye giving their sweethearts cornelian cherry blossoms and the red fruit that survived winter was developed into a festival.
농촌진흥청 웹진(2020-04) 「마을을 묶어주는 나무 구례 산수유군락지」 · checked 2026-10-05
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