The Eight Views as ‘Landscape Culture’ and Eight Views of Nujeong(樓亭八景) in the Late Joseon Dynasty

Landscape culture refers to the special consciousness, awareness, and practice of a cultural group that pursues a specific landscape. The ‘Eight Views(八景)’ as a product fall into the category of ‘cultural landscape’, but the Eight Views as an agent correspond to ‘oriental landscape culture’. Although the culture of Eight Views is known to have emerged in China, conceptually it is related to various ideologies such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, and should be understood as a complex product of inter-cultural exchange and dialogue between civilizations. The culture of the Eight Views of the Korean Peninsula had developed in the dimension of imaginary geography, taking the Eight Views of Xiaoxiang during the Northern Song Dynasty of China in the 11th century as its mother subject, and since 12th century had unfolded in various regional branches such as the Eight Views of the capital city[都邑八景], the Eight Views of the provinces[地方八景], the Eight Views of towns[邑治八景], the Eight Views of pavilions[樓亭八景], and the Eight Views of temples[寺刹八景]. In particular, as can be seen in the case of the Eight Views of pavilions of the Goesan[槐山] in the late Joseon Dynasty, the Eight Views of pavilions show the various backgrounds of the Nujeong[樓亭] construction, which are the basic conditions for its establishment, the regionalizational and localizational aspects of the Eight Views culture, and the ways of enjoyment of Eight Views of pavilions through the social network of the Nujeong owner. The practice of the Eight Views by Confucian scholars in the late Joseon Dynasty, which was carried out through pavilions, was the creation of a place to reflect on oneself and think about one's identity, beyond simple aesthetic consciousness.