“The pointed house is a space where you can get a glimpse of the collective mentality of Japanese people living in colonial Joseon.”
Go Yoon-su, Daejeon City's curator of arts and sciences, explained the value of a pointed house at the 'Pointed House', a modern architectural heritage site in Daeheung-dong, Jung-gu, on the 30th of last month.
On this day, with the participation of about 20 citizens, an open house event was held as part of the 'Daejeon Heritage Open House' program, which temporarily opens modern and contemporary architectural heritage that was normally off-limits.
The pointed house built in 1929 during the Japanese colonial period is known to have been the residence of the Daejeon Railway Director.
There are 6 rooms in a two-story wooden building with a building area of 92㎡, and the living room is equipped with a Western-style sunroom (a room with glass walls for sunbathing) with a circular protruding wall and a conical roof.
The interior shows the characteristics of a typical Japanese house, including a Japanese-style tatami room, 'Toko Noma' (head table) and 'Oshiire' (storage space) with a raised floor centered on pillars.
At the same time, the roof has a gable-shaped, steeply raised, pointed shape, showing a unique form that is a compromise between Japanese and Western modern architectural styles.
In the 2000s, it was the tallest among the old houses in the Daeheung-dong area, so residents commonly referred to it as a “pointed house.” However, when it was registered as a cultural property designated by Daejeon City in 2008, it was named ‘Yangsang-style house.’
The current pointed house is not preserved in its original form.
In 2010, as an apartment complex was developed nearby and the Daeheung District 1 Redevelopment Association attempted to purchase and demolish the pointed house, the city changed it to a designated cultural property that administrative authorities can enforce preservation measures to prevent damage.
The city planned to relocate and restore the pointed house through an actual survey after consultation with the redevelopment association, but suffered the pain of unauthorized damage as the association forced a surprise demolition before that.
Although construction was belatedly halted, it had already been dismantled and only the structure remained.
The city completed the restoration of the current location at 37-5 Daeheung-dong based on the shape, records, and design drawings of the pointed house building, but it was very different from its original appearance.
The late curator expressed his bitterness, saying, "The location of the house, which was south-facing, changed to face the west, the Japanese-style garden disappeared, and only the building was restored as if it were forced in." He added, "It remains an unprecedented 'black history' in the history of cultural administration in Daejeon."
Ironically, when the story of the pointy house that suffered a storm was made known by a Japanese journalist, the identity of the owner who lived in the pointy house was revealed.
A woman who saw the SNS post posted by the journalist about 10 years ago contacted her, saying that it looked like the house where her great-great-grandmother Kieko lived, and it was finally confirmed that the name of the owner written on the cornerstone of the pointed house was that of this woman's ancestor.
This was a house built by Watanabe Iwaji, the director of the railway station who was dispatched from Japan at the time, to live with his mother, wife, and daughters. In the photo taken by the Watanabe family with the house in the background, not only is the complete view of the pointed house vivid, but you can also see the strangely shaped rocks in the garden that remained before the demolition work.
The Watanabe family sold their house to a Korean and returned to Japan a few years before liberation on August 15. According to Kieko's diary written on January 7, 1989, the day Emperor Showa died, "Thanks to the defeat in the war, Japan gained freedom and peace. The men who fought the war were foolish. What happened to that house (in Joseon)?" It contains the content of longing for the sharp house.
The fact that the ‘Daejeon March’ was premiered in this house has not been revealed until now.
It is said that Shinpei Nakayama, a famous composer who created 'Katyusha's Song', the origin of Japanese popular music, visited Daejeon to perform the Daejeon March, an enka song he created, but did not have a piano, so he searched around and held his first concert at the only peaked house in the area equipped with an upright piano.
It is known that this content is contained in 'Heian', a collection of works created by the Watanabe family in memory of their daughter Yasuko, who died from lung disease at a young age.
Curator Go Yoon-soo said, "There are many people who wonder why we should spend taxes to manage the houses left behind by the Japanese, and whether it is right to pay taxes for the legacy of the Japanese colonial era. Although there are some controversial aspects, it is also true that there are Japanese people living in Korea who still miss Korea and maintain ties through alumni associations."
On one side of the wall of the pointed house hangs a picture of sunflowers, a gift from Kieko's great-granddaughter, saying, 'Thank you for not tearing down the house.'
Choi Eun-kyung (60), who participated in the open house event that day, said, "When I lived in Daeheung-dong, I used to go back and forth and was curious about what the inside of the pointed house looked like, but when I heard that it was demolished, I was very upset." She added, "I was able to see the inside this time, and I relieved my resentment."
