The sign beside the old tree: how to read Korea's village guardians

In most Korean villages, and in more city neighbourhoods than you would expect, the oldest resident is a tree. Beside it stands a small stone or steel sign, and that sign is worth the detour.

What the marker tells you

The tree is a boho-su (보호수), a protected tree, registered by the local government. The marker lists a designation number, species, estimated age, height and girth. Zelkova, neutinamu (느티나무), is the species you will read most often, and ages of 300 to 500 years are common.

When the tree is also a shrine

Some are also dangsan namu (당산나무), the tree a village treats as its guardian. Look for a straw rope around the trunk, sometimes hung with white paper strips, or a flat stone at the base for offerings. Many villages still hold a rite here around the first full moon of the lunar year, in February or early March.

이 나무는 마을을 지키는 당산나무입니다.

How to find one and how to stand near it

Type 보호수 into Naver Map or Kakao Map and the nearer ones often appear as pins, usually down a lane with no other reason to enter. In Hahoe village near Andong, the zelkova at Samsindang, signed as more than 600 years old, waits at the end of a narrow walled alley.

There is no gate, no ticket and no closing time. Stay off the roots, leave the rope and anything tied to it alone, and read the marker before you take a photograph.