The hanging wooden plaque are woodblocks on which letters are carved and hung between gates and the eaves of buildings. Though the letters indicate simply the names and characters of buildings and also, include the meanings for the decorations of buildings, the carved letters have highly connotative and symbolic meanings. Therefore, the hanging wooden plaque play a significant role in representing the loyalty and warmth of the owners of the buildings in the form of literature and art and in promulgating them widely.

There aren’t hanging wooden plaque in all the buildings, but rather, the plaque were generally posted at the royal palaces, the buildings of the national institutions, the royal palaces in the Buddhist temples and the buildings of gentry families. They indicate the function of the various structures, promoting an awareness of their utility among the inhabitants of the region and an understanding of their significance among common folk.

The hanging wooden plaque are given the titles of Jeong (Pavilion), Ru (House), Dang (House), Jae (Hall), Heon (House), Sa (Shrine), Gak (Hall) among others. In the late Joseon Dynasty, going through the process of reconstructing, repairing and rebuilding buildings, the initial concepts were often confused, so it is common that they are often used without distinction.

The calligraphy letters on the hanging wooden plaque were to be decorated magnificently at the highest level corresponding to the buildings. The greatest calligraphers’, writers’ and scholars’ letters of the time were written on the plaque, so that examples of the greatest and most significant handwriting in the history of calligraphy remain intact. Therefore, it is recognized that the letters on the hanging wooden plaque reflect the trend and the spirit of the age, of the time as well as the popular styles of handwriting of the day.