Throughout Kwangju in Kyonggl Province lies royal kilns of the Choson dynasty for the royal court and government offices. There still remains a considerable number of kiln sites m the area, and their relevant records are found in diverse documents including the Choson Wangcho Sillok(Chronicles of the Choson Dynasty) and the Sungjongwon Ilgi(the Diary of the Royal Secretariat). Recent researches, field studies and excavations have revealed the characteristics of the royal porcelain, structures of the kilns, regional distribution of the kiln sites by periods, and their operation system.
Kwangju, where for hundreds of years the royal porcelain had been produced, preserves the world's biggest ruins of kiln sites of white porcelains surpassing either the scale of Chinese and Japanese ceramic production arena or any other European sites. It is particularly significant in the history of Korean ceramics and the awareness of its importance is increasing. Unfortunately, the ruins have lost their earlier features due to many exploitations, and some face serious problems
This paper Investigated the state of regional distribution of kilns in Kwangju by classifying them in chronological order, and based on this investigation the operation system of the kilns and their relocation system have been examined. Current researches have verified that kilns are found m more than 290 locations throughout Kwangju. Comparative studies of shards from the kilns and historical records such as "Chiriji" in SeJong Sillok(Chronicles of Sejong), Choson Wangjo Sillok(Chronicles of the Choson Dynasty) and Chsopilchae-jip confirmed that it was between the late 14th and early 15th centuries that the kilns began to be built in Kwangju. They were, however, private kilns that was built in that period which mainly produced punch'ong wares, and it was not until the late 15th century that kilns producing white porcelains began to be constructed and operated by the court. Therefore, private and official kilns coexisted in the 15th century althongh private kilns producing punch'ong wares rapidly disappeared, for royal kilns were installed in the same area which caused the deficiency of firewood.
The kiln sites in Kwangju are divided into three stages - early(15-16th centuries), mid(17 first half of the 18th centuries) and late(latter half of the 18th and 19th centuries) periods and it was discovered that the numbers and distribution of kilns were different in each phase. About 60% of 290 odd locations of kilns identified until today came under the early period, 38% under the mid, and the rest fell under the late period, which reveals that kilns were concentrated in a certain period. In the early phase, kilns were mainly located in the northern and western areas of Kwaugju alloted near the principal streams adjoining the Han River Kilns are evenly distributed in the mid phase in the eastern, western and southern areas of Kwangju Furthermore, there was now a greater distance between the former and newly relocated kiln sites and most of them were built around the tributaries of the main streams. It is already known that the kilns from different periods were widely distributed all over Kwangju, that relocation of kilns were unavoidable due to the deficiency of firewoods, and even when some of the kilns were operated. However, the distribution status, numbers and relocation regions of the kilns were affirmed through this study, and it also proved that the fuel was the main factor of the relocation and distribution system
This paper also issues some chronological problems of kiln operation, which had only been studied based on a few number of shards without any concrete evidences up to now, by investigating the related literature on relocation of kilns and re-examining the existing researches on the remains. Moreover, Kwiyo-ri, which had been dated to 1480, is corrected to 1490s by putting together the routes of relocations and records of the kilns.
Royal kilns were relocated to different areas after being operated for a certain period of time, and this system was kept throughout the Choson dynasty. And kilns were generally classified into those who produced high quality porcelain and those with low quality. Yet, we have very little information on how many kilns were operated in one site on a certain period of time and what kind of operation system was employed. By reckoning the numbers of kilns with the relocation periods shown in the historical records and the entire running period of royal kilns, it is estimated that approximately eight kilns were built and operated during the period of ten years. It has been considered that the quality of porcelains differed depending on the kilns, which were thought be classified into the principal and the subordinate kilns or that there were kilns producing porcelains for non-government uses. However, it is again newly suggested in this paper that there were kilns producing imperial wares in a small quantity and those producing porcelains for the court and government offices in a large quantity. It is further proposed that the types, shapes and production techniques of the wares are different in each two group, imperial and government office, in order to distinguish the imperial wares from the official wares More systematic and comprehensive approaches are demanded for the investigation of organization and operation of the kilns with the analyzation of remains from the kilns, and the same means should be employed for examining the Kwangju region and materials for the researches