Heo Jun Festival
Overview
The Heo Jun Festival is a traditional medicine culture festival held annually in Sancheong County, Gyeongsangnam-do, to honor Guam Heo Jun (구암 허준, 1539–1615), regarded as the greatest physician of the Joseon dynasty, and to carry on the value of Donguibogam (『동의보감』), the medical encyclopedia he completed. Beginning in 2001, it has presented Korean medicine experiences, herbal culture, traditional rites, and performance programs centered on Donguibogam Village and the Sancheong-eup area, establishing itself as a representative Korean medicine and wellness festival of South Korea. In the 2010s, as it was integrated and reorganized with the Sancheong Korean Medicine Herbal Festival, which had been held separately in the region, it has been operated under the name "Sancheong Heo Jun Festival."
Main Content
Background and Origins
Heo Jun served as a royal physician during the reigns of King Seonjo and Prince Gwanghae, and completed Donguibogam in 1610 (the 2nd year of Prince Gwanghae). The book is a vast medical work of 25 volumes and 25 books, evaluated as a compilation of the achievements of traditional East Asian medicine at the time, and was inscribed on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2009. Sancheong is known as the place where Heo Jun stayed in his later years and where his tomb is said to be located in the Geumseo-myeon area; based on this historical connection, the local community created a festival honoring Heo Jun's medical art and spirit.
Dates and Venue
The festival has generally been held from spring (around May) to autumn according to the schedule of each year, and its timing and scale have sometimes been adjusted in response to the COVID-19 situation and local conditions. The main venues are Donguibogam Village, established in Geumseo-myeon, Sancheong County, and the Sancheong-eup area; Donguibogam Village, a large Korean medicine-themed complex with a Korean medicine museum, herbal garden, and experience facilities, serves as the core hub of the festival.
Main Programs
At the center of the festival are contents themed around Heo Jun and Donguibogam. Representative events include Heo Jun rites and memorial ceremonies, performances reenacting the compilation process of Donguibogam, and plays, musicals, and street parades featuring Heo Jun. Popular visitor participation programs include herbal foot baths, Korean medicine tea tastings, making herbal decoctions and Korean medicine soap, herb gathering, and food experiences using herbs. Alongside these, Korean medicine medical volunteer services and free consultations, academic seminars on Korean medicine, markets selling herbs and Korean medicine products, traditional performances, and nighttime landscape lighting programs are operated as side events.
Industrial and Economic Effects
The Heo Jun Festival goes beyond a simple local event and serves to create real demand for Sancheong's herbal farms, Korean medicine industry, and tourism sector. During the festival, the influx of outside tourists increases sales in related sectors such as lodging, food, and transportation, and strengthens the regional brand of being the "home of Donguibogam." It is also used as core content for a region-specific strategy linked to the Korean medicine anti-aging and wellness industry.
Recent Trends
In 2020–2021, face-to-face events were greatly reduced or replaced by online and non-face-to-face methods due to the spread of COVID-19. Since 2022, the trend of normal hosting has recovered, and the creation of nighttime landscapes around Donguibogam Village and the expansion of stay-type tourism infrastructure have continued. In 2025, marking the 486th anniversary of Heo Jun's birth, programs putting Korean medicine and K-wellness content at the forefront were pursued, and in the same year, as Sancheong pursued hosting the World Traditional Medicine Anti-Aging Expo, an international promotional strategy linking the festival and the expo was discussed. Recently, attempts to combine traditional medicine resources with digital content, AI-based health consultations, and Korean medicine therapy tourism have increased, and multilingual guidance and expanded experience programs targeting foreign tourists are also underway. At the same time, amid the structural challenges of local extinction and population decline, there is a continuing movement to transform the festival into an all-season, year-round tourism model and to increase participation by local youth and small business owners.
Related Topics
- [[허준]]
- [[동의보감]]
- [[동의보감촌]]
- [[산청군]]
- [[산청한방약초축제]]
- [[한방의학]]
- [[유네스코 세계기록유산]]
- [[웰니스 관광]]