Pungnap Toseong

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Pungnap Toseong

The remains of Pungnap Toseong, which is widely believed to be the site of Wiryeseong (May 2004).

Korean name

Hangul	풍납토성
Hanja	風納土城
Revised Romanization	Pungnap Toseong
McCune-Reischauer	P'ungnap T'osŏng

Pungnap Toseong is a flat earthen wall built at the edge of the Han River, with a circumference of 3.5km. It is located in modern-day Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul, and previously was included in the neighboring city of Gwangju. It has a long oval shape, spreading to north and south, and leaning slightly toward the east. Based on research conducted during the Japanese occupation, it has been speculated that Pungnap Toseong was Hanam Wiryeseong, the first capital of Baekje.^[1]

At present, only 2.2 km of its walls remain. Including the west wall, which had been destroyed by flooding, its circumference reaches about 3.5km and its area nearly 859,508 m². After constructing this central part, the inner wall, mainly composed of sandy soil, grit, clayish soil and muddy soil, was set up by heaping earth at a slant. On the top of the last earthen layer of the inner wall, pebbles were laid in 3 layers and trimmed stones were piled up inside 1.5m high with mud prepared from natural soil, and by piling up the central part in trapezoid shape whose lower part is 7m wide and 5m high.