Toji, the Land Day Trip to Hadong: 1 Spot (1 Reported)

About the drama

Toji, the Land (토지) is SBS’s 52-episode adaptation of Park Kyongni’s landmark novel, broadcast from late November 2004 to May 2005. Kim Hyun-joo stars as Choi Seo-hee, heiress to the Choi family fortune, with Yoo Jun-sang as Kim Gil-sang; Lee Jong-han directed. The novel follows the Choi household of Pyeongsa-ri across the collapse of the Joseon order and the Japanese colonial period, and the drama was a prestige production, with whole period villages constructed for it.

Hadong is not a direct KTX destination: check live times for trains and buses on your travel date, and use Hadong town as the overnight base — the plain and the house reward a slow visit rather than a rushed stop.

Filming location: Choi Champandaek (Reported)

Pyeongsa-ri, in Hadong’s Agyang-myeon, is the real plain behind the novel’s fictional village, and it is where the Choi family’s great house was built: Choi Champandaek, a complex of fourteen hanok with the main house, annexes, a mill and a pavilion arranged as a wealthy landowner’s estate. VisitKorea’s attraction page for the house states it plainly — the complex was “also used as the main set of the drama version of Toji (2004)” — and the Korea Tourism Organization’s Korean travel coverage introduces it the same way, as the filming site of the drama Toji. Because both directly checked statements come from the same publisher family, the stop is graded Reported; a 2004 Maeil Business Newspaper article cited in reference summaries for the Hadong set construction would be the natural second source, and the grade will be revisited if it can be checked directly.

The house is a recreation, not a surviving Joseon mansion — the Choi family is fictional — but that is also its appeal: you walk through the set as a standing estate, in the middle of the wide Pyeongsa-ri fields that inspired the novel. VisitKorea lists it open every day of the year, 09:00–18:00, with modest admission (check current prices before you go). Hadong runs the site as one of the area’s signature attractions, and Park Kyongni’s literary presence is all over this corner of the county, so the visit pairs naturally with a slow look at the plain itself. Note the difference this guide keeps: the plain is the novel’s setting; the house is the place with a filming claim.

Pair it with other built sets

The same house appears in another drama’s travels: the Love in the Moonlight Across Korea guide lists the House of Choi Champan in Hadong among its places. For other period sets built for the screen, see the former coal-mine set in Descendants of the Sun Taebaek and the open set at The Scandal Mungyeong. How we grade a stop as reported rather than confirmed is explained in our method.

How we checked

The filming claim rests on the Korea Tourism Organization: its English attraction page calls Choi Champandaek the main set of the 2004 drama, and its Korean travel article calls the complex the drama’s filming site. Those are two pages but one publisher, and a Korean reprint of the same travel article counts as the same chain — so by this site’s rule of two independent sources for Confirmed, the stop is listed as Reported. A 2026 entertainment piece that mentions the house and the drama together was not counted, because its wording does not clearly name Toji as the filmed work. The drama’s broadcast facts were checked against reference pages that cite SBS’s official site.

Getting to Pyeongsa-ri

There is no KTX station in Hadong. The nearest KTX city is Jinju: Gyeongjeon Line KTX runs Seoul–Jinju (via Dongdaegu, Miryang, Changwon and Masan), and KTX service from Seoul to Jinju began on 5 December 2012. From Jinju, regional trains on the Gyeongjeon Line reach Hadong Station in about an hour; from Suncheon the same line takes about 50 minutes. Intercity buses run to Hadong Bus Terminal in the town centre — about 4 hours from Seoul and about 2 hours 30 minutes from Busan, per Wikivoyage. From Hadong town, a taxi to Choi Champandaek takes roughly 20 minutes according to a 2019 festival listing, so treat that figure as approximate; no local bus number or timetable to Pyeongsa-ri was verified, so check the last leg locally on the day and use the map links on the stop card. Train times via Korail: https://www.korail.com/global/eng . No fare figures are given here — no reliable Seoul–Jinju KTX fare range was found in this check. Drivers can take the Namhae Expressway to Hadong IC, then National Route 19 toward Namwon.

More than the house: the Toji Folk Literary Village

Choi Champandaek sits inside the Toji Folk Literary Village, established in 1998 and described by Hadong-gun as the first experiential literary village in Korea. Alongside the House of Choi Champan itself, the village includes the “Film Set of Toji”, the Pyeongsari Literary Museum, a traditional hanok experience hall and a traditional culture museum, with literary tours, youth literary classes, hanok tours and folk-culture programs year-round. The Daecheong Maru — the wooden-floored hall connected to the Sarangchae (men’s quarters) — looks out over the wide Pyeongsa-ri Field, the spot to sit and take in the plain the novel describes. That field, formed by the Seomjin River, covers 2,743,801 m² and is one of the largest fields along the river. On-site facilities include exhibition and experience halls, an outdoor stage, a street market selling regional products and foods, free parking and restrooms. The Toji Literature Festival, held at Choi Champandaek every October since the festival began in 2001, brings writing and drawing contests, poetry readings, concerts and pansori, performances and exhibitions — exact dates vary by year, so check before going.

Nearby in Hadong

None of these are filming claims for this drama — they are places to pair with the house in the same county. Ssanggyesa Temple, on Jirisan’s southern slopes, dates to the Silla period (722 in most accounts) and holds the Jingam stele, designated National Treasure No. 47. The Simni (10-ri) Cherry Blossom Road runs about 4 km, lined with more than 1,200 cherry trees between Hwagae Market and Ssanggyesa Temple, and is at its best in early April, when the Hwagae Cherry Blossom Festival fills it with stalls and photo spots. Hwagae Market itself is a major traditional market — Korea JoongAng Daily notes it (and Cheonghak-dong) as places featured in the Toji books, which is novel-setting colour, not a filming claim. The Hadong Wild Tea Museum, near the tea fields by Ssanggyesa, is open March–October 09:00–18:00 and November–February 09:00–17:00, closed Mondays, with free admission, exhibits on tea history and culture, and hands-on roasting and tea-ceremony experiences; Hadong green tea is promoted as a Silla-era tradition, and a wild-tea festival runs in May–June. The Seomjin River runs through the county, and Hadong’s signature dish is jaecheop-guk, a freshwater marsh-clam soup made from Seomjin River clams. A named walking trail, the Park Kyongni Toji-gil Trail course 1, runs from Seomjingang Pyeongsa-ri Park to Hwagae Market.

Tips

Pair the house with a walk across the Pyeongsa-ri Field and a stop at the Pyeongsari Literary Museum in one morning. In October, check the Toji Literature Festival dates before going; in early April, combine the visit with the Simni Cherry Blossom Road. Because no bus timetable to Pyeongsa-ri was verified, confirm last-leg transport locally on the day rather than relying on a fixed bus plan.

Sources

The stop card above shows its claim sources. This guide also relies on:

1. Toji, the Land — English Wikipedia — broadcast period, episode count, cast and production background; cites the SBS official site and a 2004 Maeil Business Newspaper article
2. 토지 (2004년 드라마) — Korean Wikipedia — SBS broadcast dates and production details

Full source list (18)

1. VisitKorea — Choi Champandaek House (Hadong) — main-set statement for the 2004 drama; address, hours, admission
2. VisitKorea (Korean) — Hadong travel article — filming-site statement (same publisher family)
3. Toji, the Land — English Wikipedia
4. 토지 (2004년 드라마) — Korean Wikipedia
5. Korea.net — UN body names Pyeongsa-ri one of this year’s Best Tourism Villages — Pyeongsa-ri as the novel’s setting and Choi Champan House as its visitor site
6. Hadong-gun — Toji Folk Literary Village — village established 1998, first experiential literary village in Korea; components; festival started 2001
7. KoreaTripTips — Choi Champandaek (Daecheong Maru view) — Daecheong Maru overlooking the Pyeongsa-ri Field (KTO-derived data, same publisher family as VisitKorea)
8. KoreaTripTips — Choi Champandaek facilities — on-site facilities, free parking, phone +82-55-880-2651
9. KoreaTripTips — Pyeongsa-ri Field — field formed by the Seomjin River, 2,743,801 m²
10. Trippose — Toji Literature Festival — festival held every October since 2001
11. KoreaTripTips — Toji Literature Festival programmes — festival programmes; dated ~20-minute taxi estimate from Hadong Bus Terminal (2019)
12. Wikivoyage — Hadong — no high-speed rail in Hadong; regional trains Jinju ~1h, Suncheon ~50 min; buses Seoul ~4h, Busan ~2.5h; cherry-blossom road; tea museum hours
13. Wikipedia — KTX — Gyeongjeon KTX services Seoul–Jinju
14. Wikipedia — Jinju Station — KTX service from Seoul to Jinju started 5 December 2012
15. Korea JoongAng Daily (2012) — Hadong travel information — Ssanggyesa Temple and National Treasure No. 47 stele; Hwagae Market novel-setting note; Seomjin River jaecheop-guk; driving route via Hadong IC
16. Wikipedia — Hadong County — Ssanggyesa Temple among county sights; Silla-era tea tradition; May–June wild-tea festival
17. VisitKorea — Park Kyongni Toji-gil Trail course 1 — trail from Seomjingang Pyeongsa-ri Park to Hwagae Market
18. Korail — timetable and booking (English) — train times for the Jinju–Hadong leg