Hwakai Market

Hwagae Market, located about a 30-minute drive from Hadong-gun along the Seomjin River, is located on the border between Hadong-gun, South Gyeongsang Province, and Gurye-gun, South Jeolla Province. It started out as a market where people from Gyeongsang-do and Jeolla-do provinces gathered to trade forest and agricultural products produced inland and seafood produced in the South Seas.

Hwagae Market, which became nationally famous through the song "Hwagae Market" by Jo Young-nam, released in 1987, has flourished as a five-day market held every five days since the Joseon Dynasty and has developed into a commercial center connecting villages in the Jirisan area and a place of exchange in Yeonghonam.

Every year in early April, the Hwagae Market Cherry Blossom Festival is held, where visitors can enjoy the 4-ri cherry blossom avenue that stretches from Hwagae Market to Ssanggyesa Temple. There are also various events held, such as Korean folk games and tea tasting. Restaurants in the area serve local specialties such as barley rice, wild vegetable bibimbap, rock crab soup (jamgyetang), clam soup, silverfish sashimi, and silverfish tempura. They also sell medicinal and food products such as wild green tea, polygonatum, ginseng, schisandra, and cheongma that can be harvested in the Jirisan and Seomjin River areas. 

Shijimi soup restaurant in the market