[1] In educational terms, the seowon were primarily occupied with preparing young men for the national civil service examinations.

[2][3] Seowons first appeared in Korea in the early Joseon Dynasty, whose establishment were driven mainly by the Sarim Neo-Confucian scholars.

[6] While historian Michael Shin mentions that the earliest seowon was established in North Gyeongsang by Ju Sebung (1495–1554).

[4] Large numbers of seowons were established by leading seonbi (literati), or by local groups of yangban families.

Some of the Sarim scholars who retired to villages in the wake of literati purges of the 16th century used the seowons as their political bases.