Jo Dec 24, 2022
The Korean people, who have loved cleanliness from ancient times, invented methods of making and altering national clothes suited to their physiques and hobbies in the course of creative labor. Constantly developing them, they have been proud of being dressed in neat clothes.
While washing their clothes, our people discovered effective washing methods to wash dirt away in consideration of the material for clothes. Laundry usually went through primary washing, main washing and boiling before being rinsed and dried. In the primary washing, the first step in the washing, laundry is dipped in warm water for a light rub. It was mainly for heavily soiled laundry such as the inside of quilts. In the main washing, detergents are applied to the primarily washed ones before rubbing, clubbing or stamping. Due attention should be paid to the washing of silk fabric or velvet that are widely used for Korean clothes.
When ironing velvet, it should be held up from the floor, with its naps facing downwards.
Korean clothes should be carefully stored according to the seasons. Neatly folded clothes should be placed layer upon layer in a drawer: those for the present season on the top, those for the next season under them and those for the last season on the bottom. Those for a long time of storage need special care. For example, Korean jackets are placed with their right and left skirts aligned before the breast-ties are brought together, and then they are folded on the shorter breast-tie. The sleeves are folded on the armpit line. The skirt trimly folded in five to six folds is folded in half length. It is a good idea to hang skirts on a hanger.
It is important to be well aware of the methods of washing and keeping Korean clothes and to get dressed culturally.
Kang Hyon Sim, researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences
...
Jo Dec 21, 2022
The peasant dance created and developed by our people over a long period of time is a Korean folk art where people sing and dance merrily drumming several kinds of percussion instruments like a drum, a gong, a small gong, janggu and a small drum and skillfully turning round decorative tassels. Loved and enjoyed most by our people, it fully reflects the national feelings and sentiments by dint of peculiar depictive elements such as Korean dance moves, Korean tune, Korean folk songs and national instruments, national costumes and decorative tassels, all of which are full of national flavor.
The peasant dance is the oldest of all forms of folk art created by our people. Its birth and development are based on the farm work of our ancestors in early primitive years. Being passed down along with the long national history, it has given our people a hope of life and romance and developed into a folk art reflecting the peculiar emotion of the Korean nation. There are several arrangements of the peasant dance, but it is largely divided into three ― a road dance where a peasant music and dancing group advances in procession to attract people to the dancing venue; a concert dance where several kinds of dancing, instrumental music performance and folk songs are harmoniously combined; a private dance where individual dancers demonstrate their dancing techniques one after another. Unlike other forms of folk art, the peasant dance has a unique feature, i.e. turning of 12-fathom decorative tassels, which adds a lot more excitement to the atmosphere of the dancing venue. Such dancing props as decorative tassels are seen only in the peasant dance of our country.
The peasant dance is a popular folk dance that has always existed in the lives of our people. In popular folk games and on holidays, it boosted merry atmosphere and when they were working, it encouraged their spirit for raising the work efficiency. In the anti-aggression, anti-feudal struggles, it was the cause of horror for enemies but the source of confidence for our people.
The peasant dance still plays an important part in carrying forward the unique traditions of our national art. Today, it resounds even louder all over the cooperative fields of our country and it is giving a full rein to the vitality as a popular form of mass art.
Kim Son Yong, researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences
...
Jo Dec 18, 2022
There is a man who has amused and pleased everyone for hundreds of years only with his sleeping posture. It is a figure in the picture “Draught Ox Driver” by painter Kim Tu Ryang (1696-1763) during the feudal Joson dynasty.
The picture gives a lifelike portrayal of a draught ox driver who has fallen into a deep sleep under the shadow after all day’s tiring work. In the middle of the picture is painted a big ox and on the right is an ox driver fast asleep on the grass, which gives a glimpse into the country life in our country at that time. The ox driver in the nap in the shadow of the summer is portrayed in a simple and plain way. The thick untrimmed hair, firmly closed lips, dangling earlobes, raised corners of the eyes, undone front of the jacket and untied cord of the trousers are so impressive. The ox chewing the grass in the middle shows the gentleness and strength of Korean oxen and the neatness of the owner who values and takes good care of it. The surroundings like the bottom of the willow, the drooping branches and the grass feel as if they were emitting the fragrance of soil.
Well-composed and soft with thin coloring, the painting is an excellent masterpiece in the aspect of portrayal of that time. On the one hand, it looks as if you can hear cicadas and other insects buzzing and the farmer snoring, and the ox driver, on the other hand, looks so fast asleep that nobody would be willing to awaken him.
In a word, the painting “Draught Ox Driver” by Kim Tu Ryang exhibited in the Korean Art Gallery is a masterpiece that has stimulated extraordinary interest of a lot of people for hundreds of years only with a sleeping figure.
Jo Hwi Nam, section head at the Academy of Social Sciences
...
Jo Dec 14, 2022
Hoejang jogori is a piece of clothing whose collar, breast-tie, cuffs and armholes are decorated with strips of cloth different in color from the ground.
Our people have sewn strips of cloth in different colors onto collars, hems, cuffs, etc. over a long period of time. Sewing colored strips for trimming originated from the need to keep their clothes clean by replacing colored pieces of cloth on the easy-to-get-dirty parts as often as they could. Later, the strips developed into a means of adornment, adding beauty to the Korean jackets.
The Korean jacket with colorful strips was divided into two kinds ― samhoejang jogori (those with strips on the collar, armholes and cuffs) and panhoejang jogori (those with strips on one or two parts of them). Samhoejang jogori was usually worn by young ladies as formal clothes for wedding, while panhoejang jogori was worn by the middle-aged. For its elegance, women loved being dressed in it, not just on formal occasions or holidays but for everyday life.
Hoejang jogori is still popular with the Korean women for its smartness and gorgeous harmony of colors.
Pak Sin Jong, researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences
...
Jo Dec 9, 2022
Ryang Song Ji, the main compiler of “Tonggukyojisungnam” (50 volumes), which was an important part of the geography book of our country, was a well-known scholar who made great achievements in several fields. He started learning at the age of six. From a very early age, he was so clever and good at composing poems that he attracted everybody’s attention. He thought that it was of utmost importance for everyone to be well aware of the geography of their native places and homeland, and that learning and technical research should be focused on both the prosperity of their country and making the lives of common people better.
Possessed of many-sided knowledge including history and geography, he was involved in compiling and publishing several books in the fifteenth century. In fact, almost all the geography books and maps of that time were related to him. Among them, geography part of “Sejong Sillok” (Chronicles of King Sejong) and “Tonggukyojisungnam” played very important parts in writing the geography book in the feudal age of our country. Together with 23 scholars including Ro Sa Sin and Kang Hui Maeng, Ryang Song Ji completed “Tonggukyojisungnam” (50 volumes) in 1481 on the basis of “Geography of Eight Provinces” compiled in 1432, geography part of “Sejong Sillok” compiled in 1454 by amending “Geography of Eight Provinces”, “Sinchan Geography” and “Tongmunson” compiled in 1477. With rich and detailed contents, “Tonggukyojisungnam” is a priceless classic of great value in the historical and geographical study of several fields of our country including society, economy, military affairs, culture, etc. around the fifteenth century.
In addition to it, Ryang Song Ji made several maps that demonstrated the level of the Korean cartology of that time.
As a scholar of noble birth, he presented to the feudal government a “reform plan” several times that reflected his creative opinion on making some changes to the affairs in several fields of the feudal system including military affairs and economy for building up the national power and defending the security of the country.
His exploits for the development of geography performed in those days are being conveyed through generations together with “Tonggukyojisungnam”.
Kim Kwang Jo, researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences
...
Jo Dec 6, 2022
A collar strip is a long, narrow piece of white cloth sewn onto the collar of Korean clothing for replacement.
Collar strips are based on the national sentiments of our people who have always preferred brightness and neatness and on the Korean jacket whose edges of collars were adorned with narrow pieces of cloth in the period of the Three Kingdoms. In those days, narrow strips different in color from the grounds of clothing were attached to the collar, cuffs or hems of a Korean jacket. In other words, dark-colored strips were chosen for bright grounds and vice versa.
Adorning their clothes with contrasting colors was a peculiar dressing custom reflecting the requirements of life and aesthetic requirements of our people who tended to dress themselves in neat and beautiful clothes. Collars, cuffs and hems usually get dirty and frayed first. In order to keep them clean and new, our people came up with an idea of sewing strips in contrasting color on those parts. These strips, in combination with ornamental aspects, were gradually made more delicate and elegant by the growing cultural standards, aesthetic sense and requirements of life of people. Consequently, it became a custom to sew white strips around the collars on the basis of the national sentiments of our people who respected brightness, neatness and white. White collar strips guaranteed perfect harmony with the ground colors of Korean jackets, providing a lot more beauty and sophistication.
Thus, collar strips that emphasize the neatness, cleanliness and conspicuousness of jackets became the number one feature of a Korean jacket.
Pak Sin Jong, researcher at the Academy of Social Sciences
...