-Cultural Heritage Administration recognizes the culture of hanbok-wearing and how it embodies the Korean people’s identity and values

The Cultural Heritage Administration (Administrator Kim Hyun-mo) plans to designate hanbok-wearing as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage item.

Koreans have worn the traditional Korean attire in one way or another in their lives throughout history. It is a traditional way of life and knowledge that embodies the Korean people’s identity and values.

Hanbok consists of the top and the bottom which can be either a skirt or pants. Otgoreum, the ribbons knotted to close the top, completes the look. Hanbok is designed so that people wear the bottom first and then the top. The whole experience of wearing hanbok is, in itself, a culture as it involves unique etiquette and formalities and is executed differently for different occasions – ceremonies and rituals or traditional holidays or recreational events.

Hanbok-wearing has been passed down within families. Koreans today generally wear the traditional wardrobe on traditional holidays like Seollal (the Lunar New Year) or Chuseok (Korean equivalent of the thanksgiving holiday), as well as social rituals like first birthdays, weddings, funerals and ancestral ceremonies. It is true that contemporary Koreans are wearing hanbok far less than their ancestors. However, the fact that people wear hanbok to show their respect remains unchanged.

Before the industrialization, housewives would make new hanbok for their family members and mend them when necessary, at home. In particular, on traditional holidays Koreans would get new fabric and make clothes. Such a custom is called Seolbim for Seollal, Chuseokbim for Chuseok and Danobim for Dano (which falls on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar). It was customary that Koreans got themselves new hanbok for holidays that mark the beginning of a new season with hopes for good health and peace.

As can be seen here, hanbok to Koreans is more than just a piece of clothing, but an important medium through which they showed respect and expressed wishes for good health and peace, which makes it an important intangible asset.

Ancient Koreans are also seen donning hanbok in various artifacts and records like the tomb murals from the Goguryeo dynasty (37 B.C.- A.D. 668), clay figures dating to the Silla dynasty (57 B.C.–A.D. 935) as well as historical documents from China. It was during Korea’s three kingdoms period (57 B.C.-A.D. 668) that the two-piece, top-and-bottom structure of hanbok was completed. Since then, its form evolved and transformed repeatedly until the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) which was when the prototype of hanbok that we know of today was established. In April of 1900, a new regulation on the dress code of civil servants was proclaimed, which changed civil servants’ official attire to Western-style suits from hanbok. With this, Koreans have begun to wear both Western-style suits and hanbok, after wearing hanbok only for thousands of years.

It is believed the word ‘hanbok’ is used in order to distinguish Korean wardrobe from that of the Western culture since Korea’s wwwing of its ports to the outside world in 1876. (Han means Korean.) However, the exact origin of the word ‘Hanbok’ is unclear. The word ‘Joseon-ui’ or ‘Joseon’s attire’ is used in an 1881 record of Seungjeongwon Ilgi (the diaries of the royal secretariat), while the word ‘hanbok’ can be found in an 1894 article from a Japanese newspaper. What is clear is that even in the years leading up to the introduction of Western-style clothing to Korea, hanbok embodied Koreans’ lifestyle and culture as well as societal and national spirit.

There are special types of hanbok for certain occasions. ‘Baenaet jeogori’ is the hanbok for newborn babies. For babies’ fragile skin, it’s made with as few seams as possible. The hanbok known as ‘Kachi durumagi’ was traditionally worn on New Year’s Eve – thus the name, as New Year’s Eve was also known as Kachi seollal. Sometimes, children donned Kachi durumagi on New Year’s Day. Today, contemporary Koreans generally dress their babies with Kachi durumagi on their first birthday party. On this specific outfit, the cuffs have a bright array of colors which reflects hopes for fighting off evil spirits and ushering in good fortune.

During a wedding ceremony, a bride traditionally wears a green Jeogori (hanbok top) with crimson skirt as well as ceremonial outerwear Hwalot or wonsam, plus Jokduri or flower headwear on their head. For funerals, a shroud for the dead would be made without a knot as it was believed knots bring a bad luck for the descendants. Koreans also believed that if they made the shroud in advance on a leap month for someone when they are still alive, he or she would live a long life.

Introduction of Western-style clothing brought about changes to Korean clothes and lifestyle. For daily wear, Koreans began wearing Western clothes mostly because they were more convenient. Hanbok also became simpler in its form and became something that Koreans reserved for special occasions. Nonetheless, what hasn’t changed is that wearing hanbok is a way of showing respect and bringing about a special version of oneself.

‘Hanbok wearing’ should be designated as national intangible culture heritage, as it ▲has a long history, being passed down through generations across the Korean peninsula, ▲can be found in relics and records like murals of Goguryeo tombs, clay dolls of Silla and historical documents of China, ▲is being studied extensively in various areas like history, aesthetics, design, fashion, technology, management, marketing, industry and education and continues to be a coveted study subject moving forward, ▲is still considered a way to show respect at traditional holidays and rites of passage, having been passed down within families, ▲and furthermore, is in itself cherished traditional knowledge not just in families and communities but also in production and research entities.

But the Cultural Heritage Administration will not recognize a specific group or person in the designation, as it is a cultural tradition that all Koreans across the Korean peninsula keep, as are the cases with ‘kimchi-making’ and ‘jang-making (Korean sauce and paste making).’

* National Intangible Cultural Heritage items that do not recognize a specific group or person (Total: 14 items):
Arirang (Traditional folk song); Jeda (Tea making); Ssireum (Korean wrestling); Haenyeo (Women divers); Kimchi Damgeugi (Kimchi making); Jeyeom (Traditional salt making); Ondol (Underfloor heating system); Jang Damgeugi (Korean sauce and paste making); Traditional Fish-Eosal (Fishing weir); Hwalssoki (Traditional archery); Insam Jaebae and Yakyong Munhwa (Cultivation of Ginseng and its medicinal application); Makgeolli Bitki (Makgeolli making and sharing); Tteok Mandeulgi (Tteok making and sharing); Getbol Eoro (Tidal flat harvesting)

The Cultural Heritage Administration will receive opinions for 30 days on the planned designation of hanbok-wearing as national intangible cultural heritage, before making a final decision. People can share their views on the designation through the administration’s website (http://www.cha.go.kr).

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