Dress, Food and Home

Festivals and ceremonies need clothes, food and a place to hold them. This chapter looks at the three things that appear in every earlier chapter: the hanbok people wear, the hanok house, and the food of the kitchen and the court, with kimjang (kimchi-making) as the main case. For each it asks the question the course keeps asking: what is old, what was named or promoted later, and who says so.

Hanbok

The Hanbok article defines the hanbok as "the traditional clothing of the Korean people", built on four items: jeogori (top), baji (trousers), chima (skirt) and po (coat). It says the core arrangement "has remained consistent for a long time" while "length, width, and shape have gradually changed". It dates the earliest depictions to the Three Kingdoms period and says Goguryeo tomb murals (4th to 6th century) show a basic structure "established by at least this time".

A late name

The article's Etymology section says the term hanbok "came into use relatively recently, beginning in the 1800s", and that its first known use is in an 1881 document, where it distinguished Korean clothing "from Japanese and Western-style clothing". Other terms such as uri-ot ("our clothes") and chosŏn-ot were used at the same time. After the division of Korea, "South Korea has preferred the term hanbok while North Korea has preferred the term Chosŏn-ot". So the clothing is described as ancient, but the word that now names it is a product of a period when Koreans needed to tell their clothes from foreign ones.

Colour, modern shape and use

• White. The article says "many Koreans have preferred white hanbok", seen as pure and symbolising light and the sun, and that attempts in the Joseon period and the colonial period to ban white clothes "ultimately failed". It also says some interpretations link colours and patterns to folk beliefs or shamanism, which it presents only as "some interpretations".
• Joseon pattern. Modern hanbok "are typically patterned after the hanbok worn in the Joseon period, especially those worn by the nobility and royalty". So the modern festival hanbok copies the clothes of the top of society, and not the everyday clothes of most people.
• A correction. The article's "Misconception" section says the high-waisted, chest-covering skirt now seen as typical "did not exist in hanbok before about 1920", and that the original chima was tied at the waist. I read that section as an article claim, and it is short and loosely written, so I would want a second source.
• Occasions. Today South Koreans wear it "for formal or semi-formal occasions" such as weddings, festivals and ceremonies, which matches Chapters 3, 4 and 7.

What the state does

The article reports several official measures. In 1996 the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism "established Hanbok Day to encourage South Korean citizens to wear the hanbok". The government "has supported the resurgence of interest in hanbok by sponsoring fashion designers", and, for tourists in Seoul, wearing hanbok makes a visit to the five grand palaces free. In 2020 the ministry and a craft agency launched the Hanbok Wave initiative "to promote hanbok globally". Each year a celebrity "muse" (the article lists a figure skater, singers, actors) inspires designs from four hanbok makers, and the ministry funds promotion, including billboards in Seoul, New York, Paris and Milan. The article also says K-pop artists such as BTS and Blackpink have worn hanbok in music videos. I take all of this as the article's description of promotion, and I did not check the ministry's own materials.

Hanok

The Hanok article defines the hanok as "a traditional Korean house", with origins "in pit houses from the early Neolithic period around 6,000 BCE" and a traditional form "completed in the late Joseon period". It describes a design principle, baesanimsu: a mountain behind and a river in front. Layouts are said to vary by region: square with a central courtyard in the cold north, L-shaped in the centre, open and in a line in the south. The features it stresses are the ondol, a floor-based heating system; the daecheong, a cool wooden-floor hall; tiled roofs (giwa); and windows and doors of hanji paper.

The word is also late

• The article says "hanok" first appeared "in a paper about houses on April 23, 1907", at a time when jooga and jaetaek were more widely used.
• It says the word entered a Korean dictionary in 1975, defined as the opposite of "western house".
• It reports that after the 1970s, apartments and terraced houses were built and "many hanok were demolished everywhere", and that after the Korean War "several hanok of historical value were demolished". Only small clusters remain in the larger cities.
• In a broad sense, "hanok" covers thatched and shingle-roofed houses too, but the general meaning is the tile-roofed giwa-jib.

The article's Preservation section lists preserved places: Bukchon and Namsangol in Seoul, Hahoe (Chapter 9) and Yangdong, the Korean Folk Village in Yongin, Jeonju Hanok Village (over 800 houses) and the Gahoe-dong and Gye-dong areas of Seoul, "many" of whose houses have been remodelled into cafés, restaurants or teahouses. A preserved village can be a living neighbourhood or a tourist site, and the article does not distinguish.

Food: Kimjang and the Court Table

The Gimjang article describes gimjang (also kimjang) as "the traditional process of preparation and preservation of kimchi... in the wintertime", in which people for a month "starting from the tenth month of the year" prepare large quantities to last the winter. Groups gather to cut, wash and salt the vegetables, and before industrialisation the work "was traditionally shared by familial contacts". Kimchi was traditionally stored in earthenware jars buried to the neck; the article says that in cities people keep jars on balconies or use refrigerators made for kimchi.

• Heritage listing. Gimjang "was listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2013 and the 133rd Korean Intangible Cultural Property". The Kimchi article gives the UNESCO title "Gimjang, making and sharing kimchi in the Republic of Korea", and says the practice "reaffirms Korean identity and strengthens family cooperation". It points out that kimchi itself is not listed, only the culture of making it.
• History of the ingredients. The Gimjang article says recipes "date back to at least the 13th century" and that red pepper was added "in the 17th century". The modern red kimchi is therefore much younger than the practice's earliest recorded form, by the article's account.
• Two Koreas. The Kimchi article notes that North Korea also had its own kimchi-making inscribed in 2015, and that its kimchi "tends to be less spicy and less red". It is a short factual mention, and this course does not go further.
• Disputes. The Kimchi article also reports disputes over standards and imports (with Japan in 1996, and with China, including a 2012 effective ban on imports and a 2020 standards dispute). These concern trade and are outside this course, and I mention them only to show that "who owns kimchi" is a live argument, not a settled one.

The royal court table

The court cuisine article describes the food "traditionally consumed at the court of the Joseon Dynasty" and says there "has been a revival of this cookery style in the 21st century". It says that "twelve dishes should be served along with rice and soup", mostly in bronzeware, that five meals were generally served daily (three full courses and two lighter ones), that ingredients from the eight provinces were presented in turn each month, and that the cooks were women "of commoner or low-status families". It notes that records of earlier banquets mostly list "a vast variety of foods without mentioning the specific foods present". Whatever the modern restaurant calls "royal cuisine", the article's evidence for the earlier court is partial, and its own claim of a "revival" implies the revived form is not a straight continuation.

Reading a Claim About Dress, Food or Home

1. The thing or the word? Hanbok and hanok are described as old, and both words are described as modern.
2. Whose version? Modern hanbok copies Joseon court dress; the "royal" table is a revival.
3. What is promoted? A day, a "wave" and free palace entry show where official effort goes.
4. Is it listed, and what exactly? UNESCO listed the culture of kimjang, not kimchi.

Exercises

Next chapter: Capstone: Tradition and Its Claims, where you apply the course's method to a festival, a ceremony or a custom of your own choosing, with a checklist.