Hanbok

Hanbok
Hanbok (female and male)
People wearing hanbok
MaterialDiverse
Place of originKorea
IntroducedAt least since Goguryeo period
Hanbok
North Korean name
Chosŏn'gŭl조선옷
Hancha朝鮮옷
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationJoseon-ot
McCune–ReischauerChosŏn-ot
South Korean name
Hangul한복
Hanja韓服
Transcriptions
Revised RomanizationHanbok
McCune–ReischauerHanbok

The hanbok (Korean: 한복; Hanja: 韓服; lit. Korean dress) is the traditional clothing of the Korean people. The term hanbok is primarily used by South Koreans; North Koreans refer to the clothes as chosŏn-ot (조선옷, lit. 'Korean clothes'). The clothes are also worn in the Korean diaspora.[1][2] Koryo-saram—ethnic Koreans living in the lands of the former Soviet Union—also retained a hanbok tradition.[3]

Koreans have worn hanbok since antiquity. The earliest visual depictions of hanbok can be traced back to the Three Kingdoms of Korea period (57 BCE to 668 CE) with roots in the Proto-Koreanic people of what is now northern Korea and Manchuria. The clothes are also depicted on tomb murals from the Goguryeo period (4th to 6th century CE), with the basic structure of the hanbok established since at latest this period.[4] The ancient hanbok consisted of a jeogori (top), baji (trousers), chima (skirt), and the po (coat). The basic structure of hanbok developed to facilitate ease of movement; it integrated many motifs of Mu-ism.[5]

For thousands of years, the hanbok most people wore was pure white with no ornamentation. More ornate hanbok was typically reserved for special occasions such as weddings. The color white was seen as pure.[6][7][8][9] In some periods, commoners (seomin) were even forbidden from wearing colorful hanbok regularly.[10]: 104 [11][12] However, on the other hand, during the Joseon dynasty and the 1910–1945 Japanese occupation of Korea, there was also an attempt to ban white clothes and to encourage non-bleached dyed clothes, which ultimately failed.[13][14][15][16]

Modern hanbok are typically patterned after the hanbok worn in the Joseon period,[5] especially those worn by the nobility and royalty.[17]: 104 [11] There is some regional variation in hanbok design between South Korea, North Korea, and Koreans in China as a result of the relative isolation from each other that these groups experienced in the late-20th century.[18]: 246 [19] Despite this, the designs have somewhat converged again since the 1990s,[20] especially due to increased cultural and economic exchange after the Chinese economic reform[21][18]: 246  of 1978 onwards. Nowadays, contemporary Koreans wear hanbok for formal or semi-formal occasions and for events such as weddings, festivals, celebrations, and ceremonies. In 1996, the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism established Hanbok Day to encourage South Korean citizens to wear the hanbok.[22]

  1. ^ "Minority Ethnic Clothing : Korean (Chaoxianzu) Clothing". 27 October 2022. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  2. ^ Korean Culture and Information Service, 2018, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea
  3. ^ Ji-Yeon O. Jo (30 November 2017). "Koreans in the Commonwealth of Independent States". Homing: An Affective Topography of Ethnic Korean Return Migration. Nonolulu: University of Hawaii Press. p. 50. ISBN 9780824872519. Retrieved 22 July 2024. [...] Koryǒ Saram [...] did their best to maintain Korean traditions - for example, observing major Korean holidays, wearing hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) on culturally important days, playing customary Korean games, and making traditional rice cakes with traditional Korean tools that they had crafted in diaspora.
  4. ^ The Dreams of the Living and the Hopes of the Dead-Goguryeo Tomb Murals, 2007, Ho-Tae Jeon, Seoul National University Press
  5. ^ a b Flags, color, and the legal narrative : public memory, identity, and critique. Anne Wagner, Sarah Marusek. Cham, Switzerland: Springer. 2021. p. 125. ISBN 978-3-030-32865-8. OCLC 1253353500. The basic structure of the Hanbok dress was designed to facilitate ease of movement, incorporating many shamanistic motifs.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ^ "<Records of the Three Kingdoms>".
  7. ^ "<Book of Sui>".
  8. ^ "History of Song".
  9. ^ "《고려도경》(高麗圖經)".
  10. ^ Passport to Korean culture. Haeoe Hongbowŏn. Seoul, Korea: Korean Culture and Information Service. 2009. ISBN 978-89-7375-153-2. OCLC 680802927.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ a b Gwak, Sung Youn Sonya (2006). Be(com)ing Korean in the United States: Exploring Ethnic Identity Formation Through Cultural Practices. Cambria Press. ISBN 9781621969723.
  12. ^ Lopez Velazquez, Laura (2021). "Hanbok during the Goryeo and Joseon dynasty". Korea.net. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  13. ^ 백의민족 (白衣民族) - Encyclopedia of Korean Culture.
  14. ^ "Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty".
  15. ^ "Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty".
  16. ^ "Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty".
  17. ^ Passport to Korean culture. Haeoe Hongbowŏn. Seoul, Korea: Korean Culture and Information Service. 2009. ISBN 978-89-7375-153-2. OCLC 680802927.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. ^ a b Women entrepreneurs: inspiring stories from emerging economies and developing countries. Mauro F. Guillén. New York: Routledge. 2014. ISBN 978-1-136-32459-8. OCLC 857463468.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference :24 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Chang, In-Woo (2006). "Change in Hanbok of South and North Korea after the Division and the Interexchange -Focusing on Women's Jeogori-". Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles. 30 (1): 106–114. ISSN 1225-1151.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference :25 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ 한복데이, 전국 5개 도시서 펼쳐진다. 쿠키뉴스 (in Korean). 15 September 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2022.