Gat, Traditional Headgear in Korea

Intangible Cultural Heritage of Korea
Gat
Traditional Headgear in Korea
Contents
What is Gat ?
The history of Korean traditional hats up to the invention of gat The development of the gat over time: Changes in dress codes and hats 11 Horsehair crafts and artisans 22 The designation and transmission of gannil. 1. Chongmoja-jang 2. Yangtae-jang 3. Ipja-jang 101 113
Transmission and Preservation of Gat: People Weaving Tradition
Gat Craftsmanship and Variations

The process of gat making 1. Making Chongmoja 1) Materials and tools. 2) The process of making chongmoja 2. Making Yangtae 1) Materials and tools 2) The process of making yangtae 3. The Process of gat making 1) Materials and supplies for gat making 2) Finishing work on chongmoja 3) Making yangtae 4) Gat assembling 5) Applying ink and lacquer and attaching jukryeong Tools for gat making Various types of gat 84 90 39
The designation and transmission of manggeon The designation and transmission of tanggeon Proposals for the development of gat making
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Appendices
Korean Official Hats in Paintings Gallery of Various Korean Hats 150 166
Gat, Traditional Headgear in Korea
Gat can be defined as the representative Korean traditional headgear. Delicate and elegant features and the curve of gat show the intrinsic beauty of Koreans. During the Joseon Dynasty, the commoners as well as the noble scholars wore gat for a leave day or the ceremonial conduct with full attire. Custom for wearing gat is continuously transmitted into the traditional ceremony such as ancestral rites in Jongga (the head family). The meaning of gat and its making process as well as the current statue of transmission are described in this book. The meaning and transition of gat shall examine the historical and cultural values of gat. The types and making process of gat, and the story of persons who safeguard and transmit the Gannil ( gat making) shall demonstrate values of gat as the intangible cultural heritage. Various pictures and painting materials are used to help readers' better understanding.
This book is the third publication of the series of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Korea planned by the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage for publicizing of the Korean intangible cultural heritage to the world. On the basis of the accumulated studies, the National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage is willing to publish the book of intangible heritage studies continuously. I sincerely hope that this book could provide valuable information to the general public and researchers who are interested in Korean Intangible Cultural Heritage.
October 31. 2012
Dr. Young-Won Kim Director General National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage
[Gat, Traditional Headgear in Korea]
What is Gat ?
The history of Korean traditional hats up to the invention of the gat.
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Throughout Korean history, the mode of ceremonious dress entailed a combination of trousers (baji) and upper garment (jeogori), underneath an overcoat (po), the outfit completed by a hat or headpiece. For men, a classical outfit would consist of a black hat called gat and a white durumagi, a type of overcoat. The Painting of the Welcoming Parade for the Governor of Pyeongan Province (pyeongan-gamsa-hwanyeong-do) portrays the entire crowd aside from the government officials as being dressed in white robes and black gat, and provides a concise depiction of
01 A picture of three Korean scholars wearing black horsehair hats, drawn by an unidentified Western visitor in 1895. 02 01 ainting of the Welcoming P Parade for the Governor of Pyeongan Province
how elderly Korean men would never forget their durumagi and gat at important town festivities and events. The gat was an essential component of a mans life and versatile enough to
What is Gat ?
suit the varied styles of mens clothing that developed over the Joseon period. Hence it is not an exaggeration to say that the gat had accompanied the five centuries of Joseons history.
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Hats occupy a significant place in the history of Korean fashion as an essential part of formal dress, Joseon-era Koreans having been a fashionable people who knew how to match their headgear with their outfit. The various types of hats discovered in Korea include intact pieces of jeolpung, sogol, chaek, jougwan to the more modest geon, as well
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03 Susan-ri grave mound (heukgeon)
as the metal bogwanryu-type hats, which are elaborately decorated and usually found in
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grave mounds. Most of such artefacts share a basic triangular frame embellished with decorations such as bird feathers, which hold a particular significance. Bird feather rituals (jousik) connote a form of bird worship, often connected with other concepts such as sun worship and immortality of the soul, and such traditions established feathers as a staple of common rituals. The official hats worn during the jousik were headpieces of a higher prestige than the jeolpung or sogol, which were not adorned with feathers, and were further developed to include imitation feathers made of metal. Following Sillas unification of the Three Kingdoms, headgear policy in Korea changed to a new form. A product of the change in hat-wearing policy, the bokdu was a type of mens hat, which was popular in the Tang Dynasty at the time. It initially consisted
04 Muyongchong grave mound (jougwan) Gaemachong grave mound 05 (jougwan) 06 Muyongchong grave mound (jomigwan) 07 Gang Min-cheom (963-1021) (bokdu)
of a single patch of black fabric that was tied at the back of the head, and was later developed to have four corners of the fabric cut to have the strands, or gak, draping down. The bokdu was selected for the official dress code during the reign of Queen Jindeok of Unified Silla to be worn by those as prestigious as royal aristocrats as well as court musicians, servants and slaves, with different materials distinguishing the social class of the wearer. As is evident from the restrictive proclamation issued in the ninth year of the reign of King Heungdeok (834 AD), the high position of jingol daedeung was allowed the use of any material, while the six dupum was permitted to use only finely meshed silk, the four dupum to thin and coarse silk, and commoners to roughspun silk. Use of the bokdu continued through to the Goryeo Dynasty, during which bokdu of different materials and shapes would be worn by the king and bureaucrats in their official dress, depending upon the rank. The types of these hats varied from the jeongakbokdu, with the gak protruding at right angles on each side, the jeolgakbokdu with the gak pointing diagonally downwards, as well as the chaehwabokdu; by the time of King Gojongs reign, hierarchical distinction with regards to the bokdu had largely disappeared and even the servants were permitted to wear one.
What is Gat ?
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The portrait of King Gongmin at the Jongmyo shrine in Seoul depicts the monarch dressed in a danryeong, which is a type of robe with rounded sleeves worn by officials, along with a bokdu. In comparison with the depiction featured in the funerary portrait of Gang Min-cheom (National Treasure No.588), who was a Goryeo-era official at the baekkwan level, the former depiction of bokdu features gak that are wider and somewhat shorter in length. Furthermore, a small knot adorns the spot between the lower front tier of the hat and the higher back tier.
08 Grave of Zhanghuai-taizi Li Xian (651-684) (jeolpung) 09 Jeong Mong-ju (1337-1392) (samo) 10 King Gongmin (r.1351-1374) (bokdu) 11 Yi Po (?-1373) (balip) 09 10 11
Late Goryeo-era saw the induction of various customs from the Yuan Dynasty, including clothing and hats. In particular, this trend introduced the balip, which was a type of conical hat worn by Yuan officials, later modified with a different decoration adorning the top and renamed heukrip, to be worn by officials with the rank of baekkwan. To this end, the induction of the balip at the time served to establish the conical shaped hat as a part of the uniform for baekkwan officials, and contributed to the Joseon-era policy of using the conical hat as the prominent official hat in society. The balip is a round hat with a narrow brim, embellished at the top with a precious stone. The crown is flat and round, as is the brim. In the portrait of Yi Po, a Goryeo-era bureaucrat, the occupant is depicted as wearing a dark green robe and a Mongolian-style balip, while similar cases of officials wearing the balip are also shown in the portrait of Yi Jo-nyeon, another Goryeo-era official, as well as the mural in the grave of Bak Ik, discovered in 2000 at Gobeop-ri, Miryang, Gyeongnam Province.
What is Gat ?
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been derived from the promulgation of Confucianism as well as the fact that they were used by literary figures and scholars in China. Towards the end of the Joseon period, the Daewonguns decree for a more modest dress code replaced all large gat with smaller versions, and following the Gapsin Coup, Western hats began to dominate over the gat in Korean customs.
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Mens topknot cover 12 (Sangtugwan) Yi Gwang-sa (1705-1777) 13 (Sabanggeon)
The Joseon period placed an emphasis on Confucian values, such as the need to dress with propriety, and thus the development of official hats was particularly pronounced during this era. Joseon-era hats varied widely, ranging from flat-brimmed hats (pyeongnyangja) such as the paeraengi, chorip, heukrip, baekrip, jurip, okrorip, and jeonrip, to brimless hats (bangnip) such as the banggat and sakkat, which were used for different purposes and ranks. Among these, the heukrip stands out as the quintessential part of Joseon-era official headgear, and its invention holds great significance in that it was an indigenous creation adapted for everyday dress. In addition, since Joseon-era aristocrats were obligated to dress formally even within their residences, the necessity arose for more comfortable headgear to replace the gat. Therefore
Jangbogwan (Korea University 14 Museum) Heukgeon (Korea University 15 Museum)
16 Jeongjagwan (Mens indoor headdress) 17 Wongwan (Scholars headdress) 14 15
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the nobility began wearing the various hats introduced through China in their daily lives, such as the square-shaped banggwan and sabanggwan, as well as the dongpagwan, waryonggwan,
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and the jeongjagwan, and the popularity of these hats may have
What is Gat ?
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The Joseon period aimed to recreate in the dress code Confucian values such as order and discipline, along with a sense of hierarchy and formalism, where an outfit with formality and propriety would accompany dignity and authority. Although the Joseon-era culture of headwear was a means of expressing the endeavor for such values, modern society no longer accommodates these old ideals. Under the Westernized fashion culture of todays Korea, the function of hats has been reduced to that of a fashion item, merely reflecting the trends of the particular period. Following the Enlightenment Period in Korea and the subsequent decree requiring short hair, men could no longer tie their hair at the top, and therefore hats became a popular substitute. Newspapers featured numerous advertisements for bowler hats, fedoras, hats for students and ladies, such adverts attracting customers through an appealing slogan celebrating hats as the gift of civilization. In reality, a range of hats had existed to suit all forms of dress up to the Joseon period, and the gat alone was varied in its use depending on social class, status and purpose. Nonetheless, Western hats gradually began to replace the gat. The Enlightenment Period brought broader changes to the dress code of the time, beginning with the tendency for officials to dress in suits for formal purposes, which, in turn, brought about the use of Western-style hats. Early forms of westernized full formal dress worn by bureaucrats in Korea included hats imitated from their counterparts in British formal wear, which were cocked hats with protruding brims to the front and back, as
18 Rites held at Clan family 19 Royal ancestrial rites in Jongmyo shrine
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well as feather decorations at the top. For less formal occasions, officials wore frock coats with silk hats imported from Britain. Since many schools and institutions began to introduce Western clothes as their uniforms, Western hats started to see greater use. Even in everyday wear, Western hats were worn, regardless of whether the outfit was Western or Korean overall.
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What is Gat ?
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During this period, popular hats included Panama hats, fedoras and bowler hats, of which fedoras were particularly popular due to its similarity to the gat, and even up to the 1970s, it was common to see elderly men wearing hanbok and fedoras. However, the 1960s saw a decline in the West of men wearing hats and therefore the use of hats in Korea declined accordingly; the 1980s saw an overhaul of school uniforms, and the abolition of Western-style school uniforms and hats introduced during the Japanese occupation. Today, hats that remain in common use include uniform hats such as those used in the military and the police force, as well as protective helmets, winter hats, various sporting hats, while the wearing of a hat for the purpose of formality has become a rarity.
20 Black gat (heukrip) 21 White gat (baekrip) 22 Officials black hat (heuksamo)

Officials white hat (baeksamo) 23
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24 F edora and fedora iron 25 English-style ceremonial attire
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What is Gat ?
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The development of the gat over time: Changes in dress codes and hats.
In terms of headgear, the representative hat for Joseon-era men was the gat, whose socio-cultural context far surpasses the dictionary definition of the term. The development of the gat has implications not only with regards to the influence of Confucianism during the Joseon period, but also by representing the development of indigenous headwear in Korea. A diverse range of gat existed during the Joseon period, such as the paeraengi, chorip, heukrip, baekrip, jurip, okrorip, jeonrip, bangnip, and sakkat, to be worn according to social status and occasion. In particular, the heukrip was the foremost component of Joseonera headgear policy as the representative official hat over the five centuries of the Joseon Dynasty, and to date, it remains in use for ceremonial purposes.
Examples for the use of the term heukrip can be found from as early as the 16th year of King Gongmins reign during the Goryeo Dynasty, and can be said to originate from the production of heukrip decorated with jewelry befitting governmental status. The heukrip prevalent at this time, however, differed from those of the Joseon period, and the hat-top decorations on Goryeo-era heukrip allow the speculation that they may have been close in origin to the balip of the Yuan Dynasty. The shape of the heukrip was finalized during Joseon, and soon settled as the hat of choice for classes of prestige.
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in the mid 20c A 445mm B145mm in the mid 20c A 403mm B160mm in the mid 20c A 375mm B140mm in the early 20c A 330mm B140mm in the late 19c A 250mm B107mm in the late 19c A 292mm B115mm 18c-19c A 640mm B204mm 17c-18c A 645mm B190mm 17c-18c A 723mm B195mm
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What is Gat ?
Changes of the gat occurred along with such trends as the aesthetic sense of the time, restrictions based on social class, the commonplace use of the gat by ordinary citizens and low-level officials. In terms of appearance, the popular hat went through changes in shape, size, brim width, as well as the materials used in production and decoration. Such alterations are evident not only from archaic documents regarding the restrictions placed based upon social status, but also from existing paintings and artefacts. According to Gyeongguk Daejeon, the complete codification of Korean law from Goryeo to Joseon, officials from the first rank to third rank were to use silver for the embroidery of their hats, while royal families including daegun were permitted to use gold; hat-top decorations made of jade were permitted for officials in the administrative divisions of saheonbu (oversight on government), saganwon (oversight on monarchy), as well as gwanchalsa (provincial governors) and jeoldosa (military chiefs), while government inspectors wore crystals on top of their hats. This would suggest that the late Goryeo-era policy of wearing decorated heukrip was in place, at least around the time of King Seongjong. Although the precise form of early Joseon gat is indeterminable, records exist regarding the gat, heukrip, gojeonglip, jungnip, and chorip. The shape of the gat was first discussed during the reign of King Seongjong, when it was named the ibche-wonjeong-icheomgwang, meaning that it had a round top and broad brim. It was decreed that all gat would be produced to follow this format.
Mens black top hat (brim: 14, 26 crown: 33) 27 Mens black top hat (brim: 64, crown: 20.4) 28 Mens black top hat housed in Hakbong Jongtaek (brim: 66, crown: 19.4) 26 29 Mens black top hat
It would appear that following King Seongjong, the gat neared its stage of completion. From the hemispherical crown and broad brim of the balip, the gat was altered to have a more cylindrical crown with a narrow top and broader base, and was produced using a more diverse range of materials. Having undergone phases such as the pyeongnyangja and chorip, headgear in Korea culminated in the heukrip, which is representative of the Joseon period. The heukrip is made by attaching the yangtae (brim) to the daewu (crown), wherein the former is somewhat curved at the rim, while the latter is cylindrical and broader at the base, with a flat peak. The crown and brim are meshed using fine bamboo threads cut to a hairs breadth, and the heukrip is completed with a black lacquer finish; the hat was considered a part of comfortable dress, mainly worn by the gentry in their daily lives, and was an indigenous invention of Joseon, seeing the most widespread use until the latter days of the dynasty. Despite the popularity of the black variety, different occasions required the use of different colors. For example, the redlacquered jurip was worn as a part of the uniform for a military dangsanggwan (senior official), while the white baekrip was worn on occasions of national mourning. While in some cases, only bamboo threads were used for the hat crown and brim, some used horsehair for the crown. Further distinctions can be made through the cover enveloping the crown and brim; depending on the material and method of production, the heukrip can be subdivided into categories such as the jinsarip, eumyangsarip, eumyangrip, mamirip, and porip.
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The King proclaimed that the modern form of the gat had a low crown and narrow brim, which was highly divergent from past varieties, and thus ordered the master of laws to decree that the old format must be upheld.(Gyeongguk Daejeon)
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What is Gat ?
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From the chronology of changes made to the gat, it is evident that the headgear was initially round at the crown with a broad rim, with the crown becoming gradually higher and the rim remaining broad. During the reign of King Myeongjong, the crown was excessively low to the point of resembling a small plate atop a larger plate, while the brim resembled a small umbrella. This trend was mocked for its similarity to the hat worn by monks (seungnip); the variation created to compensate for this shape was, in turn, ridiculed for its disproportionately high crown and narrow brim. Alterations such as these show the effect of the cultural trends of the period upon the development of headwear. Indeed, the gat of the 16th century towards the end of Yeonsanguns reign showed many changes regarding the height of the crown and width of the brim. Headgear policy during the reign of King Jungjong was variable to the point of frivolity. The gat of this period began with a tall crown and wide brim, to the end of this period, when the hat became even higher while the brim became narrower. King Myeongjongs reign saw the crown lowered and brim broadened again. Subsequently, complaints were made during King Hyojongs time on the throne that the gat brim was too wide to the point of being caught on doorframes, while King Sukjong saw that both the crown and brim were reduced to an extent that caused controversy as it was said to be in violation of past policy. The hat-brims of olden days could barely cover the shoulders,
As criticized by Yi Deok-mu, who blamed the arrogant conduct of the nobility entirely upon the gat, the translucent headgear could neither provide shelter from rain nor sunlight, and yet the reverence that men had towards their gat was exceptional. The gat was an ornate affair, not only with regards to the body of the hat, but also with the strap (gakkeun). According to the Gyeongguk Daejeon, only officials above the level of dangsanggwan were permitted to use gold and jade on the strap of their gat, while the lower-level danghagwan were prohibited
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from using agate, amber, coral, or lapis lazuli. The social disorder and instability of the legal system at the time led to the emergence of the class-based regulation of gat straps as a social
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issue.
Amber gat straps are reserved exclusively for the dangsanggwan, but the recent trend of excess is worsening by day, to the extent that bureaucrats, hereditary officials, and military officers, as well as dangsanggwan and chamha (lowest-level officials) are insisting on using amber. (Gyeongguk Daejeon)
Furthermore, the gat straps used by the nobility were comprised of beads made from ivory, agate and bamboo, of such a length that some drooped down below the waist, and some examples have been found, of a lengthy gat strap curled around the ears. Changes were also seen in gat straps, such as the use of silk thread. During King Yeongjos sojourn at a hot spring in Gwacheon-hyeon, silk thread was first used along with precious stones for the gat strap.
at case made of paper, 30 31 H and horsehair hat
but now, they are too broad as to take up more space than a person sat cross-legged. At present, the design of the gat is deplorable and strange, being neither aesthetically pleasing nor easy to use. The excessive size errs on the side of extravagance and wastefulness, and there is a dire need to instigate regulations and discontinue this already-familiar custom in order to resist further negative repercussions.
32 Peacock feathers, and amber strings
What is Gat ?
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and became a hindrance in entering doorways. At this time, the height of the crown was set at four chi and five pun (13.5cm) using a pobaekcheok, a special ruler used for measuring items of clothing. Around the time of King Yeongjos reign in the 18th century, the crowns height was raised and the brim broadened once again. As apparent from the cultural remains from the period, the gat of Yeongjo and Jeongjos reign had relatively wide brims, while the straps made of materials such as cloudy amber, amber and turtle shell added to the glamour.
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igh-ranking military officials 35 H felt hat adorned with peacock feathers
The custom of using both beads and silk for the gat strap began during the vacation in Onyang; for the most part, it was out of concern that the gat strap would snap, but it persisted to become a customary practice. (Gyeongguk Daejeon)
33 Jade accessory adorning the crown of the hat 34 Top of the hat
The competition over the size of the gat and the lavishness of the strap was not only the culmination of the nobilitys desire to display their wealth, but also the somewhat more subtle show of the availability of leisure time necessary for dressing properly. Such pursuits became the measure upon which the nobility compared each others fashion and elegant taste. Through King Seonjos reign, the height of the crown was raised to around eight chi (24.14cm, 1 chi = 3.03cm) with a narrower brim. This trend was reversed in Gwanghaeguns reign.
Records of King Injos reign indicate that following the years of gyemi (1643) and gapsin (1644), the gat crown was suddenly made taller and larger, with the brim following suit to become much broader. Minutes for discussions regarding official
What is Gat ?
dress policy during Hyojongs reign document the complaint that the crown and brim of the gat became too tall and wide,
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In the late Joseon period, the range of robes became more diverse, with variants such as the dopo, jungchimak, chang-ui, and hakchang-ui worn in accordance with time and occasion. Po made for daily wear would have a straight lapel and broad sleeves, with a thin cord tied at the chest; various types of po could be distinguished through the presence of a side slit, side flair or a tail slit. Although the prevalence of white po would suggest a lack of diversity in terms of color, the combination of a robust and elegant white and the more reserved shade of black used on the gat create a sense of grace and sophistication not seen in any other outfit.
36 Cheonggeumsangryeon (Resounding geomungo and praiseworthy lotus), 1758, Shin Yun-bok
omens cloak-shaped veil 37 W worn when going outside
The latter days of King Sunjos sovereignty in the 19th century was when the gat became even larger, so that the brim would surpass the diameter of a person sat cross-legged (70 80cm). Headgear policy towards the end of King Heonjongs rule was characterized in the Joseon-era encyclopedia of Ojuyeonmunjangjeonsango as having changed suddenly to accommodate a larger head capacity with a shorter brim, to around a ja (30.3cm). Following the dress code reform in the 21st and 34th years in King Gojongs reign, both the crown and the brim were reduced in size.
What is Gat ?
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favor of the narrow-sleeved durumagi, to be worn by all regardless of social class; thus the equality of the right to dress was established in Korea. Following the Enlightenment Period in Korea and the mixed use of hanbok and Western clothing, the wide range of overcoats that men customarily wore throughout the four seasons were narrowed down to the durumagi alone, while the jokki (vest) and magoja (outer jacket) were newly invented. Instead of the traditional outerwear of jangot, a winter overcoat, or durumagi, was also created for women. This is evident of the changes in hanbok in accordance with the
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times. As seen above, the extensive development in the types of casual
Amidst the turbulence facing the late Joseon era arising from the opening of the country and cultural westernization, the dress culture of Korea entered the path towards modernization, as traditional clothing became simplified, practical, and westernized. Enlightenment in Korea sprouted from the reformist movement of the late-18th century, although the more direct cause was the Korea-Japan Ganghwa Treaty, succeeded by the Korea-US Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Korea-France Byeongja Treaty. The westernization of mens dress code initially began with official uniforms, followed by student uniforms and everyday wear. However, the phenomenon of westernization was limited to a section of the urban elite, whereas commoners stayed loyal to hanbok. For western visitors in Korea a century ago, the sight of the waves of black gat and white robes made a striking impression. The hanbok of this period newly added the magoja, a
hats in the Joseon period was likely related to the social rules permeating Joseon society at the time, which emphasized the dress code. The Chinese headgear of geon were closely related to their Joseon counterparts, and were worn by Taoist scholars, literary figures, intellectuals with no desire for office, as well as individuals with an established livelihood. Indeed, there is no doubt that the black gat is actually a low functional and impractical hat. However, the care taken towards the gat, such as the act of using beaded strings to fasten the hat to the wearers head, and using galmo (rain cover for hats made of oiled paper) and a heavy leather case to protect it
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from the rain, have cemented the dress culture of the period as being representative of the entire culture.
modified version of the Qing Dynastys magoe, as well as the baeja, which was an imitation of the western waistcoat, with the latter being more convenient than its traditional predecessor due to the presence of buttons and pockets, therefore becoming widely worn by the public. In addition, wide-sleeved overcoats such as the dopo or chang-ui, which were reserved for the nobility, were abandoned in
Men's Magoja Clothes putting 38 on layers of Jeogori (upper garment)
What is Gat ?
39 Men's waistcoats Clothes putting on layers of Jeogori (upper garment)
40 Hats of family on the picnic 41 Gat on hanbok and felt hat on Western clothes
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Such interest and care put into the gat originated from the social rules of the time, which emphasized etiquette, as well as the admiration for the artistic expression of the gat, in its elegant blackness and translucence. Explaining the various changes of the gat as a mere phenomena of trends lacks credibility. The diminishing use of the gat is the result of a change in the livelihood and dress code in the five hundred years of the Joseon Dynasty. The induction of Western clothing meant that the gat is no longer worn with everyday clothing. However, even today, it is said that family ceremonies, Confucian rituals and traditional events are only complete with the participants dressed in dopo, durumagi and gat. Just as hanbok was established as the proper mode of ceremonious dress, the gat remains in use for ceremonial purposes, thus continuing the tradition. The gat was an essential for any adult in the Joseon period, while gat-making was a commonplace scene that could be found anywhere in Korea at the time. Along with the fact that gat-making was the first among Korean traditional craftsmanship techniques to be designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Heritage, one might hope for a day when the gat is not a mere ornament gathering dust atop a wardrobe, but an essential item to go with a hanbok durumagi on Korean New Years Day.
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and other headgear worn by 42 Gat the status and uses 43 43 Overview of gat, fedora in Western and student hats
What is Gat ?
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[Gannil]
Gat craftsmanship and variations
The process of gat making
The gat is a horsehair hat that consists of two basic elements, daewu (crown) and yangtae (brim). Although originally made of thinly sliced bamboo strands, the daewu, also called moja, was later replaced with a horsehair crown, called chongmoja. Craftsmen of the chongmoja and yangtae are respectively called chongmoja-jang (crown maker) and yangtae-jang (brim maker), whose products are finally assembled by ipja-jang, the craftsman who completes the hat by adding various accessories. A chongmoja is woven with the fine strands of hair from horse mane or tail, while a yangtae is made by weaving together bamboo strands into a disk shape with a hole in the center. Using simple tools and materials, the processes of completing a gat as well as manufacturing its components are delicate and meticulous practices.
The anatomy of a gat
Yeongja
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1. Making Chongmoja
1) Materials and tools
Chongmoja is made of ultra-fine horsehair strands. When making the crown of a hat, long strands of horsehair are used for the warp while oxtail hair is used for the weft, which is less limited in terms of length. Horsehair is collected by horse tenders from two-year-old horses with approximately 50 cmtail hair of three horses. Strands of horsehair collected in Jeju Island come in different colors, thickness and sheen, from which only the quality specimens are chosen.
44Chongmoja 45Chongmojagol
Ilgol (chongmojagol) refers to a cylindrical hat block made of wood, with a wider base. The hollow inside of the block is set on a hat block stand, which makes it easier to weave strands together. The surface of the block top (called cheonbak in the dialect of Jeju) is coated with thick fish glue. The glue is melted to fix a horsehair plait knot into place, which is the start point of the crown. Golgeori (jugaepan) refers to a hat block stand with a rounded tip that allows the block to spin when strands of horsehair or bamboo are woven into a cylindrical crown. Chongbaneul (banongdae, soeggeul) refers to an iron needle with 15 cm in length. The bottom tip of the needle is shaped like a thin hook, which is used to weave horsehair strands on the hat block. The round tip of the needle bar is used to cut off excess strands of horsehair from the weave. Chongsabal refers to a bowl, which is used to immerse horsehair in water in order to preserve its elasticity.
long tail hair. Extracting 600 grams of horsehair requires the
Only a few tools are needed to make a crown, including ilgol, golgeori, chongsabal, chongbaneul and meokgol.
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Meokgol refers to a hat block used when boiling a completed

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horsehair crown.
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2) The process of making chongmoja

The crown making process begins by selecting highquality horsehair.
Cheonbak tteugi Cheonbak tteugi is done by weaving ten rows with two braids made out of four strands, followed by space-weaving with a braid of four strands. Jeorimjul, a weft of four strands, is interwoven with two strands of warp and cross a strand of warp over. Space-weaving leaves gaps between warp strands, so it is necessary to place supplementary warps in between the warps for four rounds over the course of weaving. During the first and second rounds of weaving, a supplementary warp is placed in between every warp; in the third round, a supplementary warp is added between every two warps; and in the fourth round, one is added between every three warps. The body of the crown is woven by using a weft of braided strands.
Saengibangseok The making of a crown begins by tying a knot at the center of the crown top, called saengibangseok. The process of weaving the crown tip is as follows: eight strands of horsehair are folded in half to make a bundle of 16 strands; a knot is tied with four bundles to form a warp of 64 strands; four strands are tied together at the top with a simple knot and two strands are braided into one thread; three rows (the rows are called is placed onto the glue-coated hat block to start weft-and-warp weaving, in a technique called cheonbak tteugi. dollimjul) are woven with the braided threads; and the weave
Momjul The woven lines around the crown body are called momjul. Prior to interlacing strands around the crown body, the supplementary warps, called neuiching, are added between every three warps. After four lines are woven, the supplementary warps are pulled to flatten. Momjul is woven in of wefts, while the body has more than 200 rows. clutches of four rows. The crown tip features about 100 rows
Saengibangseok knot (outside)
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The starting point of space weaving
46The knot of Chongmoja
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47Knitting the momjul
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Momjul ttegi Momjul ttegi is the process of spacing the wefts evenly apart by separating the four rows of weft into two. After evenly spacing the wefts around the body, the entirety of the crown tip is soaked with water and then lightly flattened. The body of the hat is then tapped up to separate the crown from the block. Loose supplementary warps are trimmed from the edge of the crown and turned inward for ink-coating.
48 Golbaegi processing in chong moja A boiled horsehair crown 49
Block The woven crown is placed onto a block called meokgol, and dipped into water and boiled for about 30 minutes to solidify the shape of the crown. The boiled crown is subsequently dried in the shade and coated with thick black ink, later to be separated from the block.
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50 51 52 50 Chetching 51 Duching 52 Seuiching 53 Neuiching

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2. Making Yangtae
1) Materials and tools
Yangtae is a brim made of bamboo. The brim is manufactured by cutting and splitting the culms of quality bamboos to make bamboo strips and fine strands. Then, the the fine strands are twined to make the brim. The method of weaving dollimjul is the same as that of making the dollimjul of a horsehair crown, and a particular characteristic of the brim is bitdae (a sliver of bamboo stuck diagonally between naldae and joeuldae, the warp and weft strips, respectively) which has a unique structure and method of production. woven strips are placed on the brim-making board, with which
55 Brown bamboo
Tools for making a brim include mureupjjang, a knife, a whetstone, bitdaekeul, yangtaepani, teng-e-gudeok, meoreoksoe, gochiltdae, banongdae, ssalyeokeumsil, and meoreok. As in the case of making a horsehair crown, the brim can also be made using only a few tools.
Mureupjjang Mureupjjang refers to a tool used when a brim maker places bamboo strands on their knees and strips off layers of bamboo strands. It is used by attaching cotton strings onto leather.
Knife and a whetstone A knife and a whetstone are widely used through the work of geolmok, the preparation of bamboo strips and strands cutting, trimming, and peeling off bamboo, then rubbing and separating them into strands of bamboo. The knife has a flat blade with a blunt blade tip.
naldae bitdae joeuldae
Bitdaekeul Bitdaekeul refers to a wooden stick with blades at the end placed in the shape of This stick is used to strip
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off bamboo to produce trimmed slivers, including bitdae and saldae, by letting them through the opening.
54 Various yantae
Yangtaepani
The majority of the bamboos used for making brims consist of giant timber bamboos (or green bamboo) and brown bamboos (yellowish bamboo with bamboo flour). Brown bamboos are over two hand-spans in length and generally located in Damyang of South Jeolla Province and in the Jinju area in South Gyeongsang Province.
Yangtaepani (yukji, yangpan) refers to a brim-making board, the round wood block made of cherry tree or zelkova. Its center has a small round wood block, called eok, attached onto it and in the center of eok, there is a square opening, called eokgomang. Eok serves the role of holding the warp in place in the work of ssalyeokkeum.
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Teng-e-gudeok Teng-e-gudeok is a bamboo basket over which Yangtaepani is rested. It is an application of Gudeok making, indigenous to Jeju Island. It is equipped with a partition in the middle, creating space that can contain tools and materials used for brim-making.
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2) The process of making Yangtae

The making of a brim begins with the preparation of bamboos. Thick bamboos of three to four years in age and over 10 cm in diameter are chosen and then the nodes of the bamboos are cut, halved lengthwise by a knife, and again split into eight to ten slivers. The outer and inner parts of those slivers are then separated, the outer parts placed into a caldron and boiled, to be later taken out and dried in the sun. This process is called basunda. Geolmok refers to the preparation of bamboo strips and
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Gochitdae Gochitdae is a slender piece of split bamboo. This tool adjusts the direction of meoreok when sticking bitdae.
strands used for the work of saldae, dollimjul, and bitdae in brim making. First of all, the boiled outer slivers are soaked in water, then thinly stripped to match the purpose. This process is called irunda in the Jeju dialect. For strands to be used for saldae, the ends of the outer layers of bamboo are split by a knife at regular intervals. This process is called jaeginda.
Banongdae Banongdae is an iron implement generally used when weaving the weft into between the warp as with a horsehair crown.
Salyeokkeumsil Ssalyeokkeumsil refers to cotton thread used when braiding bamboo splits. Two threads are weaved by alternately crossing each other.
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The process of making bamboo strands for joeuldae uses outer strips thinly scraped off like a sheet of paper. The craftsman splits the end section of a few bamboo slivers off with the thinness of a hair strand and crushes them against the knife. This is called dalunda. The strands are rubbed against the knife, splitting them into
Meoreok Meoreok is a bamboo tool designed to help insert bitdae by making space between warps and wefts. Meoreok is manufactured by trimming a bamboo on one side to create a curve. The front is pointy and the end is split horizontally to enable bitdae to be stuck.
individual pieces. This process is called daejukinda. These strands are pressed and rubbed against the knees several times
56 Bamboo strands 57 Ends of bamboo strands 58 Bamboo strips crushed into strands
to arrange them neatly. To produce bamboo strands for the uses of saldae and bitdae, they are hackled a few times with bitdaekle to adjust their thinness; flatter for saldae, and rounder for bitdae.
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Ssalyeokeum is a regional term derived from the tendency of the Jeju dialect to pronounce the term sal more strongly. It refers to the work of alternating two strands of cotton to interlace with saldae (warp). The texture of the brim depends on the thickness of the thread used in the work. When the bamboo strands and cotton have been twined to a sufficient length, their fitness for eok is measured. If adequate, the leftover cotton threads are twisted put it into the eok. Then, saldae plaits are put onto yangpan and pressed by an iron, jideulsoe. The work of weaving saldae and joeuldae, corresponding to warp and weft, respectively, is called maewang jatgi. The process begins from jingmit brim to menggeut brim. The first row is woven by using fine strands of bamboo; this method is called jimil, meaning extremely thin. By 30 rows, fine bamboo strands are used, and after that, the weaving is continued with thicker strands. a brim. A brim with over 98 rows is of high quality while, those with below 95 rows are of low quality. The work of adding bitdae is to insert bitdae obliquely, The number of weaving joeuldae determines the quality of
from the first saldae to 10th to 15th saldae to a round shape and
59 Crushing bamboo slivers into 59 strands
forming a diagonal line by using meoreok with a square formed by naldae and joeuldae, when the weaving of joeuldae is done and turned over. The number of bitdae is always the same as the number of joeuldae. After applying fish glue to the completed brim, it is left to dry.
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3. The process and tools of gat making
3) Making yangtae
Teujib jabgi
Trimming the edge of yangtae
1) Materials and supplies for gat making
Applying mixture of fish glue and ink to
yangtae
Making eungak
Preparation of bamboo strips and strands

Making cheongae
Golbaegi (chongmoja)
Making jukdaewu
Teujib jabgi using an iron
Attaching cheoldae and jimitdae
Nulli hapjang
2) Finishing work on chongmoja
Finishing and decorating work
Attaching bamboo strands and covering silk cloth
Making jeongte A attaching geocheoldae Attaching jeongte onto cheongae
Attaching cheongae into the inside of chongmoja with an iron
4) Gat assembling
Attaching chongmoja to yangtae with an iron
Applying black ink and lacquer to the top of chongmoja Attaching bamboo threads in a cross shape
Attaching engak onto jimitdae
Attaching ttamdae to jimitdae and dwisae to eungak
Covering with silk cloth
Pierce holes for straps in jimitdae
Attaching motte onto the edge of the top of chongmoja
5) Applying ink and lacquer and attaching jukryeong
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Attaching jeonggot
Applying black ink and dry
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1) Materials and supplies for gat making

Preparation of bamboo cuttings and strands Bamboo culms are prepared to make various frames attached to the crown and brim of a gat, including cheoldae, geocheoldae, jimitdae, jeongte (also called an-motte), motte and ttamdae. Bamboo strands are needed to make decorative supplies, such as cheongae and eungak. The process of preparing bamboo materials is called Geummok. Cheoldae refers to the outer frame attached to the brim of a gat. The process of making the frame is as follows: bamboo culms are cut with a knife into several slivers of a required size; two sides of a sliver are cut evenly after the sheaths are peeled off; one of the slivers is bent with a heated iron and the craftsman cuts off the upper side of the exterior, where the brim is attached, with the knife, and the ends are tied with a string. Jimitdae is the inner frame of the brim, made of a bamboo sliver and constructed in the same way as cheoldae. The remaining bamboo slivers are trimmed to make geocheoldae, (a frame added to cheoldae) and ttamdae (thinly sliced bamboo strip attached to the inner frame of the brim).
3. Cutting off the upper side of the frame 4. Bending a bamboo sliver to make jimitdae (inner frame) 1. Bending a bamboo sliver with a heated iron to make cheoldae (outer frame) 2. Cutting both sides of the outer frame evenly
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5. Jimitdae
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Cheongae and eungak are accessories made with bamboo strands attached to the crown of a gat. The thickness of strands depends on their purpose. The strands are produced by cutting and splitting one-joint black bamboo culms. The following is the process of preparing bamboo strands: bamboo culms are cut into even sticks and split into outer and inner bamboo slivers; the shredded with a knife to an appropriate size; several slivers are bundled together with string and the tip of the bundle is sliced into a V shape; the bundle is placed on the knife fixed into the block stand and crushed by thumbs to separate thin strands; and the strands are trimmed by rubbing against knees or with hands.
1. Cutting a bamboo culm into slivers 2. Cutting a bamboo culm into slivers
split outer slivers are boiled in hot water for about five hours and
4. Splitting bamboo sticks into outer and inner slivers
3. Cutting a bamboo culm into slivers

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6. Outer and inner bamboo slivers
7. Slicing the tip of a bundle of bamboo slivers
5. Splitting bamboo sticks into outer and inner slivers
8. Crushing bamboo slivers into strands
9. A bundle of sliced bamboo slivers prepared to be made into strands
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Making eungak Eungak refers to a decorative accessory attached to the inside edge of the crown as a stiffener after the crown is joined to the brim. The product quality of a horsehair hat depends on the number of bamboo strands (from one to four strands) used for this accessory and the patterns (diagonal cross or diagonal line pattern). The patterns made with bamboo strands are called eungaksae. The procedure undertaken for the making of eungak is as follows: an eungak block is hung on the block stand and bamboo bands are glued onto the surface of the block; a long strip of bamboo is glued in a spiral on the block (the long strip is called eungakseon); eungaksae patterns are made by putting together thin bamboo strands with fish glue and ironing; and a thin bamboo stick, called binetdae, is used to separate finished eungak from the block. The bamboo accessory is dried on a shelf shaped like a grill basket, called beoreong, and coated with glue, to be cut out for use when needed.
1. Putting a long bamboo strip around the block to make eungakseon 2. Putting a binetdae stick in between the eungak and the block to separate
4. A finished eungak 3. Making of eungak gluing bamboo strands to make eungaksae patterns
Gat, Traditional Headgear in Korea Gat Craftsmanship and Variations
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Making cheongae Cheongae refers to an accessory added to the inside of a horsehair or bamboo crown top as a decorative stiffener. The process of making this accessory is as follows: bamboo strands are placed in a grid shape on a small square frame; the grid of a heated iron is used to attach it to jeongte (the inner frame of the crown tip); and it is coated with black ink and dried on the shelf.
2. Before and after the process of golbaegi
strands are coated with fish glue and separated from the frame;
Golbaegi Chongnoja Golbaegi refers to a process of straightening a horsehair crown before attaching decorations and stiffeners. The process is as follows: a horsehair crown is placed on a hat block and a needle is used to evenly space the woven strands of its body; it is fish glue; and it is dried for a day and separated from the block. then boiled in hot water for about five hours and coated with thin
1. G olbaegi momjul ttegi (spacing the weft strands evenly apart)
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Making jukdaewu Jukdaewu refers to a bamboo crown made by putting together fine bamboo strands one by one. It can be used for all types of gat, ranging from those of the highest to the lowest quality.
The highest-quality gats use crowns with three to four layers of bamboo strands, while inferior gats use crowns made by gluing strands in a diagonal cross shape covered with hemp cloth.
1. Attaching bamboo strands to the crown block
2. Finished bamboo crowns
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2) Finishing work on Chongmoja

This process is not required for the making of bamboo crowns. It is carried out prior to joining the crown to the brim after the golbaegi process is completed. Horsehair hats have different names depending on the materials attached to the crown during the finishing phase, such as jinsarip (silk threads attached to the crown), juksarip (bamboo threads attached) and porip (covered with silk or hemp cloth). equal parts; and a thin frame (called motte) is attached to the outer edge of the crown tip, coated with glue and then left on the shelf to dry. The process of covering the crown with silk or hemp cloth is as follows: water is sprayed evenly onto a sheet of raw silk fabric and he fabric is stuck onto the bottom half of the crown and attached to the surface of the crown by iron; the process is repeated for the top half of the crown; the point on the crown Finishing and decorating work The process begins by decorating and stiffening the tip of the crown after the woven strands of the crown are evenly spaced. The following is the process of finalizing the crown: a bamboo stick is prepared to make the inner frame of the crown tip; the slivers; the ends are tied together with a piece of silk cloth and pieces and one end of a sliver is sliced to make the joint smooth; stick is shredded into slivers and a heated iron is used to bend the heated to fix the circular shape; the bent sliver is split into thinner a frame is made to fit the inside of the crown tip; a pre-prepared cheongae is placed on the frame and pressed into place with a heated iron, and excess strands around the frame are trimmed; the cheongae-attached frame is coated with black ink and glue, then left to dry on the beoreong; it is then glued to the inside of the crown and the crown is placed onto the block and the frame is fixed to the inside of the crown tip with the iron; the crown is coated with black ink and glue, then left to dry on the beoreong; two strands of bamboo are attached in a cross shape from the tip to the bottom of the crown, which divide the crown tip into four
body where the two pieces of cloth adjoin is pressed by iron; the remaining cloth is cut from the crown tip and then from adjoining point, by pressing the knife while pulling the cloth; glue is applied to where the cloths adjoin; the crown is covered with another piece of raw silk fabric; one more piece of silk is
stuck around the crown tip; the silk-covered crown is left on the motte is attached around the crown tip depending on the type of hat; glue is applied and dried. Jeonggot is a decoration made of hanji, which is attached to the inside of the crown tip. After the decoration and finishing touches, the finished crown
shelf to dry and trimmings are removed by knife and iron; and a
is placed onto the hat block and the bottom circumference of the crown is measured to make an inner frame of the brim. The inner
frame is coated with black ink then dried.
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3) Making yangtae
The manufacturing of a brim refers to the process of enveloping in silk cloth or attaching bamboo or silk strands one by one, according to the needs of each beoreong and type of hat. This process represents gats aesthetic characteristics and uniqueness. The gracious curve and fabric of yangtae is attributed to the process of bending the flat, bamboo-weave brim with a hot iron to give a gentle curved shape. The beauty of the brim is created by a complicated process of attaching hair-thin bamboo or silk strands one by one, by type of gat. In addition, by covering thin hemp cloth over them, the combination of both fabrics of the brim and textile, lending a newly refined, transparent sensibility to the brim.
Teujib jabgi (curving the brim) A brim maker, yangtae-jang, cuts and trims the parts of bamboo strips that stick out from the edge of yangtae, while heating three irons in the brazier in preparation for this work. inkstick is applied to the brim. The brim is allowed to briefly dry on the beoreong and put on the brim-making board, and then, the brim maker adjusts the temperature of irons and swiftly bends the brim. Three types of irons are used in the process of bending the brim, called teujib jabgi. One with a small round base is used to sear and bend the end of the brim. Another with a flat, long side is used to make a gentle curve from the inner rim to the center and to the edge of the brim on the exterior surface. A mediumsized iron with a round front is used to press and bend the end of the brim. frames need to be attached to the brim. For this, first, the size of the brim is adjusted with regards to those outer and inner frames, and the point at which these frames are joined is marked using an iron, and then the unnecessary ends and edges of the bamboo are promptly severed. Fish glue is applied, and the end result is left to dry in the beoreong. Using a hot iron, the brim is seared and attached to the outer frame. The remaining parts of the brim attached to the outer frame are scraped off with a knife. In order to have them linked smoothly, layers are cut off from both ends of the outer frame that are linked to each other, then fish glue is applied to be attached by a searing iron. After finishing this work, the prepared cheoldae and jimitdae Next, fish glue mixed with the diluted solution made from the
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For the work of combining the jimitdae with the brim, firstly, the circumference of the crown is measured and a curved inner frame is made accordingly. Then, it is placed beneath the brim and checked with the flat stick whether the intervals are regular, and marked in four points with a hot iron. As the brim is turned, it is seared and attached to the inner frame with the iron, and then the remaining interior section of the brim is cut off with the knife As the brim is turned, its balance must be checked and modifications must be made by searing and adjusting the outer frame with an iron. The end of the inner frame and corners of the outer frame are severed for smoothness. A sufficient amount of fish glue must be applied onto the brim attached to the inner and outer frames, then left to dry in the beoreong, before Chinese ink is applied.
3. Curving the flat-bamboo-weave brim
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1. Applying mixture of fish glue and ink
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6. T rimming the remaining of the brim attached to cheoldae
9. Trimming the remaining of the brim attached to jimitdae
5. Attaching cheoldae to the brim
8. Attaching jimitdae to the brim 7. The linkage of both ends of cheoldae
11. Balancing the curves of a brim
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Nulli Hapjang Nulli hapjang refers to the process of reinforcing cheoldae and jimitdae attached to the brim by applying sheets of traditional Korean paper cut to a regular size, with a searing iron. Following this process, Chinese ink and fish glue must be applied and the brim must be checked to have all openings sealed.
2. Nulli hapjang of cheoldae
1. Nulli hapjang of jimitdae
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Attaching bamboo strands and covering silk cloth Hats vary depending on the main materials used over the crown and the brim. A hat called porip is made by covering silk or hemp cloth over the crown and the brim; jinsarip and juksarip by attaching fine strands of silk thread and bamboo, respectively.
The processes of covering silk or hemp cloth over the brim are similar: water is spread evenly over cloth which is then placed over the brim; it is attached to the outer frame, then the portion of jimit is singed and cut; the cloth is trimmed with a knife and then, using the heated iron, it is singed clean off from the outer and inner frame parts. Deungsa refers to the work of attaching each strand of bamboo or silk thread over the brim. Generally, the strands are attached outward, with wider spaces in the upper part than in the lower. Using a heated iron, the strands are seared and attached only to cheoldae and jimit. After this work, the remainders from both parts are singed and cut with an iron and smoothed out. The work is finished by applying glue and ink.
1. Attaching silk threads 2. Attaching bamboo strands
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Attaching geocheldae As a reinforcement, geocheoldae is added to cheoldae, the brim attached to which is already covered by silk cloth or attached by fine strands of bamboo. With the brim stuck between legs, by using a heated iron, the outer strip of bamboo is attached to cheoldae by gently pressing the strips middle part and then the upper and lower parts, against cheoldae. After sticking the outer strip around cheoldae, the brim is placed on the board and checked while the frame is seared with an iron. This geocheoldae is trimmed with a knife, smoothed out and then coated with glue and paint. While doing this work, glue is applied underneath the inner frame, to which the hat is attached.
1. Attaching geocheoldae
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4) Gat assembling
The final step of making a hat is called gat assembling, or mot bakgi. Saliva is applied on the interior of jimit and the lower portion of the crown is gently pressed onto the brim. Putting a hand inside the crown, the craftsman adjusts its height using binetdae. If it is balanced, four corners are marked with a heated iron, then pressed and seared. The portion sticking out from jimitdae is cut away and glue is applied to the interior of jimitdae to allow the eungak to be placed. The prepared eungak is cut to fit the circumference of jimitdae. The dwisae, made with traditional Korean paper, is placed where both ends adjoin. Subsequently, glue is applied and the hat is left to dry. The ttamdae is coated with Chinese ink and glue, then placed on the beoreong. Saliva is applied onto the portion on which ttamdae is to be hung below the decorative accessory of eungak, and then it is trimmed and smoothed. Holes are pierced for the string for gat, with a heated garakggoji (awl).
3. Applying ink to ttamdae 4. Attaching ttamdae 1. Attaching a crown 2. Attaching eungak
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5) Applying ink and lacquer and attaching jukryeong

First of all, an inkstick is ground against an inkstone to make dense ink, and the hat is turned, with black ink applied to every part of the hat from the interior, including the behind ttamdae and jimit. It is then left to dry. from the interior of the hat. For the final step, the craftsman jimitdae with lacquer. The lacquer coating must then dry for 24 for a graceful black coating on the gat. After the ink coating dries, the lacquering process begins
Finishing lacquer coating on cheoldae by hand
turns the hat, while finger-coating cheoldae, ttamdae, motte, and hours in the chiljang. Several repetitions of this process allows
Gat on the shelf inside chiljang
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Attaching jukryeong(straps)
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Tools for gat making
Malchong
Horsehair
Inksticks and glue

An inkstick is used to color the hat black prior to lacquering. The glue is used to put together parts of the hat, including bamboo strands, bamboo, yangtae, and cheoldae.
Bamboo
Used for making bamboo strands for yangtae, crown, eungak, and mojeong. The thickness of bamboo strands can vary depending on their uses.
Traditional Korean paper, hanji

Used as a finishing material for the round top of the crown, and for nuli hapjang work of jimitdae and cheoldae, and used to make decorative patterns, such as jeonggot, dwisae, and floral decorations.
Bamboo
Used for making jimitdae, eungakseon, jeongtae, ttamdae The width and thickness of split bamboo can vary depending on its uses. Inner bamboo strips are used for ttamdae and geocheol.
Traditional Korean lacquer, ot

Used for dying the interior and exterior of gat
Bamboo
For cheoldae (five culms in length) Used for the manufacture of eungak, cheongae, and a bamboo crown. When making a juksarip, the fine strands of bamboo are attached over the brim.
Silk cloth, silk thread

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Silk cloth is used in the finishing phase, or when making porip for covering the crown and brim. Silk thread is used when making a jinsarip for attaching strands of silk thread over the brim.
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Knife
Preparation of bamboo culms Used for various purposes, including cutting bamboo culms, stripping them off, and separating them into individual pieces.
Ssamjigol
With the upper narrow and the lower wide, this block has a groove which enables it to be hung onto a block stand. Golbaegi for making bamboo crowns is a crown block (hat block), while golbaegi to make eungak is called an eungak block.
Yangpan and Yangpandae

Yangpan refers to a brim-making board on which a brim is placed when giving a brim a gentle curve by using a heated iron.
Binetdae
This bamboo stick is used to separate a hat or eungak from the block.
A brazier and irons

A charcoal brazier is used to melt fish glue or heat irons. Irons are used for the decorating and finishing work and beoreong, and to put together bamboo strands or attach the strands to cheoldae. Various irons are used for a variety of purposes. When curving the brim, a medium-sized iron with a wide base is used. This process begins from the end of the brim and is finished with the wide iron.
Garakggoji and chongbaneul

A tool to make a hole in the stamped string of a gat. This needle is used for the process of golbaegi, to make eungak, or to adjust the space of cheongae
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Beoreong
Used to dry the ink- or glue-coated brim, cheoldae, and jimitdae. Made by weaving slivers of bamboo, beoreong is hung from the ceiling and its height can be adjustable.
Guiyal (brushes)
Different brushes are used for applying glue, ink, and lacquer.
Chiljang (Lacquer equipment)

A piece of equipment with a shelf inside that maintains proper moisture and temperature to help the lacquered hat dry inside it.
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Various types of gat
Hats are distinguished according to the main material used in their production. The periodical changes in size and materials, combined with the emergence of various symbols and decorations, have given way to a variety of the heukrip, or black hat. Even though they are manufactured based on the same materials and methods, hats can be classified by their purposes with the addition of different colors and embellishments. For instance, baekrip, a white hat, is used for national mourning of royalty; jurip, a red hat, for civil and military officials of the senior third rank or higher, envoys dispatched to foreign countries, or the royal bodyguards; jukjeonrip was worn
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Classification by materials Hats are classified based on the main and additional materials used. The brim, one of the major components, is affected by the thickness and the number of saldae, the number and density of dollimjul and the number of bitdae. According to these variables, the brim can be thinly and gently woven or sparsely and stiffly woven. The difference in the width of brims does not influence the quality of hats. A hat with a horsehair crown is called a horsehair thickness of the horsehair strands and the number of dollimjul. Bamboo hats are constructed by attaching fine strands of bamboo together. The way they are attached decides the quality of hats and produces various brims with different characteristics in fabrics and density. Thus, hats vary depending on the main materials and complementary resources. The hats with silk and bamboo crown and brim include jinsarip, eumyangsarip, and eumyangrip; those covered by hemp cloth, silk, ramie fabric, or cotton are called
64 Gat worn by Jeong Tak 65 Horsehair hat from Geoheon Gotaek, a Joseon-era residence (Sosu Museum) 66 Black hat (Seoul National University Museum) 67 Gat of Pungsan Kim clans (Sosu Museum) 63 The stucture of Chongmoja
by high-ranking military officials when the king was dressed in military uniform. Hats with jade ornaments are generally referred to as heukrip or jurip, whose tops were decorated with jade, and worn by active and former civil and military officials as a part of their military uniform.
hat. Whether the horsehair hat is loose or tight depends on the
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porip.
naldae bitdae joeuldae
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Gat, Traditional Headgear in Korea Gat Craftsmanship and Variations
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60 Weaving joeuldae 6161-1 Dollimjul (100, 300) 61-1 62 62 The structure of yangtae
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Jinsarip a refined brim manufactured through the repeatedly attaching fine strands of bamboo over three or four times. Craftsmen making crowns and brims use heated irons to sear and put together silk threads one by one. As for the crown, strands from the main body are put together to the crown top and in particular, strands of thread on the top must be placed at a regular interval. To ensure the splendor of the hat, hanji embellishments called jeonggot and eungak are added to the inner frame of the crown and the braid of silk threads is attached around the part where the crown and brim join. This hat was generally worn by the king and noblemen.
68 Jinsarip (Seoul National University Museum) 69 Attaching of strands on the ungi
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Juksarip The production process of juksarip is the same of jinsarip, but use fine strands of bamboo instead of silk threads, which are attached to the crown and brim. The value of this hat is similar to that of jinsarip.
Jinsarip refers to a bamboo hat of high quality with
Eumyangsarip The quality of eumyangsarip depends on additional materials and the width of the silk thread put together over the brim. A hat with the highest grade is constructed through the golbaegi process along with the addition of cheongae and jeonggot; the next grade down is made through the golbaegi process and the addition of
70 Gat of Jeong tak(1526-1605) (Korean Studies Advancement Center) 71
Eumyangsarip
Eumyangsarip is a horsehair hat constructed to a high quality.
only jeonggot; another grade lower refers to hats made solely by the golbaegi process. Low quality eumyangsarip is constructed by hand with a sparsely woven horsehair brim. The braid thread used for this type of hat is blue.
collection)
(private
72 Comparison of the attachment of bamboo strands and silk threads
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Eumyangrip constructed with a medium-quality brim and a bamboo or horsehair crown. The brim is covered with silk cloth, while bamboo or silk threads are put together one by one on the exterior of the crown. Green braided threads are attached underneath the crown.
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Baekrip Baekrip refers to a white hat worn during occasions such as when one was in mourning for a deceased family member or when the nation was mourning the passing of a king. White hats were worn the Five Rites of the State (state protocol and etiquette) required the use of a white hat during the mourning period, various historical records show that it was not the only hat worn in mourning. People often wore black hats in mourning, but the controversy over the use of black hats continued until the reign of King Myeongjong. White hats were made in the same way as cloth-covered hats: covered with cloth but not coated with lacquer or black ink. The crown was made simply by attaching bamboo strands in a diagonal cross
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Eumyangrip is a hat of lower quality than eumyangsarip,
as early as the early Joseon period. While
Porip
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Porip is made by covering the brim and crown with cloth. It is for everyday wear and easier to construct. The product quality of this type of hat depends on the kind of cloth cover, the width of the brim and the height of the crown. Men of the ruling class in the 18th century favored clothcovered hats with a wide brim measuring around 72cm in diameter. The brim was densely woven and the crown was made by attaching three to four layers of bamboo strands. The porip was likely regarded as among the highest quality types of covered hats.
Goeheon Gotaek House 73 (Sosu Museum) 74 Porip
75 A horsehair hat belonging to the Pungsan Kim clans
pattern and covering the surface with white cloth. More simply, it was made only with hemp or ramie cloth. This kind of white hat did not feature decorative stiffeners, such as eungak, as used in the usual cloth-covered hat because it was made in haste during the period of mourning. Instead, a ttamdae (a thinly sliced bamboo strip) or a piece of hanji was attached to the inner frame of the brim. When the mourning period ended, some of the white hats worn by mourners were coated with black ink and used for everyday wear.
76 Baekrip 7777-1 Jeongmyo heukrip (baekrip coated with black lacquer)
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77-1
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Jurip Jurip looks similar to heukrip (black hats). It was made by covering the surface of a gat with red silk or coating it with red lacquer. Red hats with no joints on the horsehair-woven brim and crown were considered to be of the highest quality. Civil and military officials of the senior third rank or higher wore this hat as a part of the ceremonial uniform for trips abroad as envoys or attendance with the king during royal trips. The red hat was usually decorated with three kinds of accessories: two or three white plumes, beaded straps and a crown-top ornament, which shows the official rank of the wearer.
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Okrorip The name okrorip comes from the heron-shaped jade ornament (the Korean-adapted Chinese characters of ok and ro refer to jade and heron, respectively) attached to the top of black or red horsehair hats. To be precise, okrorip should be regarded as a style of hat ornament, not as a type of horsehair hat. Such jade ornaments could only be attached to the top of highest quality horsehair hats with a silk layer, such as jinsarip or eumyangsarip. Usually, bell-shaped crowns were decorated with the jade ornaments. According to the Seonghosaseol, the Collected Works of Seongho, the use of okro ornaments was strictly regulated: only the officials higher than the junior second rank could wear jade ornaments. Daejeonhoetong, the national code published during the late Joseon period, also required active and former civil and
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Jukjeonrip hat, which was worn by the officials of a high rank. The overall shape of this hat looks similar to an ordinary horsehair hat, with a round or flat crown tip and a slightly curved brim. As with other kinds of horsehair hats, it is uses a crown and a brim woven with bamboo strands. The exterior of the crown and brim is covered with a layer of silk or sheets of cloth, depending on the official rank of the wearer. The decorative accessories such as crown-top ornaments, peacock feathers and plumes, are also distinguished according to the status of the wearer. The red tassel attached to the crown tip looks similar to that of mojeonrip, a luxurious official hat made of pig hair.
78 Jurip (Onyang Folk Museum) 79 Jurip (Sungkyunkwan University Museum) 80 Jukjeonrip (Seoul National University Museum) 81 Jukjeonrip in the portrait of King Cheoljong (r.1849-1863) (National Palace Museum of Korea)
Jukjeonrip is an official
military officials to use the jade hat ornaments when they wore their military uniform. This shows that the wearing of okrorip continued through to the end of Joseon Dynasty. The difference
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Okrorip
(Chang Pudeok Memorial Gallery, Ewha Womans University)
between jukjeonrip and okrorip is whether a hat has a loop to attach okro ornaments or not.
Stiffening supplies for crown and brim silk threads bamboo threads cloth ramie and hemp Hapsa (decoration) red threads blue threads green threads ? Hat ornaments jade, plumes plumes
Name Jinsarip Eumyangsarip
Materials for crown bamboo threads bamboo crown bamboo crown bamboo crown horsehair horsehair crown horsehair crown
Color black black black black
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Eumyangrip Porip
Baekrip
bamboo crown
white
Jurip
bamboo crown
red (inside: black)
? red and purple threads
jade, plumes, crown-top ornaments jade, plumes, crown-top ornaments
jukjeonrip
vcrown
black
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[Skill holder] Transmission and Preservation of Gat: People Weaving Tradition
Horsehair crafts and artisans
Gat or horsehair hat served as a symbol of formal costume that represents the personality of classical scholars in the past. Different materials used led to creating the hat with unique and distinctive flavor. As a handicraft with exceptional beauty, its diverse shapes reflected the change in the trend over time. Such beauty and charm can be said to be derived from gat-making process; the traditional hat is the fruit of a great deal of time and effort by three skilled artisans into a meticulous process of over 50 steps.
Transmission and Preservation of Gat : People Weaving Tradition
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Gat is made of diverse materials such as horsehair, bamboo, silk thread and silk cloth. It requires the delicate producing techniques and scientific precision to create its unique shape. Making the hat is divided into three main parts: making chongmoja, a cylindrical crown; weaving yangtae, a brim; and joining the two parts to complete the hat. In other words, three skilled artisans are required: chongmoja-jang who weaves the crown; yangtae-jang who makes the brim; and ipja-jang who assembles the crown and brim and coast it with silk. The creation of a single piece of the hat involves a thorough process that requires deft craftsmanship during each of its 51 steps: 24 steps to make the brim by splitting bamboo to make a bamboo thread finer than a hair; 17 steps for the crown made of horsehair; and 10 steps to properly join the two parts. Although each component is made by going through different process just like division of labor, it is artisans exquisite skills embedded in each step that brings about completion of a piece of work. The history of gat can be viewed as gat artisans history. According to Gyeonggukdaejeon (National Code), there were 116 artisans making official hats in 7 categories at the beginning of the Joseon Dynasty. The figure increased to 1,524 in 26 categories in the late Joseon Dynasty, the record from Uigwe (records of court banquets). As the type of official hat craftsmen was broken down in the late Joseon era compared to the earlier time, the number of artisans significantly increased; yangtaejang divided into yangtae-jang and yeonjuk-jang, moja-jang into moja-jang, dugeon-jang and ieom-jang. In addition, manggeon-jang, who makes manggeon or headband, was divided into mami-jang handling horsehair; mangsu-jang, making a front part of the headband; eomangjang, specializing in making a kings headband; and gwanjajang making mainly the ornament of headband. Although Jeju Island serves as the center of horsehair crafts at present, the handicraft was commonplace all over the nation during the
Joseon Dynasty including Jeongju and Taecheon in Pyeongan Province, Jeongpyeong in Hamgyeong Province, Gadeok Island in Gyeongsang Province, Jeolla Province and Jeju Island. By the end of the Japanese colonial period of the early 1900s, a fair number of gat workshops were in business in some regions including Gimje, Yecheon, and Daegu. However, after the liberation of Korea from Japanese colonial rule in 1945, reduced demand for the hat resulted in a remarkable decline in the number of workers, and only a few artisans were engaged in the business. In those days, men had to dress up in traditional custom, including an overcoat (dopo) and traditional long coat (durumagi) along with the gat, at formal occasions such as ancestral rituals and weddings, which led to some modest demand for the traditional hat. However, in the 1960s the traditional ceremonial costume gradually disappeared, thereby bringing about another drop in the demand for the horsehair hat. In 1964, the Korean government, determined to safeguard disappearing traditional craftsmanship, designated Koreas national craft technique as Important Intangible Cultural Heritage and began fostering the transmission of craft skills to the next generations. As a part of the effort, three types of gat making artisanschongmoja-jang,
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yangtae-jang and ipja-jangwere designated as skill holders of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 4 with an aim to preserve and transmit their unique skills and techniques. Currently five active masters are designated in gannil or gat making by the central government and details are tabulated as follows. They include honorary master Kim In and Kang Sunja as chongmoja-jang; Jang Sun-ja as yangtae-jang; and Chung Choon-mo and Park Chang-yeong as ipja-jang. In addition, there are masters designated by local governments; Song Ok-su (1925, gobun yangtae-jang of Jeju Island Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 12) and Jang Jeong-sun (1947, yangtae-jang of Gyeonggi Province Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 51). They are all endeavoring to hand down the tradition of gat making.
Category
Name (Birth Year) Kim In (1920)
Gender Female Female Male Male Female
Address Dodu 1-dong, Jeju City, Jeju Jocheon-eup, Jeju City, Jeju Opo-eup, Gwangju City, Gyeonggi -do Province Soha 1-dong, Gwangmyeong City, Gyeonggi -do Province Jocheon-eup, Jeju City, Jeju
Date of Designation Feb. 1, 1985 Sept. 25, 2009 May 1, 1991 Jul. 22, 2000 Jul. 22, 2000
Note Honorary skill holder Skill holder Skill holder Skill holder Skill holder
Chongmoja-jang Kang Sun-ja (1946) Chung Choon-mo (1940) Ipja-jang Park Chang-yeong (1943) Yangtae-jang Jang Sun-ja (1940)
Current Masters of Gannil, Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 4
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Chongmoja-jang
Kim In
Born in 1920 Date of Designation: February 1, 1985 Awards: 1980, 1981 and 1884 won awards at the 5th, 6th and 9th Korean Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition Activities: 1985- presented works to exhibitions for traditional crafts of important intangible cultural heritage
Kang Sun-ja
Born in 1946
Date of Designation: September 25, 2009 Awards: 1987 awarded at the 12th Korean Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition Activities: 2009- presented works to exhibitions for traditional crafts of important intangible cultural heritage
Kim In, born in Dodu-dong, Jeju Island, started learning the skills of weaving the chongmoja of gat as living together with Oh Song-juk, the first skill holder generation. On February 1, 1985, she was designated as a chongmoja-jang of gannil, Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 4.
Kang Sun-ja is a daughter of Kim In, the honorary master of gannil, the Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 4. She has inherited skills of making the chongmoja from her mother and served as a skill holder since she was designated in September 2009. Her daughter Yang Yun-hee (37), designated a scholarship apprentice, is ready to carry on a third generation family business.
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Ipja-jang
Chung Choon-mo
Born in 1940
Date of Designation: May 1, 1991 Awards: 2001 received the Appreciation Plaque from the Prime Minister, 1984 won the Prize of the Minister of the Culture and Information at the 9th Korean Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition, 1978 won the Silver Award at the Korean Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition Activities: 1991- presented works to exhibitions for traditional crafts of important intangible cultural heritage, 1984 donated the gat to Vatican Museum in Rome and Yonsei University
Park Chang-yeong
Born in 1943 Date of Designation: July 22, 2000 Awards: 1973-1989 won prizes several times at the Korean Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition Activities: 2000- presented works to exhibitions for traditional crafts of important intangible cultural heritage, 2004 donated the gat to the Lee Young Hee Museum of Korean Culture in New York
Chung Choon-mo, born in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province, first learned the skills of making the gat in 1958 under the guidance of Lee Jong-guk who ran a gat workshop as a family business for three generations in Yecheon. Between 1976 and 1978, he was apprenticed to Go Jae-gu, a chongmoja skill holder to learn the skills for making the chongmoja, and then by 1980, he mastered the methods of making the yangtae as well.
Park Chang-yeong was born to the family who had been involved in gat making for four generations in Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province. His family members all ran a gat workshop by making Yecheon gat and its compartments including the chongmoja and yangtae. Since he was designated as a skill holder of the Important Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 4 in 2000, he has been more active in making and presenting a diversity of traditional hats including jurip, baekrip and heukrip.
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Yangtae-jang
Jang Sun-ja
Born in 1940 Date of Designation: July 22, 2000 Awards: 1992 received the Plaque of Meritorious Services from the Governor of Jeju Province, 1982- won awards eight times in the yangtae category of the Korean Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition Activities: 2000- presented works to exhibitions for traditional crafts of important intangible cultural heritage, 2000 appointed as the Sinjisikin (pioneer) by Jeju Province
Jang Sun-ja has taken up a career as a third generation yangtaejang, following the footsteps of her maternal grandmother Kang Sun-il and her mother Go Jeong-saeng. At her mothers suggestion, she once worked in the bamboo business by supplying bamboo to brim makers from the age of 23. When she turned 43, her mother was designated as a skill holder of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Korean government and then Jang began learning the work of making the yangtae in earnest.
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The designation and transmission of Gannil
1. Chongmoja-jang
Chongmoja or the crown of the gat is made of horsehair. The crown was first produced in Tongyeong but it was later made in Jeju Island, an area of horsehair production, because the main material for the hat was more easily obtained there. Go Jae-gu of Tongyeong was a first generation skill holder of chongmoja-jang, designated in 1964. In 1967, there were several active female artisans, centering in Dodu-ri, Jeju Island, who could weave the crown, including Yeom In-ja. After the death of Go Jae-gu, there were no more crown makers on the mainland. Oh Song-juk on Jeju Island was recognized as a skill holder in 1980. When Oh passed away in 1984, Kim In became a skill holder . At present, no one can make the crown on the mainland and the weaving skills and techniques are transmitted only on Jeju Island. The first chongmoja-jang, Go Jae-gu (1897-1979), was from Tongyeong and was renowned for his outstanding skills of weaving horsehair and cow tail, materials used for Tongyeongstyle gat in his time. At the age of 15, the young Go Jae-gu entered into the chongmoja workshop run by Gwon Myeong-sik and started to learn the techniques amid 100 skilled artisans. As an apprentice, he was given the task of weaving the crown tip first and then the side band of the crown. Also, he had to acquire golbaegi, the skill of adjusting warp and weft spacing evenly after boiling the newly woven crown, called saengjjabaeki or an unboiled crown. The task is known as kkaenda on the mainland. After Koreas independence from Japanese colonial rule, he was
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responsible for warp and weft spacing at the gat workshops run by Jeon Deok-gi and Kim Bong-ju in Tongyeong. In his spare time, he made crowns by himself at his cottage in order to make a living. It is said that, because of his exquisite skill, it took him five days at the most to weave the upper part of the gat.
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Thanks to distinct regional characteristics, Jeju Island has become the center for breeding horses in Korea. Horsehair produced on the island has facilitated the birth of horsehair crafts, including the weaving of the tanggeon, or headgear, and manggeon, or headband. Specifically, this is the reason that Jeju is home to many artisans who make the crown of the gat. The number of crown artisans significantly declined in the 1960s. It was discovered in 1967 that Yeom In-ja (1902), the oldest among chongmoja-jangs in the town of Dodu-ri, was still weaving the crown. She had been making the crown, mainly during the agricultural off-season, since she was seven years old. At around 23 she began weaving the tanggeon and the brim of the gat. However, her specialty was still making the crown. Kang Wonim (1907) and Mun Gi-saeng also learned the skills of making the crown at the age of seven or eight and kept weaving the crown of the hat during the agricultural off-season as they got older. This shows that many people were involved in making the crown in the Dodu-ri area, the western part of North Jeju-gun. In addition, a folk song that people used to sing while weaving the crown has been handed down in Aewol-eup, which demonstrates that the work of making the crown was also popular in that region. Since 1970, the crown has been produced mainly in Bangdi, Oei-do, Dodu-ri, Ora-ri and Molraemol on Jeju Island. Oh Song-juk (1904-1983) began to produce the crown of the gat at the age of 10 while residing in Dodu-ri. Around 1980, having no family, she lived with Kim In to make Kim In's niece and daughter-in-law her apprentices. As a result, Kim Yeong-ja and Kim Chae-ok were designated as scholarship apprentices in July 1981 Kim In (1920- ) was born to a family involved in farming and fishing at Dodu-dong, Jeju City. She worked as a diver in her youth. By the early 1970s, she was producing the crown
in her home. As she lived together with Oh Song-juk, the first generation skill holder, she started learning weaving techniques again and resumed weaving the crown in earnest for years with tools and materials fully equipped. As a result, she was recognized as a chongmoja-jang of gannil, Important Cultural Heritage No. 4 on February 1, 1985. Later, she transmitted her skills to her daughter Kang Sun-ja (1946- ), who had worked as a teaching assistant and was then designated as a skill holder in September 2009 when her teacher and mother Kim In became an honorary skill holder. Kang Sun-jas daughter Yang Yun-hee, as an apprentice graduate, sat at her grandmother Kim Ins feet.
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Mo Man-hwan was selected among male artisans in the Tongyeong area as the first generation yangtae-jang of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage. Since 1971, when Mo passed away, brim makers have not been found on the mainland. Based on the survey conducted in 1967, Go Jeong-saeng on Jeju Island succeeded Mo Man-hwan and served as a skill holder in the 1980s. At present, the traditional skills and techniques of making a gat brim are kept only by brim skill holders on Jeju Island. The earlier yangtae-jang, Je Hak-jin (1880), was born to a family that had been engaged in the gat-making business since his great-grandfather's time, and he also worked in making the brim of the gat in Misu 1-dong, Chungmu City, South Gyeongsang Province. When he was eight years old, the young Je was taught the skills of making the brim from his uncle Je Mun-won, who was 40 years older than Je Hak-jin and was then a famous artisan. From that time, Je Hak-jin was involved in traditional hat making for approximately 70 years. As he aged, he stopped working.
2. yangtae-jang
A yangtae-jang is an artisan who specializes in making the brim of the gat by using bamboo strips as thin as a thread. These skill holders mostly resided around Chungmu and Geoje in South Gyeongsang Province in 1964. Later, in 1967, a considerable number of female yangtae makers were discovered in Whabuk, Sinchon, and Waheul as well as in Samyang, on the eastern side of Jeju Island.
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Mo Man-hwans brim is said to be made with 150 wefts of bamboo thread and a finer one with 200 wefts. At his peak, he could make one brim in 10 days. On Jeju Island, the brim making business was a fairly good source of income, which significantly benefited the family economy. The brim was made in large quantities in Whabuk, Sinchon, and Waheul, centering in Samyang on Jeju Island, where many brim makers resided. The 1967 survey shows that there were brim makers in Samyang-dong, including Jang Gap-saeng (1903) and Yeom MuMo Man-hwan (1887-1971) carried out the yangtae business in Geoje-gun, South Gyeongsang Province, but he originally came from Chungmu City. He was ten years old when he started learning how to make the brim because his maternal uncle Go Deok-yun, who was 50 years older than him, lived together with his family and made brims. From then, he continued the job for some 70 years. Mo Man-hwan was capable of making the brim of jinsalip, a kind of gat worn by aristocrats. Jinsalips brim is made by the following process. First, a piece of bamboo with long joints is chopped. A cut is made at the joints and the bamboo is split lengthwise into finger-width strips. The strips are boiled and then soaked in water for 15 days to smooth the grain because bamboo is tough. A bamboo sheath is peeled with a knife after its inside has been scraped out. Then it is rubbed against a piece of leather laid across the knee. The bamboo sheath, as thin as a piece of paper, is placed on the thick bamboo and cut into thin pieces at one end with a small, sharp knife. Each piece is shredded along the grain by hand to make a strand. In order to make sure the bamboo strands have the same thickness, they are passed through the joreumdae, a device with a piece of perforated iron attached to a block of wood. Finally the bamboo strands are made. A thicker strand is used for the warp and the finest one is for the weft and the bitdae, a diagonally laid bamboo strand.
saeng (1908). According to the 1980 records, Kim Nan-saeng (1909) and Han Mun-ok (1905) along with Go Jeong-saeng were alive as brim artisans at that time. Kim Nan-saeng, who used to be a woman diver, had long woven the tanggeon and the crown of the gat as well as the brim. Han Mun-ok was also considered a skillful brim maker in the Samyang-dong area. Go Jeong-saeng (1904-1980) was born in Doyeon-dong, Jeju City, a place where brim making has long been common. She lived in Jocheon-myeon, North Jeju-gun. At the age of eight, she began to learn the skill of making the brim from her mother Kang Gun-il. Since the brim was in high demand by the time of
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became a staple product in a traditional five-day interval village market. Bamboo, the main material of the brim, was imported in large quantities to Samyang from Hadong, Jinju and Damyang. Wholesale dealers of the traditional hat supplied bamboo to Jeju, and collected the finished brim products to take them to gat workshops in various regions, including Chungmu. The ordinance prohibiting topknots brought about a sharp decline in demand for the brim. However, its demand skyrocketed on the occasions of the national funerals for King Gojong in 1919 and King Sunjong in 1926. Since all ordinary people had to wear baekrip, a white gat, during the national mourning, brim makers produced coarse brims for mourners in large quantities and thus earned a lot of money. Before Koreas independence from Japanese colonial rule, the horsehair hat was in great demand. A brim artisan earned more than a woman diver on Jeju Island, which made the occupation of making the brim quite popular. Korean independence, brim makers were short-handed. Those who were nimble and dexterous were highly recognized at that time. Thanks to her mother, Go Jeong-saeng was able to acquire a highly skillful technique, making a brim in two days at most at the age of ten. From the age of 15, she was known as a good yangtae-jang and even took special orders for brims. In the days when Go Jeong-saeng wove the brim, each village had a yangtae-cheong, a communal workshop in which five to six people gathered to make the brim together. She said When I was young, we gathered in the yangtae-cheong to weave the brim competitively. This traditional work had a great deal of influence on the lives of Jeju women and their family economy as well. Samyang and Jocheon in the eastern part of Jeju Island were famous producers of the brim of gat because those areas are geographically close to Jocheon Port and Hwabuk Port, which served as portals to Jeju Island. Every single household in Samyang village was engaged in making the brim, which
Thanks to her long and nimble fingers, Go Jeong-saeng could weave a finer and more delicate brim than others. During the periods of peak demand from August to November, she made brims ordered by merchants from the mainland who had paid in advance. Demand for the brim dropped dramatically after the Korean War, resulting in Go Jeong-saeng taking only a few orders a year. It is common that most brim makers lose their sight in their 50s and can no longer weave the brim. However, she could make a brim as fine as a spider web even when she was over 70. In November 1980, she, aged 70, was designated as a skill holder of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage. Her outstanding skills were handed down intact to her youngest daughter Jang Sun-ja.
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Jang Sun-ja (1940- ) has taken up a career as a third generation yangtae-jang, following the footsteps of her maternal grandmother Kang Sun-il and her mother Go Jeong-saeng. As far as Jang remembers, her mother Go Jeong-saeng dedicated her life to weaving the brim. For example, she never let go of the yangtae-making board and a basket of tools and materials, and she continued weaving the brim even when a problem arose in the family or while visiting neighbors. Her skills were said to be superb. Jang Sun-ja, who was born in Myeonchon, Doryeon 2-dong, Jeju City, worked in the bamboo business by supplying bamboo to brim artisans in Jeju Island for 10 years from the age of 23, at her mothers suggestion. When she turned 43, her mother was designated as a skill holder of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Korean government, and then she began learning the work of making the brim in earnest. In 2000, Jang Sun-ja was designated as a second generation yangtae-jang, succeeding her mother Go Jeong-saeng. This appointment resulted in Jang quitting her tangerine firm and being fully occupied with learning the skills of brim making while staying with her mother. Just as her mother had done, Jang began passing down her yangtae-making skills to her daughter Yang Jeong-mi, who was then a third year college student. The four generations of her family have devoted themselves to preserving the traditional skills of brim making. A folk song about the brim used to be popular in several places on Jeju Island, which proves that Jeju is the home of the brim and brim artisans. The production of the brim had a great influence on the economic life of Jejus women. Gat dealers such as Choi Sang-geun and Jang Jae-geun collected and purchased crowns and brims at the five-day markets on Jeju Island and then sold them back on the mainland. However, since the 1970s, when the demand for the traditional hat declined, ipja-jang Park Chang-yeong has personally visited Jeju Island to purchase or make orders for the crown or brim of the gat.
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3. Ipja-jang
An ipja-jang is an artisan who assembles the two parts, crown and brim, to complete the gat by repeatedly ironing it, applying fish glue, smearing it with ink and varnishing it with lacquer hundreds of times. In 1964 when the survey was carried out, ipja-jangs were mostly found to work in Tongyeong and Yecheon. The manufacturing methods between the two regions were deemed different, and they were named Tongyeong gat and Yecheon gat, respectively. However, it is hard to tell the distinct difference between the two types of gats. Tongyeong has long been famous for traditional craftworks such as the craft of mother-of-pearl called najeonchilgi, sets of tableware, and encased ornamental knives. Although the region failed to meet an essential prerequisite for the development of craft because it was not the producer of materials for crafts, various crafts flourished in the area, centering on the naval command post for the three southern provinces during the Joseon Dynasty. In addition, Yecheon has been well known for diverse craftworks like bows for the royalty, encased ornamental knives, brassware from Tongmyeong, and earthenware from Ugedong and Seonbon-dong. As an important traffic center in the inland of North Gyeongsang Province, Yecheon was a place of easy access to further inland areas, including Andong, where aristocrats, the main consumers of gat, clustered together. This is the reason that household industries developed in Yecheon, which is an unusual phenomenon for an inland village. In particular, Cheongbok-dong of Yecheon, also known as Doltae village, was a gat production center in which 80 percent of the households were engaged in gat making. It is a unique handicraft village which keeps the tradition of Yecheon gat alive together with Tongyeong gat. For this reason, the first generation of ipja-jang was mainly from the Tongyeong area. Its second generation consisted of
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Chung Choon-mo and Park Chang-yeong, each representing Tongyeong gat and Yecheon gat, respectively. Being recognized as an ipja-jang of the Tongyeong gat, Chung Choon-mo ran Ipja Manufacturing Company, a large-scale gat workshop in Daegu, starting in 1964 and worked as a nation-wide gat wholesale dealer. In 1974, he moved to Chungmu to be an apprentice under ipja-jang, including Kim Bong-ju and Go Jae-gu, in an earnest, systematic manner. He was designated as a skill holder in 1991. Meanwhile, Park Chang-yeong, designated as ipja-jang of the Yecheon gat, was born to parents whose families were both engaged in gat making for four generations in the Yecheon area. He was trained by first generation skill holders and has been committed to gat making in Yecheon and other regions, leading him to be recognized as a skill holder in 2000. Chung Choon-mo (1940- ) came from Yecheon, North Gyeongsang Province. There was a gat workshop in his neighborhood when he, as a child, lived in Yecheon-eup. He became a friend with a younger brother of the owner of a gat workshop and used to play at the workshop. In 1958, he first learned the skills of making the horsehair hat under the guidance of Lee Jong-guk who ran a gat workshop as a family business for three generations in Yecheon. In 1959, the following year, Chung Choon-mo moved to Park Yeongs gat workshop located in Daesin-dong, Daegu City. Although Park Yeong did not have the skills of gat making, his considerable wealth enabled him to hire from the first generation of renowned skill holders such as Kim Bong-ju and Go Jaegu. Therefore, under the lead of the best, most outstanding technicians, Jeong was able to learn the skills in a systematic fashion at the workshop, the largest in the nation. Chung Choon-mo was registered as an apprentice to ipjajang Kim Bong-ju in 1974, after moving to Chungmu. Two years later when Kim Bong-ju died, Jeong succeeded the business of
his teacher. Between 1976 and 1978, he learned the skills for making the crown as an apprentice to Go Jae-gu, and then by 1980, he mastered the methods of making the brim as well. He mastered the whole process of making a gat in order to complete the making of the Tongyeong gat. In total he learned for 16 years from Kim Bong-ju, a skill holder of ipja-jang, for 20 years from Go Jae-gu, a skill holder of chongmoja-jang, and for 21 years from So Mun-do, a yangtae-jang. By acquiring all techniques necessary for gat making, including ipja, chongmoja and yangtae, which are usually made through the division of labor system, he came to be well equipped with a diversity of abilities as well as basic knowledge.
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Currently, Chung Choon-mo is handing down the three skills of yangtae, ipja and chongmoja to his wife, son, and daughter-inlaw, respectively. He is preparing to return to Tongyeong with the aim to devote the rest of his life to the transmission education of gat making for the next generations by establishing gat training facilities along with a gat museum. Based on the Tongyeong Yeongji Restoration Plan pursued by the Tongyeong City Office, 12 craft workshops are under construction which used to be located behind Sebyeonggwan, the naval command post for the three southern provinces 400 years ago. It is expected that the significance of the gat, which Confucian scholars of the Joseon Dynasty treated as if it were as valuable as their own lives, will be revived at these newly built workshops by the efforts of the next generations of gat artisans. Park Chang-yeong (1943- ) was born in Yecheon-eup, Yecheon-gun, North Gyeongsang Province and his family had been involved in gat making for four generations in Yecheon. His great-grandfather Park Hang-gil launched the gat-making Since Chung Choon-mo began to learn the whole process of gat making, encompassing chongmoja, yangtae and ipja, under the tuition of the first generation of skill holders of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage, he has presented his works to the Korea Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition starting from 1973. He won the participation award in the second year of the exhibition in 1974, and the award of Minister of Culture and Public Information in the third year of the exhibition in 1978. Starting with hosting an invitational exhibition and practice demonstration at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C, U.S. in 1982, he has been endeavoring to elevate the awareness of gat making by presenting demonstrations personally at home and abroad.
business and his grandfather Park Hyeong-seok (1867-1930) succeeded the family business. His uncles Park Ju-hae (18911949) and Park Wol-hae (1894-1959) and his father Park Gyeonghae (1900-1952) all made the horsehair hat. They settled around Yecheon and ran their own gat workshops to conduct the work of chongmoja, yangtae, and ipja. His uncles Park Hae-ju and Park Wol-hae made the hat in Cheongbuk-dong, Yecheon, and Yeongju, respectively. Meanwhile, his maternal grandfather Kim Yeong-il also ran a large gat workshop in Yecheon in which his father and his friends, including Lee Jongguk and Kim Do-am as well as An Su-bong, worked together to produce the traditional hat. In short, the Park familys business flourished enough to become representative of Yecheon gat.
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When Park Chang-yeong finished middle school at the age of 16, he, having been raised in an environment familiar with gat making, came to learn the skill of gat making under his fathers guidance at his older brother Park Ho-yeongs suggestion. Unfortunately, his father passed away before he mastered the skill. He was apprenticed to his fathers friend An Su-bong at his workshop. As a first task, the trainee performed golbaegi, a warp and weft spacing of the crown covering mojagol, a hat block, or sujang-il or preparing the crown to be joined with the brim. Ever since he was little, Park Chang-yeong was praised for his dexterity. At the age of 18, he left An Su-bongs gat workshop and moved to Park Yeongs gat workshop in Daegu City, which produced and supplied gats nationwide. He started over by learning sujangil first there. At that time, the horsehair hat was made through the system of labor division in which several skill holders were responsible for each part of the gat or for their specialty. For sujang-il, Park Chang-yeong was paid based on job performance by the number of pieces he did. The gat was so rare in those days that the sky was the limit for its price. Sujang-il was a well-paid job, much better than the salary at a large company. There were five employed artisans working at Park Yeongs gat workshop in Daegu. Park Chang-yeong worked together with Kang No-in, Lee Ong-rim, Yun Gan-ik and Choi Jong-ik. In addition, Kim Bong-ju, Go Jae-gu, So Mun-do, Park Jeong-sil, Park Jae-ho and Chung Choon-mo once worked there, and then some started their own business and the others ceased to work. After working in Park Yeongs gat workshop for five years, Park returned to his home town of Doltae village in Cheongbok-dong, Yecheon in April 1967 to set up his own gat workshop. At that time, there were a lot of gat workshops in Cheongbok-dong since the gat business was booming in Yecheon, with customers or dealers who wanted to order a new gat or repair it flocking into the region from all parts of the country.
As industrialization swept the country and the Saemaeul Movement or New Community Movement was launched into full operation, the traditional hat gradually lost its demand. In 1978, Park Chang-yeong moved to Seoul and continued his business. However, there was no viable market for the hat. In search of a new market, he contacted the Korean Broadcasting System to supply his product as a prop to be used in TV historical dramas. He has made the horsehair hat for TV dramas and films.
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the Arumjigi Culture Keepers Foundation, and a demonstration of gat making under the title Museum and Intangible Cultural Heritage at the ICOM-ICME Conference. As part of an effort to introduce unfamiliar aspects of Korean traditional culture to northern Europe, the gat was exhibited at the Design Museum in Helsinki and the Craft Museum in Jyvaskyla, Finland in 2011. In addition, Park has continued to study the extinct traditional techniques of gat making by restoring the Jeonrip, or hat of a military officer, of King Cheoljong, the 25th king of the Joseon Dynasty and the gat of Jeongtak whose penname was Yakpo. In order to make diverse gats, he has sought different production techniques and methods. In 2011, he participated in making a piece of work titled Shadow of Wise Man as a collaboration between a craftsman and a designer for the project Craft and Design Consulting, which was organized by the Korea Craft & Design Foundation with the aim of creating encounters between tradition and modern design. The project drew extensive public attention to a new usage of tradition in modern society and to the Park Chang-yeong has been given a variety of awards at the Korea Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition including the award of President of the Association for the Preservation of Korean Cultural Properties in 1985, the award of Administrator of the Cultural Properties Administration in 1988, and the award of President of the Korea Arts & Culture Education Service in 1989. He gave a demonstration of gat making for seven days at the West Japan General Exhibition Center in Kyushu in 1986 and held a special exhibition in Los Angeles, U.S. in 1988 and 1989. In 2000, he was designated as a skill holder of the Important Cultural Heritage No. 4. Since then, he has been more active in making and presenting a diversity of traditional hats including jurip, baekrip, and heukrip. He has also endeavored to display the delicacy and precision of gat making at various events, including gat donation to the Lee Young Hee Museum of Korean Culture in Manhattan, New York, U.S. in 2004, a gat exhibition under the theme Legacy: Looking for Beauty in Life hosted by
unique encounter between tradition and modernity. Currently, all of his family members are inheriting his techniques, thus succeeding the family business for five generations. His sons Park Hyeong-bak and Park Hyeong-eon are inheriting the skill of ipja and his daughter-in-law Kim Seong-a and her mother Kim Su-a are also scholarship apprentices.
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Manggeon is a kind of headband which is put on before the gat to prevent ones hair from falling down. It is woven with horsehair. It was first used in the late Goryeo and early Joseon Periods. Manggeon consists of four different parts: dang (salchum), the top fastening band; pyeonja (seondan), the bottom fastening band; ap, the forehead covering net; and dwi, a part covering the back of the head. A pair of ornaments called gwanja are placed on the left and right sides of the manggeon to adjust its length and to show the status of the wearer. There is also another ornament, called pungjami, on the front head, which functions as a gat fastener. The main material for the headband is horse tail or sometimes human hair. The human hair was considered so precious that it was used mainly when repairing a broken headband. In order to make the headband, each part is woven in order: pyeonja, ap, dwi and then dang. The newly The manggeon, or headband, and tanggeon, or indoor headgear, are worn under the gat and are the quintessence of Korean traditional horsehair craftsmanship. This section
The designation and transmission of manggeon
woven manggeon is boiled to make it softer and then dyed and assembled.
offers brief information on artisans who make manggeon and tanggeon.
Category
Name (Birth Year) Lee Su-yeo (1923)
Gender Female Female Female Female
Address Samyang 2-dong, Jeju City, Jeju Samyang 2-dong, Jeju City, Jeju Whabuk 1-dong, Jeju City, Jeju Samyang-dong, Jeju City, Jeju
Date of Designation Jan. 5, 1987 Sept. 25, 2009 Nov. 17, 1980 Sept. 25, 2009
Note Honorary skill holder Skill holder Honorary skill holder Skill holder
Manggeon-jang Kang Jeon-hyang (1943) Kim Gong-chun (1919) Tanggeon-jang Kim Hye-jeong (1946)
Current skill holders of Manggeon-jang (no. 66) and Tanggeon-jang (no. 67) of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage
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During the Joseon Dynasty, manggeon-jang, artisans who make the headband, showed different levels of skill depending on region, thus the completed product of the headband having distinctive regional characteristics. It was said that manggeon makers from Seoul were good at weaving pyeonja, those from the Nonsan area had a specialty in weaving the back part and those from the Gimje area were adept at weaving dang. At the end of the Joseon Dynasty, the famous producers of the headband included Seoul, with a lot of manggeon consumers, and Jeju Island and Gimje, where horsehair, the main material, was readily available. As the producer of horsehair, Jeju Islands manggeon production was particularly popular.
Seo Je-gyu from Gimje of South Jeolla Province was the first recognized manggeon-jang who worked as not only an artisan of making the headband but also a manggeon dealer. Im Deoksu (1905-1985) from Wanju of North Jeolla Province was first designated as a skill holder in 1980. He was given the Prime Ministers award at the Korea Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition and also won prize money by submitting his piece to the exhibition of Lotte Department Store the following year. There were two disciples of Im Deok-su: Kim Hyeon-suk and Yang Jin-suk. Yang proceeded step by step as a teaching assistant and scholarship apprentice. She is still actively presenting her works to the Korea Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition and fostering the upcoming generation at Hanyang University. Kim, on the other hand, has ceased manggeon making. The tradition of manggeon on Jeju Island has been handed down by Lee Su-yeo in Samyang-dong. After the death of Skill holder Im Deok-su, Lee was designated as a skill holder. Kang Jeon-hyang, a daughter of Lee Su-yeo, has learned her mothers skill and currently serves as a skill holder.
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boiled to keep its shape. After being boiled, the hat is dried and dyed with black ink. Since the making process of jeongjagwan, a different type of black horsehair hat, is similar to that of tanggeon, tanggeon artisans also make jeongjagwan as well. Jeongju and Anju of Pyeongan Province, Nonsan and Gimje of the Honam area and Jeju Island have long been known as production areas of tanggeon. Among them, the hat made on Jeju Island is divided into several types: a single folded one, a double folded one, and a delicate cross patterned one with a square
The designation and transmission of Tanggeon
design created through double, triple, or quintuple knitting techniques. This can be interpreted to mean that the tanggeon came to serve as a hat by itself, and thus had more decorative features. At the end of the Joseon Dynasty, tens of thousands of tanggeons were produced a year on Jeju Island alone. After the ordinance prohibiting topknots in 1895, however, the demand for the traditional hat was on the decline, and in the end its production continues only on Jeju Island.
Tanggeon is a kind of official headgear put under a gat and was also called tanggeun on Jeju Island. It serves to cover the sangtu or topknot, as well as the hair, and support the gat. Along with the chongmoja and manggeon, it is made of horsehair. Tanggeon is made by knitting horsehair on tanggeongol or a wooden tanggeon frame, which is placed on chetdaegwi a cylindrical workbench cushioned with a used soft felt hat. Unlike the typical order of weaving chongmoja or crown of gat starting from the top to bottom, tanggeon is adversely knitted from the bottom, altong to the top, uttong. After completing
weaving, several threads of horsehair are bounded and cut at each warp to hem the edge. Before the finishing process called gugap, tanggeon is boiled to keep in shape. After boiling it, the Tanggeon is made by knitting horsehair on tanggeongol, a wooden tanggeon form, which is placed on chetdaegwi, a cylindrical workbench cushioned with a used soft felt hat. Unlike the typical order of weaving the crown of the gat starting from the top to bottom, the tanggeon is knitted from the bottom, altong, to the top, uttong. After completing the weaving, several threads of horsehair are bound and cut at each warp to hem the edge. Before the finishing process, called gugap, the tanggeon is
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Manggeon-jang
Lee Su-yeo
Born in 1923 Date of Designation: February 24, 1985 Awards: 1986- awarded 11th Korean Annual Tradition Handcraft Art Exhition, 1980- won participation prize at the 5th Korean Annual Tradition Handcraft Art Exhibition Activities: 1987- presented works to exhibitions for traditional crafts of important intangible cultural heritage
Kang Jeon-hyang
Born in 1943 Date of Designation: September 25, 2009 Awards: 2004, 2005 and 2007 won Korean Annual Tradition Handcraft Art Exhition Activities: 2008- presented works to Bucheon International Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, 2010- presented works to Insa-dong Joint Exhibitions Kang Jeon-hyang was born in Jesu Island in 1943, and she begun to learn the work of manggeon making from her mother, Lee Su-yeo. She was designated as a skill holder of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage of manggeon-jang in 2009, since her mother turned to be a honorary skill holder of manggeon-jang. She is currently doing transmission activities of manggeon making, and actively participating public events as well as exhibition activities.
Lee Su-yeo was born and lives in Samyang-dong, Jeju, and begun to produce manggeon since she was thirteen. She has taken up a career as a artisan of manggeon as she was born in the family of manggeon artisans. Since premiere skill holder Lim Deok-su deceased in 1985, Lee Su-yeo was designated as a skill holder of important intangible cultural heritage of manggeon-jang in 1987 after the designation survey of skill holder.
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Tanggeon-jang
Kim Gong-chun
Born in 1919 Date of Designation: November 17, 1980 Awards: 1982 - awarded the appreciation plague of Korea Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition in the celebration of the hundred year diplomatic relationship between the Republic of Korea and the United States of America, 1980 - awareded the prize of the 5th Korean Annual Tradition Handcraft Art Exhibition, Activities: 1980- presented works to the exhibitions for traditional crafts of important intangible cultural heritage
Kim Hye-jeong
Born in 1946 Date of designation: September 25, 2009 Awarded: 1987- certificated as apprentices of transmission education, 2009- presented works to Tamra Cultural Festival Activities: 2009- presented works to Bucheon International Intangible Cultural Heritage Expo, 2010 gave lectures to the Training Center of Intangible Cultural Heritage and Jeju Traditional School
Girls in Jeju Island usually started to learn the tanggeon knitting in Korea is currently in the middle of the specified of gatil craftsman 5 people and activities, and the details are shown in thmade by going through different process just like division of brings about completion of a piece of work. tanggeon-cheong at the age of ten. Thus a daughter of honorary skill holder Kim Gong-chun, Kim Hye-jeong alo begun to learn tanggeon knitting from her mother at the age of ten. Kim Hye-jeong was designated as a skill holder of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage tanggeonjang in 2009, after her mother Kim Gong-chun became a honarary skill holder of tanggeon-jang.
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Proposals for the development of gat making
Horsehair crafts are well developed all over Jeju Island. Each region has its own specialty: manggeon and yangtae in Samyang-dong; tanggeon in Whabuk-dong; and chongmoja in Dodu-ri. Kim Gong-chun (1919- ) was a female tanggeon-jang representing Whabuk-dong, Jeju City. She was the only skill holder who acquired the skills to weave a singled folded, double folded, and square patterned tanggeon as well as a jeongjagwan. She was designated as a skill holder of the Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 67 in 1980. Currently her daughter Kim Hye-jeong, residing in Samyang 2-dong, Jeju City, has succeeded her mother as a skill holder. The gat possesses exceptional beauty and production methods so unique that they are difficult to find anywhere else in the world. The skills of this traditional craft have been handed down through cooperation between chongmoja-jang, yangtaejang and ipja-jang. Gannil or gat making was designated as Important Cultural Heritage No. 4 in 1964, the first in the craft category. This demonstrates that the traditional hat enjoyed a high degree of public awareness and was considered an endangered cultural element that needed to be preserved intact. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, only a few skill holders were alive in Tongyeong and Jeju Island, and it was realistically difficult for them to concentrate on gat making because they had to make their own living.
In order to address this difficult situation, the Korean government devised a supporting system that designates skill holders of gat-making skills in order to provide them assistance for living, thus helping them maintain the tradition. However as the first generation of skill holders from Tongyeong passed away in the 1970s, and their daughters or the disciples who inherited the skills are recognized as new skill holders, a new means for the transmission of gat making skills is being sought. Craft skills have traditionally been passed down via the apprentice system; primarily from father to son and mother to daughter within a family, or from artisan to apprentice. This traditional training method heavily depends on direct one on one teaching, which is painstaking and time-consuming. Furthermore, skill holders of Important Intangible Cultural Heritage are working and teaching in a poor environment. Their private home, normally a living space, turns into a workshop with tools and materials displayed when making a gat or providing a training class. Except for the time to make one or two pieces of the crown or brim of the gat for compulsory submission to the annual event of Korea Annual Traditional Handcraft Art Exhibition, skill holders rarely put time and effort into gat production because they have to do odd jobs or other work unrelated to the traditional craft for a living. Improving their working and living conditions is believed to be the only way to ensure the development of Koreas traditional crafts in the future. Therefore, there are several suggestions to
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be made.
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Although people consider it important to designate skill holders and provide transmission education in order to revitalize First, it is urgent to set up a suitable workshop in which a master can concentrate on transmission education and making a piece of work. It is difficult to lay out dozens of tools in such a small space as a persons home. In addition, the place is used as both a private home and a workshop, so that it is impossible to provide proper education there. Second, in order to procure quality materials in a smooth manner to make a high-quality gat, it is essential to build a network with producers of the main materials. Various materials are necessary to make a gat, including horsehair, bamboo, silk cloth, silk thread and charcoal. It is extremely impractical for the gat artisans to personally visit Jeju Island, Damyang, and Sangju to get these materials. Third, another precondition of gat making is to be equipped with the fine quality traditional tools and devices needed. For example, an iron necessary to gently curve the bamboo brim can be purchased only through a special order to a traditional forge. Goldingi, a tool for golbaegi or beorangil can only be made-toorder by a carpenter who is capable of making the tool. Fourth, traditional craft skills need to be modified to meet the needs of modern society, thus developing as an industry. Integration between traditional art and modern ideas and state-of-the-art technology, in other words the encounter between the skills of traditional crafts and modern creative imaginations, can lead to the birth of new craft and design visions that can be applied to modern times. To this end, artists who major in modern art and craft will inherit traditional skills from local artisans. Based on their learning, they will seek an opportunity for the traditional cultural industry to open a new future via education focusing on the planning and producing of new craft products.
traditional craft arts and preserve traditional techniques, they believe that a decline in the number of traditional craftsmen is a natural phenomenon. Even if the importance of tradition is emphasized in modern industrial society, reality is harsh for craftsmen of traditional crafts, who bear all burden and responsibility for tradition transmission. The government is expected to devise more aggressive and constructive alternatives to draw the attention of the younger generation of craftsmen to the traditional crafts. Every master in the craft category shows strong commitment to hand down their skills through education and training. To this end, several prerequisites should be addressed: securing space for transmission education, proper supply of materials and tools for transmission, and constant financial support to the students who are inheriting the skills. Multilateral efforts should be made to provide a proper place for workshop and education, procure a constant supply of materials and tools, and plan and produce new products through integration with modern crafts. Such a move will help the traditional craft be handed down in the future.
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Appendices
Korean Official Hats in Paintings Gallery of Various Korean Hats
Korean Official Hats in Paintings

base is designed to fully cover the forehead, ears and back of the neck. The hat was originally favored by old men as winter headgear worn underneath the horsehair hat to cover their ears. Derived from a formal winter cap of the early Joseon period called ieom, it initially saw everyday usage by the upper class, but later spread to commoners, worn along with formal dress as well as with military uniforms under the beonggeoji (soldiers or military slaves hat). The hat is usually open on the top and the lower part is curved in three parts. The edge of the hat is lined with 4 to 7 cm of fur and there is approximately a 4.5 cm slit in the middle of the back of its crown. It is decorated with tassels, knots and jewelry made of coral cords and jade on its front and back, while there are two straps attached on both sides to connect the front and back parts of the hat. Sometimes it also had detachable fur-lined flaps to cover cheeks and chin, especially in the case of those designed for women. Although the usual combination of materials involved thick silk for the exterior and cotton flannel for the interior, it was at times substituted in favor of cotton for the inside and wool on the outside. The common color for the outer fabric was black, while black, green or red was used for the inner part. Sometimes navy, purple, maroon, light violet and light green were used for the outer surface and a yellow-dyed fabric was used for the inner. The fur lining was usually black, dark brown or red-black in color, and the tassels were mostly pink or bold pink. Nambawi for females were colorfully and luxuriously adorned with gold-gilded decoration of cranes, butterflies, oriental phoenix, chrysanthemums and other auspicious patterns. Different materials were used for different ranks: silk and marten fur were used for hats worn by senior officials while for subordinate officials of the third to ninth ranks, materials used were restricted to silk tabby and rat hide. The common people initially used otter hide, later replaced with weasel skin due to high costs. There was another type of nambawi worn in spring or autumn for old people living in luxury and those in poor health. Typically the nambawi was worn in wintertime under a horsehair hat, and sometimes under golden coronets and the official hat called samo that government officials wore in court.
New Years Shopping, Seoul, 1921, Elizabeth Keith
Nambawi as seen by foreigners

This image is a woodcut by the English artist Elizabeth Keith who visited Korea around 1920. It depicts the scene of a mother and her two little daughters holding hands and walking in front of Gwanghwamun Square with a statue of haetae, a mythical unicorn lion, in the background. The nambawi was used by both men and women of all ages, with other names such as pungdengi (meaning beetle), nani (literally warming ears) and ieom (literally covering ears). It is also said that the hat was initially named after its inventor, Nam Ba-wi. The traditional winter hat with a fur-lined
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boys longevity and fortune. The old man in the other picture, who appears to be a scholar, is also wearing the same kind of headdress. Joseon-era scholars wore such hats along with white overcoats, such as simui and hakchangui. Bokgeon is a type of traditional headgear. The rear part is curved, and there are two pleats above each ear. Two straps sewn inside the lower pleats are tied at the back. The hat is made of black silk or silk gauze, and it is called bokgeon, literally meaning fullwidth hood as the full width of a piece of cloth is used to make one. During the Joseon Dynasty, it was worn by noblemen and Confucian scholars together with simui and hakchangui, and some young men wore it above their topknot before putting on a straw hat. Today, it is usually worn by baby boys on their first birthday or traditional holidays. A passage regarding hats in Random Expatiations of Oju, a vast volume of books describing various objects from all eras written by the 18th century scholar Yi Gyugyeong reads: In the Chinese Han Dynasty, many kings and the nobility admired the attire of scholars and considered wearing the bokgeon an elegant way of dressing. Consequently, the bokgeon, which used to be worn by people of humble origins, became part of scholarly attire by the end of the dynasty.
2 2Song Si-yeol (1607-1689)
Korean Boy in Holiday Dress, 1919, 1 Elizabeth Keith
Bokgeon, a headdress for both children and adults

A little boy, maybe two or three years of age, is in a childrens jacket with multicolor-striped sleeves and a sleeveless coat with a bokgeon on his head. This appears to be an outfit for New Years Day: the gilt decoration imprinted across the headdress is presumably composed of letters and patterns conveying good wishes for the
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He is saying something while pointing with his index and middle fingers put together. Despite her social status, the woman sucking away at her pipe looks even more confident than the man in a horsehair hat. This is the period when the popular fashion trend among women was to wear the skirt lifted up to show the under-drawers, thereby accentuating the fullness of the skirt. The servant boy on the right is holding a lamp and a fur hat. Despite the low official rank, the byeolgam was in a position to assist the king from up close, and their attire was outstanding in color. They wore an orange-colored straw hat, which stood out even from a distance, and their dallyeong (officials robe with a round collar), jingnyeong (mans coat with a straight collar), and cheomni (mans coat with pleats) were all red-colored. Furthermore, the various styles of belts worn by the byeolgam were enough to represent their prerogatives. Worn by boys after their coming-of-age ceremony, chorip was a popular hat for Confucian scholars and commoners until heungnip (noblemans outdoor black hat) came into common use. The hat is narrow-brimmed, its edges bent up, and the crown part is quite small. It can be even said that the hat is just placed on the top of the head rather than being fully worn. Therefore, the headband worn around the head to fix the topknot hair style and accessories attached to it were bound to be seen under the straw hat and as a natural consequence hair decorations became increasingly elaborate. When heungnip came in, however, chorip became a distinctive hat of male servants including byeolgam. In particular, its orange color gives the impression of liveliness, pleasure and openness. As its high saturation makes the color distinctive everywhere, it elicits positive emotions at events held outside the royal palace. Accordingly, when byeolgams escorted a royal carriage, the orange-colored straw hat, as part of their everyday uniform, was presumably sufficient to vitalize the event by showing off the grandeur and creating a festive atmosphere.
Yaguemmohaeng (Sneaking out despite of thee curfew at night), 1758, Shin Yun-bok
Byeolgam in a chorip and a vivid red uniform

This painting is the famous artist Shin Yun-boks A Secret Trip at Night. In the dead of night when a crescent moon adorns the eastern sky, the scene depicts the gathering of four people outside of a gisaeng house; a gisaeng (female entertainer or prostitute), a yangban (aristocrat), a byeolgam (title of a low-ranking official) and a servant boy. Both the aristocrat with a black horsehair hat and the woman with a long tobacco pipe in her mouth are wearing finely sewn quilt jackets, under-drawers and wristlets. The way the moon has waned indicates it is a late winter night. In contrast to the aristocrat in a white coat and a broad-brimmed horsehair hat, the byeolgam is wearing a straw hat called chorip and a red uniform.
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Empire that succeeded the Joseon Dynasty. Previously, Korean royalty and officials were customarily held at two ranks below their Chinese counterparts: for example, the Korean king was considered on the same level as a Chinese feudal lord, who ranked below the prince imperial, and a Korean first rank official was considered equal to a Chinese third rank official. However, in the period of the Korean Empire, all official ranks were elevated to the same level as those of China. The golden coronet is adorned with yang (meaning vertical line) that indicates different ranks, so the coronet is also called yanggwan (lined coronet). According to historical records regarding the official dress code of the 16th year of Taejongs reign (1416), first rank officials wore a five-line coronet, and those of the second rank, third rank, fourth to sixth ranks and seventh to ninth ranks wore a four-line, three-line, two-line, and single-line coronet, respectively (March, 16th year of Taejongs reign, The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty). In the meantime, crown princes wore a six-line coronet together with the ceremonial red robe called gangsapo. The coronet is engraved with gilded arabesque patterns at the lower part of the front and the whole of its back. Sometimes the binyeo, or the traditional long hairpin inserted through the coronet, was also gold-plated, hence the name golden coronet. Traditionally in China, the hairpin was designed to be put in through the topknot and coronet, to fix the coronet and prevent it from falling off when the wearer bowed down. Korea largely adopted the Chinese style, except that the Korean variation attached strings to the coronet that were connected to the hairpin and tied beneath the wearers chin. This was because, unlike the Chinese topknot which was big and soft, it was impossible to put a hairpin through a Korean-style topknot. During winter when the nambawi was worn under the coronet, the strings had to be loosened.
Appendices
Heungseon Daewongun (1820-1898)
Heungseon Daewongun in a five-line coronet

The man in the picture is Heungseon Daewongun(1820-1898) in jobok (ceremonial attire for kings and officials) and a golden crown. Jobok was worn when greeting foreign envoys, proclaiming royal edicts, or presenting tributary prose to emperors on New Years Day, Winter Solstice Day and holidays. Nowadays, ritual specialists wear a seven-line coronet on the Royal Ancestral Memorial Rite of Jongmyo. This is based on the changed standard of the Korean
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and back, are so large that they are close to touching. Picture 2 is the portrait of King Sejong wearing a red royal robe. This robe also has large patches, and the part around the collar is somewhat looser than King Taejos robe. Picture 3 shows the bust of King Yeongjo in a red royal robe. Compared to the previous two pictures, now the crown part of the hat is taller and its wings are larger. The collar on the robe has become more loose-fitting as well. Picture 4 features King Gojong wearing a yellow dragon robe after he declared himself an emperor. His crown is smaller than that of King Yeongjo, and the size of the patches on the robe is also reduced. The fiveclawed dragon motif here is embroidered with gold thread. The dragon in the patches sewn on the chest and the right shoulder is carrying a red cintamani in its mouth as a symbol of the sun, while the dragon in the patches on the back and the left shoulder is holding a white cintamani, symbolizing the moon, by its mouth. This yellow dragon robe has wide sleeves called the duri sleeve. Ikseongwan is the official crown for the king and crown prince of Joseon worn with their everyday attire gollyongpo, corresponding to the official hat and uniform called samogwandae worn by court officials. The hat was also coupled with the crown prince and his eldest sons study clothes. It is shaped as a two-tiered crown, the back part higher than the front, with two flaps sticking out from the back, which represent the wings of a cicada. The blue threads sewn onto the front were used to tie the two wings together. The crown was usually made with purple silk gauze, but black fabric was used to make one to be worn with clothing for the mourning period. The wings on the silk hat worn by court officials as part of their official attire point toward the earth while the wings on the royal crown point skywards, distinguishing the king and his retainers. Unlike the golden crown and ceremonial coronet, the system concerning ikseongwan did not change until the very end of the Joseon Dynasty, so the hat was still used as it was even after the accession of Gojong as emperor.
Appendices
1King Taejo (r.1392-1408) 2Sejong the Great (r.1418-1450) 3King Yeongjo (r.1724-1776) 3
4. Emperor Gojong (r.1863-1907)
Kings everyday uniform and ikseongwan

Picture 1 is the portrait of King Taejo, born Yi Seong-gye, in the royal everyday attire. He is wearing a blue royal robe, or gollyongpo, and a black ikseongwan. The patches of the five-clawed dragon design, drawn on the robe with gold gilt paint on shoulders, chest
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Emperor Gojong wearing tongcheongwan

Kings wore the royal crown of wonyugwan, and the ceremonial red robe of gangsapo, when performing small ancestral rites on the first day of the month or full-moon day by the lunar calendar, receiving greetings from subjects, or conducting brief royal ceremonies such as birthday ceremonies and visits to queen dowagers following felicitous ceremonies. After the proclamation of the Korean Empire, monarchs wore the tongcheongwan, or the emperors crown, instead of the kings crown. Differences between the two are the number of vertical lines on the crown, the number of cicada-shaped ornaments, the material of the ornamental hairpin and whether a decoration called sansul adorned the forehead or not. Whereas the kings crown has nine cicadas on nine lines with a gold hairpin and no sansul decoration, the emperors crown, as seen above in the portrait of King Gojong, has 12 cicadas on 12 lines with a jade hairpin and sansul decoration. Gangsapo, like the royal robe in the portrait, consists of an outfit with red pants, an inner robe and other accessories including a decorative panel, a jade waist chain, and a large belt, shoes, socks, and a jade stick. It is the same with the royal robe in shape and components but has different color and no royal coat of arms which is characteristic of the royal robe.
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Emperor Gojong (r.1863-1907)
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Appendices
2Yi Gui (1557-1633) 3Chae Je-gong (1720-1799) 2 3
1Ju Se-bung (1495-1554)
Samo, the symbol of court officials

Dallyeong, the officials robe, was always paired with samo, the officials hat, and gakdae, the belt. The shape of the officials hat underwent dramatic changes over time as the horsehair hat did. The differences in the height of the crown part of the hat, the size and shape of wing-shaped decoration show the trends of the times. Officials were required to wear them all the time except on rainy or snowy days so that they could retain their courtly dignity. Ju Se-bung (1495-1554) in picture 1 is wearing a hat with a relatively low crown and small wings on both sides and Yi Gui (1567-1633) in picture 2 a hat with a low rear crown and wider wings. Chae Jegong (1720-1799) in picture 3 is wearing a hat with a high crown and long narrow wings compared with the former two pictures. Court officials in the Joseon Dynasty usually wore the officials hat with everyday attire, but commoners were allowed to wear them at wedding ceremonies. The officials hat is composed of a low front crown and a tall rear crown, with two wings at its back. The name samo, meaning silk hat, refers to the silk cover enveloping the exterior made of bamboo strips and horsehair. The
shape of the hat changed with time. In the early period, hats were decorated with strings hung from both sides or with soft wings. The latter were replaced with hard wings around the reign of King Myeongjong and from the middle period, the wings became wider and horizontal while the crown became much taller. In the late period, the wings grew shorter and curved forward with the width unchanged, and the crown was lowered again. The very first record of the officials hat can be found in Goryeosa (The History of the Goryeo Dynasty), which states that an officials hat and robe were bestowed upon Seol Jang-su by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty in May 1387 (the 13th year of King Wu of the Goryeo Dynasty) and upon his return officials of all ranks followed this mode of dress from June of the same year. In December 1417, the 17th year of his reign, King Taejong of the Joseon Dynasty accepted the suggestion of his retainers and ordered that every official wear the officials hat instead of the horsehair hat at court. In February 1426 (the 8th year of King Sejong), as the hat was included as a part of officials everyday uniform, it became the most widely used hat for officials until the end of the Joseon Dynasty. Replacing other official hats, it was worn with various kinds of official attire. Even after the dress code reform by King Gojong, officials still wore the hat with ceremonial attire or everyday uniform.
Appendices
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A docile bride wearing hwagwan

A fancy coronet with floral decorations called hwagwan beautifully matches the bride who is seated in a modest manner casting down her eyes. It is a kind of headdress worn by women with ceremonial costume and also has a significant aesthetic value. First introduced with Chinese costumes during the reign of King Munmu of the Silla Dynasty, it was coupled with court dress during the Unified Silla period and with upper class womens ceremonial costumes during the Goryeo Dynasty. Its size became smaller in the Joseon Dynasty. The ban on hairpieces issued by King Yeongjo and King Jeongjo recommended the use of ceremonial coronets such as jokduri, a ceremonial coronet, or hwagwan, a ceremonial coronet with floral decorations, instead of the voluminous ceremonial hairstyle using fake hairpieces, and both the courtly class and commoners began to wear the coronet. The book titled Yebok (meaning ceremonial costumes) also recommends wearing the two types of coronets with womens formal and semi-formal costumes. Only gisaeng, female shamans and dancers wore them at court feasts in the earlier days, but the hairstyle reform allowed the upper class to wear coronets instead of hairpieces, as well as commoners to wear them at weddings. Making a hwagwan first requires a crown-shaped paper or fabric frame, on which floral paper decorations and paper strings are added, and then the flower-shaped jade board is decorated with orpiment, amber, jade and pearl. It is finally secured on the top of the head using two small hairpins. In the late Joseon era, women wore jokduri with formal attire, and hwagwan with elaborate ceremonial robe or jacket.
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The Bride, 1948, Paul Jacoulet
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Appendices
Gallery of Various Korean Hats
Mens black top Hat
Mens black top Hat
Mens black top Hat
Mens black top Hat
Mens black top Hat

Mens black top Hat
Mens black top Hat
Mens black top Hat
Appendices
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Mens black top Hat
Mens black top Hat
Officials Hat
Officials Hat
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Appendices
Noblemens indoor Headdress
Scholars Headdress
Inner Hat for Noblemen
Mens black top Hat
Black official Hat
Noblemens indoor Headdress
Hat case made of paper, and horsehair hat
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Appendices
High-ranking military officials felt hat adorned with peacock feathers
Officials golden coronet
Kings Crown fot Attending to Government Affairs
Officials ritual coronet
Womens Ceremonial Coronet
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Mens topknot covers

Appendices
173
Beret
Fedora
Officials white Hat
Fedora
Fedora
White Hat
White Hat
Appendices
Fedora
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Publisher Producer Planning Written by Translated by Proofread by Design & Edition Printed by Publication Date Published by National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage Song Min-sun, Head of division of Intangible Cultural Heritage Lim Hyoung-jin, Pang In-ah, Kang Bo-seung Choi Eun-soo, Park Hyeong-bak Hwang Eunhee Bill Sharp Graphic Korea Co, Ltd National Museum of Korea National Palace Museum of Korea The National Folk Museum of Korea Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation Gansong Art Museum Graphic Korea Co, Ltd October. 31. 2012 National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage 132 Munji-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-380, KOREA Tel +82-42-860-9245 Fax +82-42-861-4927 www.nrich.go.kr
Photos Provided by Cultural Heritage Administration of Korea
ISBN 978-89-6325-987-1 93630 Government Publication Number 11-1550011-000523-01 CopyrightNRICH(National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage), All rights reserved
Cover Paper : Shinfunshi Natual 209g/ Inner Paper : Montblanc Natural 103g/ Book Binding : Soft-Cover Size : 180240/ The number of pages : 180 Not for sale

Gat, Traditional Headgear in Korea

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Gat, Traditional Headgear in Korea

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Intangible Cultural Heritage of Korea

Traditional Headgear in Korea

Transmission and Preservation of Gat: People Weaving Tradition

Gat Craftsmanship and Variations

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