() is the traditional

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

n art of creating mats, baskets and boxes from woven

sedge The Cyperaceae are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large, with some 5,500 known species described in about 90 genera, the largest being the "true sedges" genus ''Carex'' wit ...

().

History

Sedge has been a common material for household goods in Korea since the

Silla period Silla or Shilla (57 BCE – 935 CE) ( , Old Korean: Syera, Old Japanese: Siraki2) was a Korean kingdom located on the southern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula. Silla, along with Baekje and Goguryeo, formed the Three Kingdoms of Ko ...

(57 BCE – 935 CE). Despite the availability of the plant, which grows well in the waterlogged soil of rice paddies, sedge products were highly prized and were used as decoration in royal palaces and given as tribute to other nations. A sedge basket known as a was an important element of the traditional wedding rite, and royal sacrificial ceremonies in the

Goryeo period Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

employed sedge weaving as a religious sacrament.

Construction

The process of creating sedge products starts with the farming of the raw material. Sedge is planted in April and harvested only a few months later in the summer. The cut stalks are boiled, dried, soaked, and then dried again in a process that, after several repetitions, bleaches them to a shiny white colour. Some strands are dyed to enable coloured highlights and designs in the finished work. Two principal methods for weaving the sedge exist: one involving the use of tools or machines, the other performed entirely by hand. These are sometimes referred to as "close" and "sparse" weaving. Machine weaving is predominantly used for making mats, whilst boxes, bowls and baskets require hand weaving. A basic frame () is created first, comprising interwoven sedge strands; the , or vertical sections, are then weaved into this. At this stage, images, patterns and characters are incorporated into the design, in a process called . The process of creation is lengthy, taking up to two weeks for the construction of a hand-made ("three-tiered box").

Yi Sang-jae

The current master of is Yi Sang-jae from

Ganghwado Ganghwa Island (Hangul ; Hanja ), also known by its native name Ganghwado, is a South Korean island in the estuary of the Han River. It is in the Yellow Sea, off Korea's west coast. The island is separated from Gimpo (on the South Korean mainlan ...

, an area that has long been a site of sedge cultivation and weaving. Born in 1943, he has been working in sedge for over 50 years, and has had his works exhibited in Japan and the UK. Yi, along with the art of itself, was designated in 1996 as an Important Intangible Cultural Asset.

References

{{reflist Korean art Important Intangible Cultural Properties of South Korea

History

Construction

Yi Sang-jae

See also

References