Hangeul Day, 2018 - Calligraphy at City Hall

History of Hangeul Day (Wikipedia)

According to the Sejong Sillok, King Sejong proclaimed publication of Hunmin Jeongeum, the document introducing the newly created alphabet which was also originally called by the same name in 1446. In 1926, the Korean Language Society, whose goal was to preserve the Korean language during a time of rapid forced Japanization, celebrated the octo-sexagesimal (480th) anniversary of the declaration of hangeul on the last day of the ninth month of the lunar calendar, which is on November 4 of the Gregorian calendar. Members of the Society declared it the first observance of "Gagyanal" (가갸날). The name came from "Gagyageul" (가갸글), an early colloquial name for hangeul, based on a mnemonic recitation beginning "gagya geogyeo" (가갸거겨). The name of the commemorative day was changed to "Hangullal" in 1928, soon after the term "hangul", coined originally in 1913 by Ju Si-gyeong, became widely accepted as the new name for the alphabet, and celebrated according to the lunar calendar.  

In 1931, the celebration of the day was switched to October 29 of the Gregorian Calendar, the calendar which is in contemporary use. Three years later, the date was moved to October 28, to coordinate the date with that of the Julian Calendar, which had been in use during the 15th century, when King Sejong had made his proclamation. 

The discovery in 1940 of an original copy of the Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye, revealed that the Hunmin Jeongeum was announced during the first ten days of the ninth month. The tenth day of the ninth month of the 1446 lunar calendar was equivalent to October 9 of that same year's Julian calendar. The South Korean government, established in 1945, declared October 9 to be Hangeul Day, a yearly legal holiday which excused government employees from work. 

Major employers pressured the South Korean government to increase the country's annual number of work days. In 1991, to balance out the adoption of the United Nations Day, it vacated Hangeul Day's status as a holiday. By law, Hangeul Day remained a national commemoration day, and the Hangeul Society campaigned for the holiday's restoration. On November 1, 2012, the Society won that campaign, when the National Assembly voted 189 to 4 (with 4 abstaining) in favor of a resolution that called for the return of Hangeul Day as a national holiday. This put pressure on the Lee Myung Bak administration, which applied the change in 2013.

But in reality, this is a bit of a "free" day for Koreans, meaning there are no social or family obligations entwined at all with this day. This holiday has no specific food traditions, no ceremonial traditions, and no duties or functions to perform or even think about. So people can just enjoy a whole day without communal obligations or need to gather over specifically prepared foods. They are totally free to plan their hours without any social constraints. and so I was really pleased to see a large gathering at City Hall where people could indulge in street food and experience Hangeul Day themed art. 

An extensive line-up of display boards lined the Cheongyecheon and the boards were loaded with Hangeul Day postcards, many done in watercolors and calligraphy inks. I'm under the impression that middle and high school students made a large contribution to this display, but the public was certainly encouraged to make their own Hangeul Day postcard at booths on both sides of the display. Wherever this huge display of handmade postcards came from, I have to say that the art level of some of the postcards was quite stunning!

Semiwon Lotus Garden

Semiwon is becoming known as quite the tourist destination. The site is marketed as 'the garden of water and flowers', and on this day it was particularly water-full .... it was raining, and thus the reason for going: not as many visitors AND the colors would be alive and bright.

Semiwon is located at the mouth of two Han Rivers, the Buk Han Kang and the Nam Han Kang, and getting there is quite easy. By subway, take the Gyeongui-Jungang Line and get off at Yangsu station, go out exit 1 (600 scenic meters if you follow the river path and not the ugly roadways). By bus, take either #167 from Cheongryangri station getting off at Yangsu-ri and walking 500 meters, or bus #2000-1 from Gangbyeong Station getting off at Yangseo Culture and Sports Park.

According to the tourism sign:

"A garden of water and flowers, Semiwon is a lotus flower garden that was created based on an old adage, "Cleanse your mind while looking at water and beautify your mind while looking at flowers." All paths in the garden are constructed with washboards to symbolize cleansing your mind while looking at the Han River. The river water that is drawn from the Han River is designed to flow through the six ponds, where lotus flowers, water lilies, and irises are growing in order to filter out heavy metals and suspended matters before it flows back into the river. Major facilities at Semiwon include the World Water Lily Garden, which has more than 100 varieties of water lilies; Monet's Garden, which was inspired by the flower paintings of French artist Claude Monet; and Sehanjeong Garden, which was created by reproducing a painting titled Sehando (Winter Scene) by Kim Jeong-hui (1786-1856, pen-name Chusa), a prominent calligrapher of the Joseon period. When lotus flowers are in full bloom between July and August, Semiwon is filled with beautiful scents."

Spring is on the way and small touches are starting to be visible ......... amidst the refuse of last year's garden.

"Cleanse your mind while looking at water and beautify your mind while looking at flowers." 

A museum filled with lotus-decorated objects. [An epiphany for me: while I've been aware of the lotus motif for a very long time, it was particularly interesting to see a museum organized not on the period theme but on an icon theme!]

And after enjoying the beauty of the lotus gardens, we left Semiwon grounds and across the street is a rather popular restaurant that specializes in lotus-leaf rice with diverse vegetable side dishes. Fabulous flavor on top of very unique presentation!

The Seoul Olympics Hodori

On September 30, 1981 South Korea learned that its proposal to host the 1988 Olympics had been accepted. South Koreans went wild! And thus they began planning a very impressive opening to the games with precision to detail, and of course symbolism.

As in all Asian and Olympic games, a mascot is chosen and South Korea chose the hodori, their mascot from the 1986 Asian games, to be their on-going mascot in the 1988 Olympics. I've heard references to the mascot of the 1986 Asian games as actually being the hosuni, the female version of the hodori, but have been unable to prove or even disprove this. In any regard, hodori derives from the "ho", the Chinese character for tiger or horangi in full, and "dori" as a masculine diminutive; "suni" would therefore be the feminine diminutive.

Kim Hyun, then 35, was the designer of the hodori mascot for the '88 Olympics. And in the intervening 40 years, it has remained his most significant and internationally recognized design, although he has contributed many other designs that are also rather iconic within South Korea like those of "HiSeoul" and "T-money".

In designing the "hodori" tiger, the representative animal chosen, he was imagining the Amur tiger and thought to portray it as friendly and hospitable as tigers have often been portrayed in Korean legends and folk tales as well as being stylized in art with a quirky humorous demeanor. Tigers are extinct in Korea but less than a hundred years ago they were a real threat to citizens, and yet, Koreans have always had a kind of love-hate relationship with the tiger, which figures heavily in their folk stories and art, and the striped beast was both feared and respected, and so commonly tigers were verbalized as being humorous, brave and noble.

Symbols also present in Kim Hyun's tiger caricature are the five Olympic rings around his neck and the sangmo, the hat worn in pungmul which is traditional music that incorporates singing, dancing, drumming and even acrobatics. The sangmo hat had a long ribbon attached as it was whirled as the wearer performed. Therefore, Kim Hyun stylized the friendly tiger wearing a traditional hat with the ribbon curled into a "S" as a symbol of Seoul the host capital. In much of the Olympic hodori art the ribbon does not always curl in the S-shape as the hodori is characterized as participating in all of the sports at some point, but pay attention to the curl of the ribbon as it may represent the initial letter of the sport the hodori is characterizing.

Source

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In choosing the tiger as the representative mascot of South Korea, 4,344 entries were reviewed until the selection was narrowed to four  -- a rabbit, a squirrel, a pair of mandarin ducks (also very symbolic in Korea) and a tiger before ultimately choosing the striped fellow. The selection of name for the stylized-tiger-to-be generated 2,295 suggestions from the public before finalizing the name "hodori".

Eventually the 1988 Seoul Olympics would last 16 days, starting on the 17th of September in 1988 and lasting through the 2nd of October. During those days 8,391 athletes from 159 countries would compete in 237 matches of 23 events. Not only did South Korea host the Olympics and "put Korea on the map" but they also ate up the home turf and ranked 4th in the Olympics overall! This was a major success for a country that had been forced open only one century before, colonized by another country for 35 years, struggled with a civil war after colonization and then struggled with extreme poverty and a ravaged agricultural society for another two decades. South Korea had become industrialized, earned money, increased trade, exported more than it imported and had earned the right to hold their heads high and host the most famous of international games.

Yoon Tae-woong, the hoop boy
of the 1988 Seoul Olympics 

International visitors and people watching television were incredibly impressed by the grand opening ceremony of the games. But perhaps the most impressive scene to Koreans, I hear this over and over and this is three decades later!, is when the boy rolled a hoop across the stadium field. The boy is also called the hodori of the Seoul Olympics.

In July 1988 the Seoul Olympic organizing committee announced that they were looking for a boy to roll a hoop in the opening ceremony. The boy had to be cute for public broadcasting and had to have been born on the 30th of September 1981, the day that Seoul had been selected as the Olympic-hosting city in Badenbaden, Germany. One boy, Yoon Tae-woong, was selected among 24,000 kids as the hodori and he became the symbol of Korea rising from poverty to roll a hoop toward a better future. Yoon Tae-woong currently is pursuing a career in acting, but it seems that he will never achieve the interest of the nation as he did when he was "hoop boy". To see Tae-woong as "hoop boy" in the Olympics, watch The 24th 88 Seoul Olympic Games Opening Ceremony and refer to 1:20.5 to see his tiny moments of fame.

"Soohorang", a white tiger caricature, will be the mascot in the upcoming 2018 Olympics hosted by South Korea. The white tiger is the most famous, according to the Chinese zodiac, among all of the tigers. I'm sure he was chosen as a very augurous character.

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Making Ebru, Turkish Marbled Paper

Several weeks ago the Yongsan Global Village Center hosted an experience through the Turkish Culture Center (Yeoksam station, Seoul) of making the Turkish traditional marbled paper, ebru. The walls of the center are decorated with vivid colors -- ceramics painted mandala style, Turkish lamps of varying sizes, and frame upon frame upon frame of just plain ebru paper or ebru paper framing some other kind of artwork. 

The center table was already set up with four large pans of treated water, which had to be mixed several hours or even a day in advance. Ox gall is added to gel the water just a touch which allows the special paints (acrylic-based? oil-based?) to be buoyant for a short time. When I asked how much ox gall is needed, I was told there is no set recipe -- the mixing is based on experience. This makes sense to me as temperature, humidity, altitude probably all affect the ration of water to ox gall. 

The colors used are all natural pigments, and typically in Turkey artists are known to go out in nature and find their own pigments and stains and whatever to make their own paints. I asked the price of the typical ebru paints and was only told "very expensive". The center does sell paints to those who enroll in a four-month program, W900,000 for enrollment. 

So our small group of 12 was only introduced to the basics of ebru, since none of us had ever experienced it before. The center does offer basic courses for those interested. It's W25,000/person with a minimum of 4 people, which makes sense. Set-up for the water mixture would be quite the hassel and expensive if only a couple of people were going to be using it.

The instructor explained to us the various colors, the brushes which are made from animal hair and all artists pretty much make their own, and then she introduced us to the method of marbling the paper. In this introductory class, we learned three kinds of simple marbling:

Battal ebru or "stone" marbling - the paint is tapped in stone or pebble shapes onto the surface of the water, then a paper without sizing is placed flat on the water and the paint immediately adheres to the surface of the paper ... provided the ox gall ration is right, or the paint is right (not watercolor, for instance). It's important to lay the paper flat on the water and not get bubbles; otherwise, there will be a big white patch where the bubble was. So the best way to lay the paper flat is to treat the opposite corners like wings of a bird, and to hold those wings gently as the paper is lowered onto the surface of the water and then the wings are lightly released. 

our instructor tapping a paint-loaded brush to drop pebbles onto the surface of the water

Sal ebru or "wave" marbling - first tap stones or pebbles of paint onto the surface like with battal ebru, but then with a thin object make a back and forth pattern.

Tarak ebru or "comb" marbling is taking the wave pattern to the next level. A piece of wood with thin spikes/nails/knitting-needle-like objects is gently dipped in one end of the pan with paints floating and the comb is dragged through the paints to the opposite side. Often the comb is then dragged through again to make horizontal and vertical comb-like patterns. While I like the spontaneity of the battal ebru and the sal ebru, if only lightly waved, is nice, I really dislike the busy-ness of "combed" tarak ebru. But then that's just my opinion.

Another ebru that I like but which we didn't make is swirled ebru. The colors are spattered on the water and then gently swirled with a thin object. Van Gogh would have loved this style!

After painting a sheet, it is placed in the drying rack for at least 15 minutes. With everyone's sheets drying, we then went into a video room and watched YouTube clips of Ebru masters making massive sheets of ebru with impressive pictures, advertisements with ebru, and national images and clothing featuring ebru designs. Wow, my eyes have been opened to an aspect of the culture that I certainly would have overlooked if I just traveled to Turkey. Ebru is everywhere! The art form is absolutely a part of the national image!

Go to a Turkish home, coffee or desserts is a must. We were treated with rich brownies from a package, but who would have known they were an American product with their exotic presentation?! Turkish black tea was the complement.

Shelves and walls held many Turkish art forms, and the mandala-like painted ceramics were a big item.
Unfortunately this kind of class is not offered as the center has no kiln.

The ebru I made (left to right): battal or "stone" ebru, tarak or "comb" ebru, and sal or "wave" ebru
My battal ebru should be on top. I absolutely love the colors! The white on it is because my surface paint wasn't so dense and the non-painted water created a fifth color. I wish I had left more "white" on my next two paintings; they would have turned out more impressive.

Before we were turned lose on the paints, we were instructed to limit our paintings to only 3 colors, but I added a few flecks of yellow, my fourth color, for contrast ... and I really like the results. I do agree though that in general the limited color range is how to achieve the best results.

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For those wanting to learn more about ebru and its connection to the national image of Turkey, look up Garip Ay on the internet. He's Turkey's most famous ebru artist!

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Contact info the Turkish Culture Center:

02-3452-8182

info@tulip.or.kr

www.tulip.or.kr

www.facebook.com/koreatulip

First Recorded Music in Korea

Lecturer: Jihoon Suk
Date: Tuesday, January 23, 2018 - 7:30pm to 9:00pm
Venue: Second floor Residents’ Lounge, Somerset Palace, Gwanghwamun
(near Anguk Station, across street from Japanese Embassy)

Hosting organization: Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch

Write-up and picture from the www.raskb.com email concerning this event

In the first decade of the 20th century, the newly-established record industries in North America and Europe were eager to expand their market to all over the world. Starting in 1902, the London-based Gramophone and Typewriter (G&T) company began a series of recording sessions in non-Western countries, usually referred to as "recording expeditions", to record music and other types of performing arts for potential customers in the non-Western world. 

During these recording expeditions, there were always "intermediaries" in the area, who, not only acted as "talent scouts" to find performers willing to make recordings, but also acted as sales agents for the recording companies. Korea was no exception in the eyes of the executives of the G&T company. The 101 sides of Korean recordings recorded by the company (but eventually produced by its American affiliate, Victor Talking Machine Co.) in 1906, were the direct results of their third major recording expedition to Asia. 

The musical importance of these 1906 Korean recordings cannot be stressed enough, as they provide rich resources for studying the earliest attainable forms of Korean pre-modern music. Their production history also reveals an interesting dynamic between the Western record companies and the Korean public, which paralleled the socio-economic effects and outcomes of the coming of the "West" to the "East" at the turn of the 20th century. (It even reveals a surprising connection with the RAS!) 

This lecture will include a demonstration of early sound recording technologies, both playback and recording technologies using period equipment. It will also include several sound clips of several extant 1906 Victor Korean recordings. 

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Jihoon Suk received a BA and MA in Korean modern history from Yonsei University. While he calls himself a "generalist" in terms of his knowledge on Korean history, his primary research focuses on the roles of the modern non-textual media (sound recordings, films, and photographs), as it was one of the most crucial factors shaping the modern perception of Korean "traditional culture" or "national culture" as we see today. 

He is also an avid collector of vintage sound recordings, which led to his involvement with the Korean 78rpm Discography Project and Archive (http://www.78archive.co.kr), a near-complete online database of Korean commercial records issued between 1907 and 1945. He also has been working with various museums and archives in Korea and around the world, including the Independence Hall Museum of Korea, the Korean Film Archive, the National Gugak Center, U.S. Library of Congress, The New York Public Library, and the University of Hawaii-Manoa.

Published in Korea Times, Jan 17 (W), Foreign Column, "Tracing Korea's earliest recorded music"

Stained Glass Christmas Ornament (class)

The global village center in Itaewon, Seoul, hosted a stained-glass Xmas-tree ornament making class. Though a bit expensive at W25,000 or W30,000, I thought it was a great chance to have a new experience. And, I could get the foundation knowledge of soldering, and then from there I could teach myself. So I signed up. 

Stained Glass Star Ornament Making

Each person was given a handout with introductory information, and just a word or two of caution (see below ... not much of a word of caution! If this class was offered in the States, we'd be required to sign a liability form before the class, and no kids would ever be allowed to even think of using a soldering iron. The expectation here in Korea still is "you're not helpless, so just be careful". Great approach to experimenting with arts and crafts!) . The husband and wife team who prepared this lesson regularly teach stained glass classes, so they came well prepared. All materials, including protective clothing like aprons and gloves, were included in the price.

• Wear apron and gloves
• Take your time. Do not rush.
• Soldering iron is very hot, so be EXTRA CAREFUL! 
• While using the iron, don't touch anything but the handle, and when not in use always place the iron in the holder.
• If you have questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

Cutting glass practice:

Each of us had two 5" x 5" or so pieces of glass -- one was to practice cutting on. We were to make long quick cuts as parallel as possible. The idea was (1) to learn the angle for making the most precise cuts, and (2) learn the importance of control in order to achieve a planned cut (precise measurements are very important on dimensional work!) The second piece was to be the cutting board/platform for cutting the stained glass. 

Steps to successful cuts: First, control the cutter and practice cutting glass

• Grab the cutter like a pencil -- the longer part of the cutter should face downwards.
• It may not seem like it, but you need to apply pressure in order to score the glass.
• If you cannot keep your hand straight, draw a line with a pen and score the glass along the line.
• With the round part of the pliers underneath the scored glass, grip the glass along the edge of the score line and break the glass towards you (wonder why since glass fragments might fly upwards, but that said, it seems a person has more control snapping the glass this way.)
• Avoid snapping the glass close to your face, so hold your hands low while snapping the glass.

Sanding the glass

• Drip 1-2 drops of water on the knife sharpener (whetting tool) and sand the edges of the glass
• Wipe off the glass dust with a wet tissue and dry the cut pieces

Copper foiling

• Center the strips of copper foil along the edge of the cut glass and wrap the edge completely
• Wrap the excess sides of the foil over the sides and press it flat
• Burnish the foil with a plastic utensil (a smooth pen cap maybe); foil should appear very smooth and neat all along the perimeter edges

Soldering 

• Temporarily fix the glass segments together with small strips of tape
• Apply flux using a toothbrush (if too much flux is used, removal of excess is difficult)
• Put just a sporadic few beads of solder in strategic places to hold the pieces together
• Remove the tape and apply flux to all copper foil
• Solder all of the edges as smoothly as possible and until all copper foil is covered

Affixing the holder ring

Because of lack of time, one of the teachers deftly took a pair of pliers and quickly picked up small keychain ring segments, applied flux and soldered one on each participant's ornament. And wah-lah, we had a Christmas tree ornament ... which took about 2 hours to make. We should easily whip them out next time. They really are quite simple!

the completed ornament along with our instructors' contact information

I found the glass cutting aspect and the actual soldering the most fun! This was an introductory course even though we were only making tiny straight cuts. I did try to make some right angle and curved cuts and when the husband saw me, he laughed and said I needed different tools and different method. Right. I was only shattering glass. So maybe in the future I'll take some higher instruction on more advanced curved cuts. The husband and wife team regularly hold stained glass classes, and they had on display some Hawaii samples with beautiful curved cuts.  I have their info, so that'll be what I learn next!