Another question whilst we wait

[jocal]

For another insightful episode summary. Well, actually one question and one observation.

What are those little dragonfly-wing looking things sticking out of the little black skullcaps? What is the significance? What is the purpose? What is the meaning? I notice that the king and deposed king don't have those little spinners sticking out of their little black meshy skullcaps, but the princes and ministers and whatnot do. If you stand too close to somebody and suddenly turn around, you whack somebody else in the face with those things. Or walk too close by a pole or something and whack yourself in the face. DOINK. Is it a device to remind you to keep your distance and not turn your head so fast? And only the men wear them. Another thing I think I found googling around is that those little buttons worn on the headbands around the temple area of the head are supposed to signify a person's status, depending upon what they were made out of, just like those little beady string things that hang from the gats.

The observation about the Korean costumes - everybody looks pregnant. I know; it's always been that way. It's the traditional Korean silhouette I guess.

jocal

[ajk]

Jo, I think they help the ministers pick up low-power UHF signals better.

[ginnycat5]

Did you see Damo? Somebody had gold buttons; it was a big clue!

[jocal]

No, I didn't see that one, but I noticed that the current king usually has some gold thing shaped like maybe a dragon's head or some sort of animal as opposed to just a round button. It seems to have some texture and be more ornate than everyone else's head buttons.

jocal

p.s. I'm into the accessories and costumes - it's a female thing I guess.

[Candylover]

Jocal, it's a difficult question, so I will answer it roughly based on the info I just got on the net.

The skullcap with two propellers or wings (as you guys described it) was called 'sah-moh' and was the official uniform cap for high-rank court officials in Chosun dynasty. But its original form was a cap called 'bok-doo,' which also had wings. Next is a photo of bok-doo of the 10th century in a museum in Korea.



According to a document, the motif of bok-doo was a black towel which ancient Chinese court officials used to wear around their heads. So to speak, when you wrap and tie up your head with a long towel, you would be left with a knot on the back of your head and two ends of the towel from the knot. The two ends of the towel hanging down on to your shoulders were the motif for the two propellers.
In Tang dynastry, instead of towels, they began to use hard lacquered textile to make their official caps, and the propellars also became hard. That was what we call bok-doo. In the 7th century, Silla dynastry, which defeated Koguryo and Baekje to unify most of the Korean peninsula in alliance with Tang China, imported bok-doo. Since then bok-doo was widely used through Silla dynasty and Koryo dynasty in Korea.

When Koryo dynasty established by Wang Guhn was replaced by Chosun dynasty, sah-moh also replaced bok-doo. Next photo shows a sah-moh worn by Chung Kyung-Won, a Chosun official who visited Chicago to participate in the World Columbian Exhibition in 1893. I'm sure you guys are already familiar with this cap, aren't you?



Do you recognize the difference between bok-doo and sah-moh? They look very similar, but bok-doo looks more angular while sah-moh looks more round. If you have ever watched Age of Warriors set in Koryo dynasty, you may be amazed to find that court officials in that drama were wearing more angular caps than those of King Sejong the Great.

Next is a cap called 'ik-sun-gwahn' and worn by the kings or crown princes of Chosun dynasty. This is also a kind of sah-moh, but the two propellers are erect upward. Only kings' propellers were erect upward and subjects' propellers was parallel to the ground or hanging down. As far as I know, this is the rule of 'propellers.'

[jocal]

I KNEW YOU WOULD HAVE A LOGICAL ANSWER!!!!! Thank you! You nailed it, the origin, the evolution, the variations! Thank you! These bits of background and minutae add to my appreciation!! Now I have to go find some stills from Age of Warriors to see what their caps looked like!

jocal