Shoes

Traditional footwear in Korea is roughly divided into hwa, shoes with a high neck and derivative from the mounted nomadic tribes in the north, and ri, low shoes that were developed from the agricultural areas in the south. Records on Korean footwear appear since ancient textual references. According to the Annals of Three Kingdoms, leather shoes were worn in Buyeo and straw shoes in Mahan. And shoes of Goguryeo can be found in ancient tomb murals, which depict people wearing hwa and ri regardless their class or gender. Since the Joseon dynasty, hwa were established as the footwear worn by noblemen with official or military uniforms, and ri, commonly called hye, were worn for daily use by both men and women. Unlike clothing, footwear was produced by professional artisans, and the exquisite shapes of shoes allow us to glimpse at their deft craftsmanship. In this exhibition, Joseon’s traditional footwear is displayed showing a variety of pieces. As we witness how footwear completed an outfit in harmony with the clothing, we will be able to appreciate the beauty of traditional Korean attire and better understand the lifestyles of our ancestors.

Hye are low-cut shoes, which are distinguished by materials or decorations. Different Hye were worn according to gender and class of the wearer. Taesahye, or shoes with a taesa pattern, are representative unoiled leather shoes for men. They are a type of luxurious shoe with the outer rim covered with silk. The tips and heels of Taesahye were decorated with a striped pattern called taesa in colors different from that of the outer rim. Young people wore shoes with a taesa pattern with an outer rim in green or light green and decorated in red or dark blue. Heukhye are shoes made of black leather, velvet, or wool, which were worn for daily attire as well as with official uniforms for special occasions and ceremonial attire in Gyeonggukdaejeon. Nokpihye are shoes made of deerskin, mostly simple unoiled leather shoes without decorations. They were usually worn by elder noblemen. 

Danghye are decorated with colorful cloth in a vine pattern at the tips and heels as in taesahye. The toe-caps and the backs of unhye were in different colors from the outer rim, and finished with bamboo-leaf and larva-shaped ornaments. These danghye and unhye are known as shoes for women, but literary records reveal many cases in which they were also worn by men. Heukhye for women have plain tips without colorful cloth decorations. Onhye are winter footwear with cotton flannel or fur.

Namaksin, or wooden shoes, were worn on rainy days or on the muddy ground. They would be worn on sunny days, especially by poor scholars. The original clogs were in the shape of a board with heels attached, and the form of hye was established after the middle of the Joseon period. Men's Namaksin were similar to Taesahye, while women's had narrow, upturned tips of the shoes. The footwear was made of a variety of woods such as pine, basswood, or chestnut. Yuhye were shoes worn to protect from rain and mud; they were made of leather oiled with perilla oil to keep water from permeating, from which the name yuhye (yu refers to oil) originates. They were also called jinsin because they were worn against the muddy ground (jin means muddy), or jingsin for being nailed on the bottom (jing means nail).

The origin of chohye goes as far back as the Samhan period, at around the first century. The shoes were made from the dried stalks of various plants, but the most widely worn were straw shoes, jipsin, especially among common folk. There were also shoes called mituri, which were made by tightly weaving fine hemp fibers and worn by women or scholars on fine days. Other high quality shoes were made using various materials, including sedge, mulberry, hanji (Korean mulberry paper), and leather.

Shoemakers used various kinds of materials and tools in the process of making footwear such as cutting cloth, stitching, and adding decorative patterns. Basic materials included various kinds of leather and silk, and multiple layers of cotton or hemp cloth glued together, along with silk and cotton thread for stitching. Shoemaking tools were a shoe pattern, a knife for cutting leather, an awl and a needle for sewing, and a brazier for boiling glue or heating an iron. After making a shoe, singol, or a wooden shoe frame, was put into the shoe to hold its shape. The wooden shoe frame consists of a front block, a back block, and a wedge, and a hammer was used when hitting the frame.

The Chang Budeok Memorial Gallery of Ewha Womans University, which opened on May 31, 1999, provides exhibition space for the personal collection of some 5,000 items donated by Chang Sook Hwan, professor of the Department of Clothing and Textiles of the Arts College. Prof. Chang has built her collection for almost 40 years, beginning with the relics she was handed down by her mother, Chang Budeok (1908-1967), pen-named Damin, after whom the Gallery was named. The collection consists largely of ornaments used by men and women during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), along with clothing, embroidery and furniture. These articles, used mainly by people of the royal household and the upper class, are things we have rarely had the opportunity to see. Radiant with the refined and graceful sense of beauty of the upper echelons of society, they hold both artistic and historical value.