This article was produced by National Geographic Traveler (UK).
In the 1960s, just a few years after the destruction of the Korean War, South Korea began to give an official classification to its most cherished crafts, customs and celebrations. The designation is known as National Intangible Cultural Heritage and has since been applied to almost 150 practices, from hemp weaving to masked dancing. Collectively, they give visitors the opportunity to learn more about a place that still values its traditions, even as the destination itself changes and evolves.
Admire the elegant architecture
The term daemokjang is derived from mokjang, an ancient Korean word for “carpenter,” and describes an immensely skilled form of wooden architecture, as well as the master craft architects responsible for it. As part of the age-old technique, wood is first cut and shaved, then inserted into place and locked together without nails. The results are so strong that they are known as “joints that will last a millennium.”
Examples of daemokjang can be found across Korean regions and social classes, ranging from traditional hanok-style houses to royal palaces in the capital and monumental mountain temples. They are mostly undecorated, their beauty – like much of Korean architecture – instead, they lie in their majestic size, elegant simplicity and surprising longevity.
How to do it
Changdeokgung Palace in Seoul and Bulguksa Temple At Tohamsan Mountain, North Gyeongsang Province, there are beautiful examples of the daemokjang style that are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Both are open for visits.
Learn more about society with a masked dance
At first it seems like some kind of bawdy pantomime. Costumed characters parade on stage, wearing grinning wooden masks with rosy cheeks. They grin and mock, flirt and deceive. These types of traditional dances are common throughout South Korea – and in places like the UNESCO-listed Hahoe (pronounced ‘Hah-hway’), in the south-east of the country, they’re about more than just a bit of fun.
The village was founded in the 14th century and is located in a winding bend of the Nakdong River, among open fields and wide hills. It attracts more than a million visitors a year thanks to this scenic location – as well as its folk traditions, including this ritual, with roots dating back some 800 years.
Traditional mask dances are popular in South Korea and comically poke fun at the Korean class system.
Photo by Jaewon-Chung
It combines popular entertainment with social commentary, poking fun at the old Korean class system. Of the twelve original mask designs used in the performance, three have been lost to time, meaning there are now nine recurring characters. Each represents a figure from local society, from a gossiping grandmother and meddlesome merchant to a lecherous monk. A dark comedy follows.
While elsewhere the masks are traditionally burned after each performance to exorcise the demons believed to possess them, in Hahoe they are passed down from generation to generation. Some now even stand alone as national treasures.
Legend has it that they were originally made by a local craftsman who received divine instructions in a dream. Instructed to place them out of anyone else’s view, he closed himself off. His work was cut short when his lover peeked into his workshop, violated the God-given conditions and killed him on the spot. This is why, it is said, the village idiot’s mask is half finished.
Each dance is usually accompanied by a taepyeongso (a reed instrument similar to a small oboe) and a group of percussionists playing drums and gongs. The result is a lively but fiercely satirical look at the underbelly of Korean society.
How to do it
Performances are regularly given in Hahoe itself. You can also attend it alongside other regional mask dances nearby Andong Mask Dance Festivalwhich takes place every autumn for 10 days.
Be moved by a sincere musical tradition
If you find K-pop a little too sugary, this serious art form offers an antidote of sorts. Pansori is a type of musical storytelling usually told by a singer, solo but with an accompanying bend (ton drum). They perform on an empty stage, with only a wooden fan as props. And they can hold an audience for up to eight hours at a time.
Pansori first found an audience in the southwestern part of the country in the 17th century. Initially aimed at working people, many of whom could not read stories on paper, it eventually took a more literary approach and became favored by the elite.
Nowadays, singers who have to memorize large amounts of lyrics and deliver them at volume undergo extensive training, just as then. And while they no longer add personal, improvised touches like they used to, in an effort to preserve the original stories, the emotion remains. Gestures and expressions add to the drama, while the drum builds tension. The stories can be sad or exciting, but you can expect a happy ending.
How to do it
Performances take place in arts centers across the country and not all last eight hours; three to four hours is more common. globalinterpark.com
Take part in a grand Buddhist festival
Baekjung, a Buddhist festival, is an opportunity to remember and celebrate the deceased. It is observed in various ways among devotees across the country and beyond, but nowhere more impressively than in the southeastern city of Miryang.
In this former farming community, the festival also has agricultural undertones and combines carnival-like festivities with shamanic practices. White-clad participants – formerly servants given the day off – perform a series of ritual prayers and sacrifices for a bountiful harvest, accompanied by frenzied drum music. Celebrations then turn into merriment, with a traditional kind of farmer’s dance end the day.
How to do it
The festival is held on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month (September 6 in 2025 and August 27 in 2026).
Geumbakjang gold leaf print
“Meticulous” is the word that comes to mind when you witness geumbakjangthe Korean art of pressing gold leaf. The country’s nobility began advertising its status using gold as early as the early years of the Joseon Dynasty, an era that began in 1392. And what better way to show your prestige than adorning the clothes you wear?
The practice involves printing everything from silk headpieces to ceremonial robes with repeated patterns of radiant gold, and it requires serious skill and focus. Using specially cut wood blocks, several layers of wafer-thin gold leaf are placed on the fabrics, without any wrinkles being allowed. Lotus flower patterns are common, as are lines of shimmering poetry. The end results are suitably glossy – the definition of dazzling wealth.
How to do it
In the village of Bukchon in Seoul, the Kum Bak Yeon workshop keeps the skill alive. The craft has been passed down through five generations of the same family and the workshop can still be visited.
Yugijang
Making even the choicest crockery look dull in comparison, yugijang (aka bangja) is the age-old art of hand-forged bronze work. In this method, a bronze alloy – with a much higher proportion of tin than normal – is heated over a fire and then hammered into shape to create a thin, sturdy and shiny product. The bronze is said to retain heat much more effectively than other materials, while repeated use leaves it polished rather than discolored.
It dates back, perhaps unsurprisingly, as far back as the Bronze Age and later became the favored tableware technique of Korean high society, with a complete set including bowls, bowls, spoons and chopsticks. The Korean cuisine of the royal court, which often consists of twelve sumptuous courses and is also a national intangible cultural heritage, is routinely served using bangja bowls and dishes. The respect given to the art form means that some pieces are now even hung on walls as decorative objects.
How to do it
The Daegu Bangjja Yugi Museum has a collection of almost 1,500 bangja copperware items, with musical instruments and religious objects alongside delicately crafted tableware. There is also a reconstruction of a workshop from the end of the 14th century. Published in the South Korea Guide, distributed with the November 2024 issue of National Geographic Traveler (UK).
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