history

Since olden times, the Korean people have made and used different kinds of necessities and ornaments by using various grasses and the stems, leaves and bark of trees.

People called the making of such things grasswork.

Grasswork has the longest history among other folk handicrafts and has been developed and enriched in close connection with people’s economic and cultural life.

It was spread among broad sections of people because there were rich raw material resources and it could be easily made without special equipment or tools and with comparatively less labour.

Unlike ceramics and metalwork, grasswork is hard to preserve for a long time as its material is prone to rot away. However, a piece from a reed mat found at the Namgyong Site in Honam-ri, Samsok District, Pyongyang, remains as a very old historical relic.

Dating back to the ancient times (3000 BC-3rd century BC), the earliest period of human society, grasswork developed in the period of the Koryo Kingdom (918-1392) thanks to the creative labour of the people.

During the period, such materials as sedge, bush clover, reed, willow branch, rice straw, hemp, arrowroot and others were used to make baskets, wickers, winnows, straw sandals, rope, string, kat (a kind of hat), nets and other products.

In the period of the feudal Joson dynasty (1392-1910), grasswork made further progress thanks to the wisdom, talent and creative labour of the working masses, with the main emphasis put on sedge products.

Today, grasswork develops day after day as the Korean people love it.