'Bojagi' culturally links Korea, Japan

Japanese visitors look at Korean “bojagi” or wrapping cloth and “jumeoni” or pockets at the Koryo Museum of Art in Kyoto, Japan. The exhibition showcases some 40 pieces of bojagi and 25 of jumeoni through March 30 at the Koryo Museum of Art in collaboration with the Museum of Korean Embroidery in Seoul. / Courtesy of Museum of Korean Embroidery

A table wrapping cloth patterned with ancient coins / Courtesy of Museum of Korean Embroidery

A patchwork wrapping cloth

By Chung Ah-young

A growing chill between Seoul and Tokyo over historical disputes is rising as a stumbling block to the popularity of “hallyu” or the Korean wave in Japan.

But in Kyoto, cultural curiosity seems unscathed by the diplomatic tension. A slew of Japanese visitors were recently enthralled by Korean traditional culture, particularly “bojagi” (wrapping cloth) and “jumeoni” (pocket) art.

Presented by the Museum of Korean Embroidery based in Seoul, some 40 pieces of bojagi and 25 of jumeoni are on display through March 30 at the Koryo Museum of Art. Established by Chong Cho-mun, a Korean-Japanese collector, the Kyoto Museum is Japan’s only art gallery solely dedicated to Korean ancient antiquities since its opening in 1988. This is the third bojagi exhibition after one in 2008 and 2011.

“Our exhibition has been organized every three years in Kyoto since the number of Japanese visitors rose more than 10 times since the first show,” Lee Hye-kyu, curator of the Seoul museum, said.

According to the museum, some 200,000 Japanese are engaged in making “bojagi” for a hobby or to use them in their daily lives and visit the exhibitions and attend relevant seminars. In Japan, artisans reproduce traditional Korean wrapping cloths and place high value on Korean patchwork or “jogakbo” for its abstract patterns and colors.

The embroidery museum has contributed to the popularity of bojagi in Japan in some sense as it has held exhibitions more than 30 times there.

“The exhibition is a crucial opportunity to promote Korean traditional culture to Japan. It is meaningful that our bojagi exhibition has been invited there for a third time. The response from the Japanese audience is enthusiastic despite the political tension between the two countries,” Huh Dong-hwa, director of the embroidery museum, said.

Korea, Japan and China have the tradition of “bojagi,” or wrapping cloth, throughout their histories. Presently, Korea and Japan have kept the tradition, using them mostly as gift covers on special occasions.

The Korean wrapping cloths vary according to material and use, and are classified as being either embroidery, patchwork, printed, painted or gilded. By use, they are divided between blankets and cloth covers whose ends have strings attached, made from silk, hemp or ramie. Particularly, jogakbo, which was widely manufactured by using left over scraps of colorful fabric, is deemed as highly aesthetic work distinguishable from other pieces.

Such bojagi art along with embroidery reached its pinnacle during the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) and began to decline after Japanese colonization and the influx of Western culture in the 20th century.

“Making bojagi is women’s culture. It is very rare to discover women’s culture through our history. That factor is highly appreciated in this modern time. Staying in women's quarters, they expressed their woes and pathos through piecing together fabric, developing it into the highly refined art of embroidery in the Confucian state. It shows off the sophisticated form of ornamentations imbued with tactile qualities,” Huh said.

This exhibition showcases various traditional wrapping cloths from the embroidered ones to patchwork bojagi along with the pockets which were used for carrying brushes or spoons.

As part of the exhibition, Huh will hold a lecture on his lifelong collection of bojagi and other embroidery works to Japanese visitors on March 2. He will lecture on why bojagi culture thrived in the ancient Korea and how it worked in traditional culture.

Also, during the exhibition, Japanese visitors who are interested in Korean traditional culture will be invited to Korea for four days. “It’s a kind of cultural exchange at the private level. Japanese visitors have shown great interest in Korean traditional culture over the last exhibitions. We hope this year’s exhibition will also bring more Japanese to Korea to see our traditional beauty,” the curator said.

So far, the embroidery museum has attracted 7 million visitors to the exhibitions both at home and abroad over the last three decades. The museum has held more than 55 exhibitions in countries such as France, the United States, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Italy, New Zealand and Japan since its first in 1978.

“We've focused on the overseas exhibitions because Korean embroidery and bojagi is thought of as one of the most distinguished forms of Korean cultural heritage from the perspective of foreigners,” he said.

“For the eyes of foreigners, bojagi culture is seen as an abstract artwork. I want to lift the national image through promoting our bojagi and embroidery art to the world,” Huh said.

The embroidery museum was founded in 1971 by Huh who has collected some 3,000 embroidery and needlework items such as folding screens and blinds.