culture

Grasswork, which has so far been developed and carried forward continuously since ancient times in Korea, is a form of folk handicrafts.

The handicraft of making different kinds of necessities and ornaments with various grasses and stems, leaves and barks of trees not only has the longest history but also occupies the dominant position among folk handicrafts and has been developed and enriched in close connection with people’s economic and cultural life.

In particular, 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, and thus the relevant craftworks vary in kind and shape. 

The main materials used a lot for grasswork include sedge, rushes, willow branch, bush clover, barks of linden, cherry plum and elm, reed, flax, wheat and rice straw and corn shucks. 

Grasswork is characterized by the fact that they are simple, beautiful, full of local flavour and attractive as in general, it is made by using vegetable materials with their unique features and colours left almost intact or is processed a bit on the basis of them.

Unlike ceramics and metalwork, materials for grasswork are so prone to rot that it is difficult to preserve. However, a piece from a reed mat unearthed in the Namgyong site in Honam-ri, Samsok District, Pyongyang, remains a very old historical relic. 

From olden times, Korean ancestors built houses or made vessels by using rich plant resources such as grass and bark. Their application range was expanded in the period of Koryo Kingdom (918-1392).

The Koryo people used such materials as sedge, bush clover, reed, willow branch, rice straw and arrowroot to make such matting as mat and cushion and straw mat, such bags as straw-net bag and basket, such fancy articles as hat and fan, such furniture and covering as chair and blind, wicker box, wicker trunk and so on. 

In those days, the technology of making grasswork was further improved and refined, and grasswork from the country was praised by foreigners.

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

The flower-patterned mat made of sedge was widely used not only as a practical craftwork but also as a decorative one as it was delicate, elegant and beautiful.

Today the DPRK’s grasswork is making epochal progress on the basis of the regional industry with rich sources of materials and its kind is further varying.

Grasswork was registered as a national ICH element on November 1 2015.