Gat (hat)

A gat is a type of Korean traditional hat worn by men along with hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) during the Joseon period. It is made from horsehair with a bamboo frame and is partly transparent black in color.

Gat
Korean name
Hunminjeongeum
갓
Revised Romanizationgat
McCune–Reischauerkat

Most gat are cylindrical in shape with a wide brim on a bamboo frame. Before the late 19th century, only noble class men could wear gat, which represented their social status and protected their topknots (Korean: 상투; RR: sangtu).

Under the Joseon period, black gat (Korean: 흑립; Hanja: 黑笠; RR: heungnip) were restricted to men who had passed the gwageo examination. Commoners wore a variant called paeraengi (패랭이) which was woven from split bamboo.[1]

Artisans who make gat are called ganniljang (갓일장) in Korean, from gannil (갓일 "hatmaking, millinery") + jang (Korean: 장; Hanja: 匠 "artisan, craftsman, master of a craft").

History

Ancient

The origins of gat date back to ancient times. Usually, the following hats are considered to be the first specimens of what is known as gat today: the So-called iphyeong baekhwapi mo (Korean: 입형백화피모; Hanja: 笠形白樺皮帽) from the Gyeong-ju Geumnyeongchon (Korean: 금령총; Hanja: 金鈴塚), an ancient Silla tomb, and the pan-shaped gat which is distinct from ordinary hats in pattern and shape and is depicted on the murals of the Gamsinchong (Korean: 감신총; Hanja: 龕神塚), an ancient Goguryeo tomb.

In literature, the Samguk yusa said: "In Silla, Won Seong-wang (King Won Seong) put off the Bokdu and wore the Sorip, in a dream", so it seems that gat had been used already in the Three Kingdoms of Korea era.

See also

Notes
  1. "패랭이". naver.com. Retrieved 2 November 2015.


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