Hansan Mosi Jjagi (Fine Ramie Weaving of Hansan)

Mosi (ramie cloth) is a fabric that has been used for a long time, also known as jeopo or jeochi, made from the bark stripped from ramie stalks. Records of ramie sent to Tang China during the reign of King Gyeongmun of Unified Silla (r. 861-875) suggest that it was already used as a trade good with foreign countries. Ramie is a perennial plant whose stem near the root turns yellowish-brown, and it is harvested when the lower leaves wither and dry. It is usually harvested about three times a year - from May to early June, from early August to late August, and from early October to late October - with the second harvest yielding the finest quality. Hansan mosi is ramie made in Hansan, long known for its superior quality, fineness and elegance compared with that of other regions, so that it has become synonymous with ramie itself. The production process runs in the order of cultivation and harvesting, making tae-mosi (raw stripped ramie), splitting the ramie, spinning the thread, forming mosi-gut (skeins), warping, sizing, weaving and bleaching. First the harvested stalks are combed and their outer bark stripped to make tae-mosi, which is soaked in water for about a day and dried, then wetted again so that each strand can be split one by one - a process called mosi-jjagi. The split strands are then joined into thread in a process called mosi-samgi, which determines the evenness of the thread; Hansan's spinning technique is so skilled that its thread is remarkably uniform. The thread is coiled into a sieve in set amounts and bound crosswise with cord to form a mosi-gut. Warping (mosi-nalgi) determines how many strands go into one width of cloth according to the thickness of the thread. After sizing (mosi-maegi), the cloth is woven on a loom, and finally it is bleached by wetting it and drying it repeatedly in the sun to produce baekjeopo, or white ramie cloth. Ramie is graded from 7 sae up to 15 sae (bomsae); a grade of 10 sae or higher is called semosi (fine ramie), and the higher the number, the finer and more prized the cloth. A grade of 10 sae means the cloth is woven with 800 warp threads across a width of 30 cm. Because ramie thread breaks easily if the humidity is insufficient, weaving must be done in semi-underground huts that keep out draughts even in hot weather, and no work can be done on windy or rainy days. In recent times chlorine bleaching has sometimes been used to whiten the cloth, and as demand has fallen with the growth of the textile industry, the ramie-weaving skills of this region have gradually declined. Hansan mosi is a traditional summer fabric symbolising the beauty of Korea, and because of its historical value the government has designated its production techniques a National Intangible Heritage in order to protect them.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Seocheon, Chungnam

Designation

National Intangible Heritage · 국가무형유산