Clothes Worn by General Kim Deok-ryeong

These are clothes some four hundred years old, unearthed in 1974 when the tomb of General Kim Deok-ryeong was relocated at Ichi, on Mudeungsan Mountain in Gwangju, where the tombs of the Gwangsan Kim clan are gathered. Kim Deok-ryeong (1568-1596) was a righteous-army commander who made his name in Damyang during the Japanese invasions of 1592-1598; although small in stature, he was agile and exceptionally able, and it is said that Japanese commanders withdrew in fear at the mere sight of his face. In 1595, the twenty-eighth year of King Seonjo, he was falsely accused of colluding with an enemy commander, arrested, and died in prison the following year. Under King Yeongjo his innocence was established; he was posthumously honoured as Minister of War, and his spirit tablet was enshrined at Uiyeolsa Shrine in Gwangju. The excavated clothes are as follows: two cheollik - a robe worn by Joseon civil and military officials when sent abroad as envoys, when guarding the king, or in times of national crisis - one for summer and one for winter; four jikryeongpo, robes resembling a durumagi overcoat but named for their straight collar, for spring/autumn and winter wear; one jeogori (jacket); and one pair of trousers. The cheollik are the ones he wore during the Imjin War, made so that both sleeves could be detached in an emergency. The summer garment is of white ramie, while the winter one is quilted with thick cotton wadding and made longer than the summer piece, for warmth. The jikryeongpo include a spring/autumn version finely quilted from white cotton cloth and a winter version quilted with thick wadding. The silk jikryeongpo in particular has decayed to leave only the wadding, but whereas the other garments have a sleeve length, from back seam to cuff, of 85 cm, this one is longer, at 129 cm - suggesting that it was not a garment worn in life but a shroud specially made for dressing the corpse. The jeogori has a coarse cotton outer layer and a hemp lining with cotton wadding inside; the trousers now retain only the wadding, but their shape remains clearly visible. The clothes of General Kim Deok-ryeong date from the late sixteenth century and are extremely valuable material for research into the history of Korean costume.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Buk-gu, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산