Forged Brassware Maker

Bangjja yugi refers to brassware made by hammering out an alloy ingot melted in fire; it is made by alloying copper and tin in a ratio of 78 to 22. If this ratio is off by even 0.01 per cent, or if even a trace of zinc or another metal is mixed in, the metal cracks apart during hammering. Bangjja is used mainly to make percussion instruments such as jing and kkwaenggwari (gongs), and because it leaves no mark when touched by hand and contains no toxic substances, it is also widely used for tableware of all kinds. However skilled a craftsman may be, bangjja cannot be made alone; it requires a team of six. One person works the bellows to feed air into the furnace, and another reheats the metal in the fire. One person holds the heated metal with tongs while three others take turns striking it with hammers. No fixed mould or auxiliary tool of any kind is used. The holder Kim Mun-ik entered the workshop of yugijang Choe Du-geon at the age of twelve and honed his craft there for thirteen years. He then worked for seventeen years at the crafts workshop run by Lee Bong-ju, a holder of a State-designated intangible heritage skill, where he learned the technique for making napcheong bangjja yugi — yangdae (large brass bowls) — from Jeongju in Pyeonganbuk-do. Kim Mun-ik's skill is specialised in making instruments for pungmul (folk percussion-band music). Using the right amount of alloy is crucial to an instrument's sound, and in making instruments he raises the proportion of tin, using 3 kg of copper to 8.25 kg of tin, mixing in small amounts of gold and silver. Kim Mun-ik also excels at 'breaking in the tone', the meticulous process of drawing out the correct sound in percussion instruments such as jing. His work is renowned for its outstanding quality, borne out by the fact that the Kim Duk-soo Samulnori troupe used the jing and kkwaenggwari he made for many years.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Gunpo, Gyeonggi

Designation

Provincial Intangible Heritage · 시도무형유산