Joseon Dynasty Korean Hats As Shown On Kingdom’s Korean Drama!

In this article we will share to you information about korean hats that we can see from Kingdom, a famous thriller korean drama about fighting zombies.
Other than fighting zombies, Kingdom also showed some korean history and culture of Joseon dynasty, including the hats they used in this movie. It has deeper meaning than just a hat to use for functionality. Alright let’s dive right to it.
Korean hats as social class differentiator

Credit to Netflix
From commoners to noble scholars, nearly all men of the Joseon era wore hats. Back then, hats people worn reflected Confucian values of formality, authority and dignity, which was the foundations of politics at the time.
People from different social class wore different forms of headgear. Society at the time was divided in four main classes: Yangban (nobility and aristocrats), Jungin (middle class), Pyeongmin (commoners) and Cheonmin (outcasts).
Eventually, hats came to have different sizes, shapes and purposes, some were for indoor and outdoor use, while some others were for work, funerals or special ceremonies.
Heukrip or Gat (갓)

Credit to Netflix
Gat was worn back then on the beginning of 19th century, usually mixed with traditional korean hanbok. It was made from the tail hair of a horse and woven in a thin pattern with bamboo into a shape of a hat.

Credit to Netflix
This hat is onyl worn outside and usually worn back then by middle upper class or blue blood aristocrats during Joseon era. The strap you see here under the chin is called Heuklip with a difference is that for middle class, they use it made from black cloth while noble class will use it made of precious beads. The master craftman who created this hat was called gatiljang.
Jeongjagwan (정자관)

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Jeongjagwan is a noble class hat, this worn only at home, so you might never even see this type of hat even in korean drama that have joseon era setting.
Samo (사모)

Credit to Netflix
Samo is a common hat we saw many times in korean drama that takes place during joseon era setting. It’s a rounded black hat with a low front and a high back, as part of their uniform. Samo were worn by government officials since the Goryeo era (918-1392).

Credit to Netflix
While this hat is only worn by government officials during late Joseon dynasty, it has 2 colour which is black and white. The different is that the white color is only use for attending a funeral ceremony.
Jeollip (전립)

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While Samo was worn by government officials, Jeollip was worn by military officers. Jeollip was often seen in many korean dramas that takes place in Joseon era, just like Samo. This is made of fur and wool, and sometimes adorned with a peacock feather on the top and an amber-beaded strap.
Nambawi (남바위)

Credit to Netflix
This hat you saw in season 2 of Kingdom is called Nambawi. This is a traditional fleece lined hat worn especially during the winter, to protect our face and ears from the cold temperature and cold wind during winter season and it was worn under the other hats.
Jurip (주립)

Credit to Netflix
Jurip was also used by military officials, a red hat adorned with tiger’s whiskers or feather on top of it. They often matched their military uniforms called Yungbok. By the end of the Joseon Dynasty, these hats were mostly worn by shamans.
Paeraengi (패랭이) or Pyeongnyangja

Credit to Netflix
Paraengi was also common hat worn during Joseon Era by the villagers or citizens. It is a variation of the Gat made of split bamboo and worn while working in the fields. This hat is also worn to show that the person is from a lower social class.
Joseon Era

Credit to Netflix
We can learn a lot from watching korean drama, especially historical type of drama as we can learn a lot about korean ancient history and culture. Hopefully this is helpful for you and so you can understand the difference when you saw different hats people used on a historical korean drama.
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