Hanji
| Korean spelling | |
|---|---|
| Korean alphabet : | 한지 |
| Hanja : | 韓 紙 |
| Revised Romanization : | Hanji |
| McCune-Reischauer : | Hanchi |
Hanji ( Korean : 한지 ) is the name for a traditionally made paper in Korea .
history
The beginning of paper production in Korea cannot be precisely dated. It is assumed, however, that the technology of papermaking originally came from China and some historians and archaeologists assume that Korea had the knowledge and technology at the latest from the 4th century AD. Other scientists give the period between the 2nd and 5th centuries for the beginning of paper production.
A find from 1931 that supported the thesis that paper was known in Korea as early as the 2nd century AD. A piece of paper from the tomb of Chechub Chong of the Naknang period (108 BC - 313 AD), discovered and opened in 1931, which could be dated to the year 116 AD, could be a first evidence of this .
The Nihonshoki (Chronicles of Japan) from the year 720 AD provide the first valid evidence that paper production in Korea was highly developed by the 7th century at the latest. The scriptures tell of the Korean monk Damjing ( 담징 ) who went to Japan around AD 610 and taught paper-making in Nara .
The base material for the paper was the bark of the paper mulberry trees Broussonetia Kazinoki and Broussonetia papyrifera . Since the natural product was used for many things in everyday life and the need for paper increased rapidly in medieval Korea as a result, the government of the Kingdom of Goryeo ( 고려 ) in the 12th century urged the country's farmers to plant more mulberry trees to meet the growing demand . But not only mulberry trees provided the raw material for paper production, hemp plants were also used, as microscopic examinations of older papers showed.
Manufacturing process
For the traditional production of paper from paper mulberry trees, annual shoots of the tree are used, which are cut between November and February of each year. During this period, the bark of the shoots is well developed. The inner layer is made up of long, well-formed fibers, while the outer layer is still moist enough to be peeled. The bark, which consists of three layers, is loosened in a special steam bath, Jeopi ( 저비 ), the outer brown layer, Nokpi ( 저비 ), the middle green layer and Baekpi ( 백비 ), the bottom white layer. After ten hours of hot steam treatment, the two outer layers are peeled off with a knife.
For the further treatment of the Baekpi , a lye is now made up , to which the stalks of soybeans , paprika or buckwheat plants are burned and an alkaline solution with a pH value between 10 and 12 is produced using the potash produced in this way. The baekpi is soaked in this lye for a day, after which it is roughly chopped up with a knife. The material is then boiled in the lye for four to six hours. In order to be able to remove the lye from the Baekpi , it is exposed to a hot steam bath for another half a day. This is followed by a five-day soaking and bleaching process under sunlight. After the water has been squeezed out of the soaked material, it is crushed and worked on a level stone using a wooden mallet until the bark is soft enough. After this process the material is called Dakjuk ( 닥죽 ).
The dakjuk is now placed in a square wooden box with the addition of water and stirred with a bamboo stick so that the fibers are distributed as evenly as possible. To support this process, a slimy liquid, obtained from the roots of the Hibiscus manihot , is added, whereby the mixing ratio can have a lasting effect on the process. The next step is crucial for the quality and thickness of the paper. The aqueous solution is now distributed over a form with a bamboo mat and the form is moved back and forth in order to distribute the water with the fibers evenly and align it lengthways and crossways. After the water has run off and the fibers have spread out in an even layer, the damp paper can be removed from the bamboo mat by turning it around and stored on a pile.
If the aqueous solution is only distributed once, the paper is called Ilhapji ( 일 합지 ) (single-ply). If you carry out the process a second time, a second layer is created and the paper is called Ihapji ( 이합 지 ). The stacked moist paper is then dewatered by pressing and air-dried on flat wooden panels. In the traditional way, this drying process takes a while. A more modern way is to place individual sheets of paper on a heated flat surface and thereby dry them faster. In order to give the paper a little more strength and so that it can also absorb the ink better, the paper is tapped in the stack in a final process.
Use and application
The uses and applications of hanji are many. If you only think of paper at first, you will be amazed to learn how versatile Hanji was used in Korean culture, in art and in everyday life, and in some cases still is today. In addition to being used as paper for creating documents, it was also used in windows and doors quite early on. The advantage of the breathable paper is that it keeps the heat away in summer and the heat in the house in winter. In modern Korean society, natural products have long been pushed back by new building materials. But since the early 2000s, products made from Hanji have received more attention in society again from ecologically-minded people. Wallpaper, lacquered floor coverings and carpets made of the special and very resistant paper are becoming more popular. Hanji is even suitable for designing the surfaces of furniture .
Hanji is becoming more popular as a napkin, packaging material in the food industry and as a basic material for the manufacture of clothing , as it is supposed to have an antibacterial effect and dry three times as quickly after a wash as clothing made of cotton. Hanji can also be used in various arts and crafts . Starting with objects in which Hanji is comprehensibly used as paper, such as B. in subjects, when gluing and designing boxes and cans and the like, on the production of containers with braided paper, similar to a cord, to the design of dolls or the like, the bandwidth ranges.
literature
- Hyejung Yum : Traditional Korean Papermaking . In: Scientific Research on the Pictorial Art of Asia . Archetype Publication Ltd. , London 2005, ISBN 1-873132-74-3 , pp. 75-80 (English).
- Hyejung Yum : Paper History . A Brief Account of Traditional Korean Papermaking . In: Journal of the International Association of Paper Historians . Volume 14 , No. 2 , 2010, ISSN 0250-8338 , p. 8–11 (English, online [PDF; 2.9 MB ; accessed on July 10, 2016]).
- Robert Clark, Mark Merlin : Cannabis . Evolution and Ethobotany . University of California Press , Berkley 2013, ISBN 978-0-520-27048-0 , 5 History of Cannabis Use for Fiber (135) - Cannabis and Paper (187) - Hemp Paper in Ancient Korea and Japan , pp. 192-193 (English).
- Minah Song, Jesse Munn : Permanence, Durability and Unique Properties of Hanji . Washington (English, online [PDF; 848 kB ; accessed on July 10, 2016]).
Web links
- Traditional Korean Papermaking . Cornell University Library,accessed July 10, 2016.
- Shin Hyun Se : Making hanji: Korean papermaking . (MP4; 52.5 MB; length: 7:55 min) Youtube , accessed on July 10, 2016 (Korean, with English subtitles).
Individual evidence
- ^ Traditional Korean Papermaking . Cornell University Library , accessed July 10, 2016 .
- ^ Yum : Paper History . 2010, p. 8 .
- ↑ a b Yum : Traditional Korean Papermaking . 2005, p. 75 .
- ↑ Clark, Merlin : Cannabis . Evolution and Ethobotany . 2013, p. 192 .
- ↑ a b c d Yum : Traditional Korean Papermaking . 2005, p. 76-79 .
- ↑ a b Re: visioning HANJI . Korean Cultural Center New York , accessed July 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Hanji, living paper that breathes . In: Korea.net . Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. , December 31, 2012, accessed on July 10, 2016 .
- ↑ Rachel Stine : Celebrating Korea's Traditional Hanji Paper Dolls . The Huffington Post , February 19, 2016, accessed July 10, 2016 .