Goguryeo

After Gojoseon of Liaodong was defeated by the Han dynasty of China, four Chinese commanderies known as the Han-Sagoon were established in the region in 108 BCE. Proto-Koreanic entities were in constant conflict with these states until Goguryeo eventually ousted the Chinese from those regions by the early 4th century CE.^[11] One of them was the Daebang Commandery, established between 204 and 314 CE,^[11] and another was the Nakrang Commandery which continued to exist until the early fourth century CE and transmitted Han dynasty culture and lifestyle to the regions, including the Korean peninsula.^[11] Even after the ousting, Goguryeo court attire shows influences of the guanfu system.^[11]

A long type of po was introduced to Goguryeo and originated from the long paofu which was worn by the Han Chinese in court.

Another form of robe was the mid-calf po, which originated from the Northern Chinese, and was used to fend against cold weather; this form of robe was adopted by the Goguryeo upper class for various ceremonies and rituals.^[12] This court po was eventually modified and became the durumagi with no vents.^[13] According to Samuel Lee:^[12]

"[Goguryeo] [m]urals also show that both men and women wore chima. The type worn by both for formal occasions was sang and that worn only by women was goon, which had long and wide dimensions. The origin of durumagi, the long outer coat worn over a jeogori, goes back to the Goguryeo period. The durumagi emanates from the long coat worn by northern Chinese to fend off cold weather in ancient times. The long coats [of the northern Chinese] reached mid-calf and had bindings similar to those used for jeogori. Later, this [long coat] was adopted by the Goguryeo upper class in various forms for ceremonies and rituals, and the modified form [of the court po] worn by the general populace came to be known as durumagi."

The court po was used for ceremonies and rituals, as well as in the royal attire goguryeo called the ochaebok.^{[12][note 1]} And, what is now currently known as the durumagi forms part of the indigenous hanbok attire as:^[14]

The Han dynasty influences can also be observed in the tomb murals of Goguryeo which were primarily painted in two regions: Ji'an (集安) and Pyeongyang, which are the second and third capitals of Goguryeo from the middle of the 4th to the middle of the 7th centuries respectively.^[15]: 15 The Goguryeo murals dating from this period in the region of Ji'an typically shows the characteristics of the people of Goguryeo in terms of morals and customs while those found in the regions of Pyeongyang would typically show the cultural influence of the Han dynasty, including figures dressed in Chinese-style attire, as the Han dynasty had governed this geographical region for approximately 400 years.^[15]: 15

Chinese paofu, Han dynasty

Chinese paofu worn by men, 5th AD

Male tomb owner wearing an ancient Chinese paofu, Anak Tomb No.3, Goguryeo, c. 357

Zaju chuishao fu, Wei, Jin, or Southern-Northern Dynasties

zaju chuishao fu, Northern Wei dynasty

Wife of tomb owner wearing the Chinese zaju chuishao fu, Anak Tomb No.3, Goguryeo, c. 357

The Goguryeo mural paintings found near Pyeongyang, such as the Anak Tomb No. 3 of Goguryeo dated 357 AD located near Pyeongyang, shows also strong influences of the Eastern Han dynasty which appears to have continued lingering in the regions of Manchuria during the third and early fourth centuries CE.^[16] The subjects and characteristics found on the murals are derived from the murals found in the Eastern Han dynasty tombs of China.^[16] The tomb owner is depicted as an idealized official of the Eastern Han dynasty being seated in frontal position wearing a Chinese paofu; the closest prototype of this mural painting can be found in the mural from the Yuantaizi Tomb in Chaoyang country, Liaoning, dating from the 4th century CE.^[16] The painting of the wife of the tomb owner wears a multi-layered Chinese attire, known as the zaju chuishao fu (Chinese: 杂裾垂髾服), and may indicate the Chinese clothing-style of the Six dynasties period.^[16] The Anak Tomb No. 3 also exerted strong influences on the subsequent development of iconography, structure, and tomb mural painting techniques found in the Goguryeo tombs.^[16]

Traces of influences from the Han dynasty continued to appear in the early 5th century Goguryeo tomb murals located in the Pyeongyang areas, such as those from the Gamsinchong (龕神塚) where the ancient durumagi worn by the owner of Gamsinchong tomb was red (or purple) in colour and had wide sleeves.^[15]: 16 It is also worn with a waist belt similarly to the native Korean durumagi-po-style.^[17]

[Tomb Owner] This figure is sitting on a flat bench under a red curtain, in a purple durumagi (a traditional Korean men’s overcoat) with both hands held inside the wide sleeves on his chest. He wears a dark silk hat that shows his high societal position.

— National Museum of Korea, Quarterly Magazine Vol. 07, No. 07, Spring 2009

Illustrations of maids from the same tomb are also depicted wearing clothing attire which are similar to those worn from the North and South dynasties of China to the Tang dynasty the clothing attire of these maids are different from the one worn by the maids in the murals in Ji'an.^[15]: 16 Moreover, Goguryeo, influenced by the Chinese, also developed the ritual of bestowing attire to smaller entities, such as Silla, which in turn did so to other smaller entities.^[9]

Silla and Baekje

This section does not cite any sources. (July 2022)

Southern parts of the Korean Peninsula had less influence from mainland political entities. The influence of Goguryeo can be seen in Silla court clothing, which included a similar decorative apron with triangles but under their jeogori (top) in a more indigenous fashion. Baekje had formed its own gwanbok system with influences from Silla that in turn influenced the Japanese court attire of the Yayoi and Kofun periods.

North-South States period and Goryeo dynasty

Joseon

Gongbok

The gongbok (공복; 公服; lit. diplomatic attire)^[32]: 48 was worn when officers had an audience with the king at the palace.

Jebok

The jebok (제복; 祭服; lit. ritual attire)^{[32]: 48 [3]} was the gwanbok which was worn as the official mourning attire.^{[12]: 55–58} It was worn by civil and military officials when the King would hold memorial services at the Royal Ancestral Shrine where he would perform ancestor veneration ritual, called jesa.^{[12]: 55–58}

The robe was a danryeong with large-sleeves which was made of black silk gauze; it was worn with a jegwan (mourning cap), a red skirt, a dae (girdle), a bangshim-gokryeong (a ritual token which was attached to the round collar), a husu (a black apron with embroidery and tassels), leggings, Korean cotton socks, and low-sided shoes called hye.^{[12]: 55–58} The joogdan (inner garment) was made of white silk, the white neck band of the inner robe was visible under the jebok.^{[12]: 55–58} A red apron was worn between the jebok and the joogdan.^{[12]: 55–58}

Jeogui

The jeogui (적의; 翟衣), also called referred as gwanbok, myeongbok, and yebok (예복; 禮服; lit. ritual clothing), was worn by the queen, crown princess, the wife of the crown prince's son and other women of legitimate royal lineage; it was a ceremonial robe.^[39] It was worn from the time of King Gongmin of Goryeo to the time of King Yeongchin in 1922.^[40]: 130 However, the early Joseon jeogui was different from the one developed and worn in the late Joseon and during the Korean empire.

In the early Joseon, the Ming dynasty bestowed the daehong daesam, a plain red ceremonial robe along with chiljeokgwan, a guan with seven pheasants, to the Joseon queen which was then worn as a ceremonial attire.^[39]

In the late Joseon, the jeogui system of Joseon was developed and was modified such that pheasant heads would appear on the back of the daesam along and also added a rank badge to the jeogui.^[39] During the Korean empire, the jeogui was modified again and became blue in colour for the Korean queen which was now proclaimed empress; this blue jeogui also expressed the proclamation of Korea as an independent nation.^[39]

Jobok

The jobok (조복; 朝服; lit. court attire)^{[32]: 48 [3]} is a form of gwanbok.^{[12]: 53–55}

It was also the official court attire for the high-ranking military and civil officials; they wore it when they would meet with the King and was worn for important ceremonies.^{[12]: 53–55} Examples of special occasions were the national festivals, or announcement of royal decrees.^[41] The jobok consisted of a wide-sleeved, red silk gauze robe which was worn over a blue inner robe; a red apron was worn in the front of back.^{[12]: 53–55} On the back, there was a husu, i.e. a rectangular-shaped embroidered insignia.^{[12]: 53–55} To indicate the rank of the officials, officials wore geumgwan; the geumgwan had gold stripes which would mark its wearer's rank.^{[12]: 53–55}

During the Korean Empire period, when Emperor Gojong wore the jobok as his attire for imperial audience, he decided to upgrade his jobok to that of the Chinese Emperor's by including the tongtianguan (통천관; 通天冠; tongcheongwan) with twelves liang (Chinese: 梁; pinyin: liáng; lit. 'beam') of jade strings,^[32]: 57 thus replacing his initial yuanyouguan (원유관; 遠遊冠; wonyugwan) which used by the feudal kings;^[32]: 65 he also wore the jiangshapao (강사포; 絳紗袍; gangsapo), a red robe which was worn by the Emperor and the feudal kings.^[32]: 57

Myeongbok

The mianfu (면복; 冕服; myeonbok; lit. coronation dress) was the most stately habit of the Chinese Emperor, which consisted of a mianguan (면류관; 冕旒冠; myeollyugwan) with twelve beaded strings (면류; 冕旒; myeollyu) and was worn together with the gunfu (곤복; 袞服; gongbok) which was decorated with Twelve Ornaments.^[32]: 56 The mianfu was the attire which projected the authority of the Chinese Emperor in the Sinosphere.^[32]: 56 The mianfu was introduced in Korea from China where it became known as myeonbok. The myeonbok was used a ceremonial attire by the Joseon kings, kings, crown prince, and crown grandson from the Goryeo period through the Joseon period.^[42]

The Korean myeonbok differed from the mianfu worn by the Chinese Emperor as the King of Joseon were feudal kings. As feudals kings, the Kings of Joseon were not allowed to use the twelve beaded strings instead they had to use nine beaded strings.^[32]: 56 Moreover, they were supposed to wear a robe in their myeonbok which was decorated with nine out of the Twelve Ornaments and thus their this robe was referred gujangbok (Hanja: 九章服).^[42] The nine ornaments on the gujangbok were either painted or embroidered and they represented the virtue and authority of the King; the crown prince of Joseon on the other hand were only allowed seven out of the twelve ornaments.^[42] The myeonbok of Joseon was thus was made up of eleven different pieces of garment and apparels, which included the gui (Hanja: 圭; a jade tablet), the mianguan (면류관; 冕旒冠; myeollyugwan), the ui (Hanja: 衣; Chinese: 衣; pinyin: yī; lit. 'upper garment') which was the gujangbok, the sang (Hanja: 裳), the dadae (Hanja: 大帶; Chinese: 大帶; pinyin: dàdài; lit. 'big belt'), the jungdan (Hanja: 中單; an inner robe), pae (Hanja: 佩), pyeseul (Hanja: 蔽膝; a type of decorative panel), su (Hanja: 綬, ornament), mal (Hanja: 襪 socks), and seok (Hanja: 舃, shoes).^[42] There were also instances when Korean kings wore the mianfu reserved for the Emperor. During the years of the Yuan invasion of Goryeo, King Gongmin was recorded to have temporarily worn the myeonbok of an emperor with the Twelve Ornaments and wore the mianguan with twelve beads.^[42] However after the establishment of the Ming dynasty, King Gongmin restarted wearing the myeonbok of a feudal king.^[42]

Following the fall of the Ming dynasty, the Joseon court decided to establish their own myeonbok system in accordance to their own national customs under the reign of King Yeonjo in 1744.^[42] Until 1897, King Yeonjo's guidelines concerning the Joseon myeonbok system remained in effect; some changes were later on implemented with the proclaiming of the Korean Empire.^[42] When Emperor Gojong declared himself emperor of Korea when he appropriated the ancient Chinese dress system and wore a myeonbok, which emulated the mianfu with Twelve ornaments and the twelve-beaded string mianguan of the Chinese emperor.^[32]: 56 The Joseon myeonbok was thus localized and developed into its current form through time.^[42]

Sangbok

The sangbok (상복; 常服; lit. official uniform)^[32]: 48 was worn as a daily official clothing.

Yungbok

The yungbok was related to military affairs.^[43]