[KS] spoons

[Sung Deuk Oak]

Hello Frank and all,
Here is one of the pictures, taken in the 1890s when many English books on Korea began to be published, which shows that brass spoons were widely available and used for the ordinary people in Seoul in 1890s. See the display on the table. It is in Everyday Life in Korea, by Daniel L. Gifford, printed in 1898.  See  http://archive.org/details/everydaylifeinko00giff
You can find more similar pictures of the brassware shops in Seoul from 1895 to 1910.
Best,
Sung-Deuk Oak 
Date: Tue, 10 Sep 2013 16:32:57 -0700
From: mjpettid2000 at yahoo.com
To: hoffmann at koreanstudies.com; koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com
Subject: Re: [KS] spoons

Hello all,

I am tardy with this, but spoons were commonly used in premodern Korea by folks of all status groups  There is a brief record from 1604 that indicates that this was a habit of the ChosOn people in comparison to the Ming armies assisting with the earlier invasions (1592-98).  Certainly the materials used to make spoons were reflective of status, but wood, brass, silver and so on were common.  I can't speak of the 20th century, but for ChosOn and earlier, spoons were commonplace.

Best,
Michael Pettid
        From: Frank Hoffmann <hoffmann at koreanstudies.com>
 To: koreanstudies at koreanstudies.com 
 Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2013 5:47 PM
 Subject: Re: [KS] spoons
   
Hello Bill:

Seems nobody wants your wooden spoons. Not sure why so, as there are 
several who know much better than me.

Here the little I can say about wooden spoons:
Other than what you imagine, I think Koreans did not, at least not 
since the later colonial period, use wooden spoons at home. Maybe 
wooden spoons were used for prisoners or in the army, but not 
elsewhere. (If anyone
 knows otherwise, please do post.) In KOREA spoons 
were of metal, what metal depended on the social status of the families 
and also the historic period we talk about. When you read descriptions 
from older texts, 1910 or before, you can find some hints that wooden 
spoons were used by the lower classes though: "Meals are served on low 
tables, the family and the guests squatting on the floor, and wooden 
spoons and chopsticks are used." (Constance J.D. Coulson, _Korea_, 
London: A. and C. Black, 1910, p. 10.) Wooden spoons where also part of 
Korea's funeral culture, used to prepare the dead for burial, for some 
sort of ritual meal: see Im Kwŏn-t'aek's movie _Ch'ukche_ (1996) for 
such a scene, if you have not seen it in actual life. That movie is 
pretty good at depicting a traditional funeral:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNXf_ibPc7o
Wooden spoons were and are of course also used in Buddhist monasteries.

In any case, you talk about the very late colonial period and 
post-liberation period in North Korea. Of course did Koreans would 
Koreans want to replace their spoons and other tools and utilities the 
Japanese had confiscated during the war.


Frank

--------------------------------------
Frank Hoffmann
http://koreanstudies.com

     		 	   		  
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