At a silk weaving farmhouse in Hamchang-eup, Sangju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, silk craftsman Heo Ho (63) is drying pure white silk fabric in the sun. Silk made from threads extracted from silkworm cocoons is high-quality silk and is used to make hanbok. ‘Hamchang silk’ is made with the traditional method of weaving by feeding water on the thread, so it is durable and has a soft texture. /Reporter Kim Dong-hwan

Gyeongbuk Sangju

“Traditional method has good texture and durability”

5th generation silk craftsmanship inheriting the family business

“The best product only when water is applied to the weft”

It is written on Hanbok, scarf, and baby clothes.

Myeongju Theme Park in Hamchang-eup

Museum and Hanbok Promotion Institute are also here

Sangju Agricultural School 100 Years Exhibition until next month

On the 19th, in Dugok-ri, Sangju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, there was a mulberry tree in Dugok-ri, Sangju, Natural Monument No. 559. This mulberry tree with an estimated age of 300 years and a height of 12m is a cultural property that symbolizes the silk business and silk weaving in Sangju, where silkworms were beaten and silk was made in the past. The sericulture business refers to sericulture, which raises silkworms, and ancestral rites, which spin silkworm cocoons. The process of making silk with plucked threads is called silk weaving. Even now, in spring, silkworms flock to eat the mulberry leaves that bloom on this tree, and the cocoon they create weighs as much as 30 kg.

At a farmhouse in Hamchang-eup, Sangju, about 10 km away from here, weaving of yarn with a loom was in full swing. A basin on one side of the workshop was full of pure white silkworm cocoons soaked in hot water. When Mr. Heo Ho (63), a silk master here, stirred it with a small broom-shaped tool called Saekseobi, threads like spider webs were pulled out. The yarn thus spun is woven vertically and horizontally using a loom to make silk. Threads woven horizontally are called weft threads, and threads woven vertically are called warp threads. The silk fabric, which is made by drying the woven threads in the sun, is used as a material for hanbok, scarves, baby clothes, and shrouds. Here, the traditional manufacturing method, which uses a wooden loom and waters the weft to make the silk fabric solid, was maintained. Mr. Heo, who is the 5th generation of the silk-making family business, said, "Hamchang silk has a softer texture and better durability than other fabrics because the water-soaked weft thread meets the warp thread more naturally." said.

◇ ‘Hamchang silk’ presented as a gift to the king

Sangju, Gyeongsangbuk-do, has been called the home of three whites since ancient times. Rice, dried persimmons, and silk wine, which are specialties of Sangju, are all white in color. In Sangju, silk made from cocoon threads is made in a traditional way. Among traditional textiles, ramie and cotton are made from vegetable raw materials such as cotton, but silk is the only one that uses animal raw materials.

Sangju, located in the northwestern part of North Gyeongsang Province, has good conditions for growing mulberry trees, with an average temperature of 18 to 26 degrees between May and September and an average annual precipitation of 800 to 1200 mm. According to the ‘Gyeongsang-do Jiriji’, a record of the Joseon Dynasty, sericulture was the main industry to the extent that ‘myeonju’, the old name for silk, was recorded in the first list of tributes offered to the king in Sangju at the time. In 1921, Japan established the first ‘Sangju Public Agriculture School’ in Sangju to teach sericulture.

In 1974, when the government encouraged the sericulture business, there were 15,395 sericulture farms in Sangju, and it enjoyed its heyday, producing 1.12 million kg of cocoons alone. Until the 1980s, the largest myeongjujeon in the country was held at the Hamchang Traditional Market in Hamchang-eup. Along with Hansan Mosi in Seocheon, Chungcheongnam-do and Andongpo in Andong, Gyeongsangbuk-do, it was said that Hamchang Myeongju is the best.

The silk business has suffered a period of stagnation since the 1980s due to the development of chemical fibers and the aging of producers. As the demand for cocoons and silk declined, more farmers gave up the silk business. However, in 2009, the farmers who produced silk in Sangju joined forces to establish the ‘Myeongju Sericulture Farming Association Corporation’ to continue the silk, and as Sangju City supported them, the number of sericulture farms began to increase little by little.

As of April of last year, the production of silkworm cocoons in Sangju was 2,610 kg, accounting for 31% of the total production in Gyeongbuk. It is the second after Yeongdeok in Gyeongsangbuk-do. “Most of the silkworm cocoons produced nationwide are produced and supplied in Gyeongbuk, such as Sangju and Yeongdeok,” said an official from the Gyeongbuk Agricultural Resources Management Institute’s silkworm plant.

◇The 100th anniversary exhibition of Nongjam School

The city of Sangju is making efforts to revitalize the sleep business. In Hamchang-eup, there is a ‘Hamchang Silk Theme Park’ with the theme of silk business and silk weaving. In the theme park, there is the ‘Myeongju Museum’ with the theme of the history of Hamchang myeongju, and the ‘Gyeongsangbuk-do Agricultural Resources Management Service Jamsa Insect Plant’ that studies silkworms. The Korea Institute of Hanbok Promotion, the only research and exhibition institution specializing in hanbok in Korea, is also located here.

Ho Ho, a silk craftsman in Hamchang, is weaving silk on a wooden loom. / Reporter Kim Dong-hwan

The city also supports sericulture farmers to develop healthy foods such as silkworm powder and silkworm pills using silkworms, and mulberry leaf tea and mulberry leaf powder using mulberry leaves. ‘Hongjam (弘蠶)’, which is made by steaming and drying ripe silkworms, is also popular as a good food for preventing dementia and liver cancer. In October of last year, an experience kit for spinning cocoon threads was also released. After soaking two silkworm cocoons in hot water, when the cocoons become soft, the thread is wound up with wooden chopsticks. It is said that 3,000 of these trial kits were sold in about three months.

The Sangju Museum will hold an exhibition related to silk weaving under the theme of the 100th anniversary of Sangju Public Agricultural and Jam School until February 27th. In 2008, Sangju Public Agricultural and Jammer School, which was integrated into the College of Ecology and Environment at the Sangju Campus of Kyungpook National University, has led the development of the sericulture business and silkworm weaving in Sangju since its opening. In the exhibition, you can see records of former Nongjam School students, tools used for silk weaving, and clothes made of silk. Kang Yeong-seok, mayor of Sangju, said, "We will make efforts to make Sangju's pearls a cultural heritage that reminds us of our forgotten tradition."