Since I’m interested in the culture and tradition of Korea from watching all the sageuk or period kdramas, I decided to do some posts about it. I’m doing it slowly, one at a time, since I need to do some background reading about the topic I decided to cover.
For now, here’s the topics I’ve covered, mainly inspired by kdramas:
HANBOK
- Traditional Korean Clothing: Kdrama Style
- Traditional Korean Clothing: Kdrama Style (Part 2)
- Moon, Sun, and Stars in Hanbok
- Joseon’s Court Attire: Kdrama Style (Part 1)
- Joseon’s Court Attire: Kdrama Style (Part 2)
- Hanbok for Men: Kim Boong-Do’s Style
- Hanbok for Women: Lee Se-ryung’s Style
- Shining Hanbok Under the Sun
ORNAMENTS ETC
JOSEON
- Social Strata of Joseon Dynasty
- Introduction to Hanok
- Women of the Joseon Dynasty (Part 1)
- Women of the Joseon Dynasty (Part 2)
ROYAL FAMILY OF JOSEON
- Rulers of the Joseon Dynasty and Kdrama Interpretations
- Royal Titles and Styles in Joseon Dynasty
- The Crown Princes Club (Gwanghaegun, Crown Prince Sohyun & Crown Prince Sado)
- Royal Ladies of Joseon Dynasty (ongoing)
- Royal Ranks in Joseon Dynasty
- The Ups and Downs of Joseon Princesses’ Lives
- Royal Titles of Joseon Consorts
- Joseon Kings and Their Royal Concubines
- The Youthful Joseon Kings and Crown Princes in Historical Dramas (and Movies)
CULTURE
- Korean Family and Kinship Terms
- Wedding and Marriage in Joseon Series | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |
If you have any inquiries or suggestions about something you’re curious about, do drop me a comment or two. I’ll look around for you and share the knowledge (^^,)
the talking cupboard 
i’m a big fan of kdramas esp. d period dramas which i learned from u was called sageuk.really thanks for d posts u’ve made.waitin’ 4 ur post in joseon gov’t positions.wish u also write about educ.of d joseon people; tradition,ways superstitions on inducing pregnancy, being pregnant, giving birth,care of d newborn baby etc.
ALL SALUTES!!!
Hope u write more&more posts about d wonderful,evr interestin’& d one i love d most: Korean Culture
Hello! Glad you enjoyed the posts^^ Also, thanks for the suggestion! I hope I can find more details about pregnancy and childbirth, plus the education system of the dynasty~
Hi there,
Do you think you would consider doing posts on the famous family clans of Korea and notable people from those lines? Like the Andong Kim Clan, Cheongju Han Clan, Yeoheung Min Clan….and obviously the Jeonju Lee Clan needs no post since that’s the royal family of the Joseon dynasty. Just something I’ve been curious about and can only find so much about in English >.<
PS I love your posts on historical korean fashion
Hello KN.
I’m so sorry for the extremely late reply. I missed your comment before and only saw it earlier today.
That topic is certainly interesting! Thank you for your suggestion. I have never thought of it before ^^; I’ll be looking for more info but in the meantime, if you have any question, you can ask me!
Thanks for the love ❤ It means a lot to know that people find the posts useful 😉
I’m writing a novel loosely based on a Korean legend and all of the information you’ve posted on here has been helpful. Can’t wait for the Joseon Government Positions post, it’s what I’m researching now! Thank you for all of your posts!
Hello! Your posts are really informative and they are interesting too!! I spent an entire night reading some of them. I just finished Moon Lovers, and is curious about how were the inner court was ranked in Goryeo, since I’m guess they didn’t have such a clear ranking as Joseon and there could be more than 1 queen. I would love it if you could a post on Goryeo women, or if you have any info about that off the top of your head. 🙂
Hi! I love how influential your articles are. Can you do one about the Joseon army/military/royal guards? I’ve been searching everywhere for their titles.
Thank you!
Hello 🙂
I have one draft sitting in my folder for the longest time about Joseon government titles but I haven’t had any time to write it properly. Maybe if you can point out what you want to know exactly, I can help you out by answering here ^^;
Hello, when will you post about Joseon government position? I’m very interested in military/royal guard/podocheong/uigembu, but I can find only podocheong in wiki.
Also, I’m looking for the right term how to address nain (when people talk to nain, how the people address them?), but I can’t find it anywhere. Can you answer my question?
Hello..
I’m afraid it’s difficult to say when exactly the post will be up, because it’s still lacking a lot. Hence, if you don’t mind, can you share what exactly do you want to know about those law enforcers?
As for the second question, people would usually call them “hanganim” (항아님). It is used by both ordinary people and people inside the palace to address the nain.
Hello! Thank you so much for your hard work in making Korean culture posts. I’m also big fan of, not only Korean historical dramas, but also the deep history in those dramas (which is why I often look into historical facts of each sageuk dramas I’ve ever watched), so, if you mind, I would like to ask you a question and I was wondering if you might know something about it.
So here it is : Up until recently I did a research into everything there was to know about the royal family of Silla kingdom (because, you know, it’s my favourite Korean kingdom of all), and I was quite surprised at the genealogy of the Royal Kim family (I specifically looked into King Jinheung’s immediate and extended family) but it wasn’t about the consanguineous marriages. Not that it was not shocking too, though. It’s just that I may discovered something else quite disturbing (at least to me).
Okay, what I found that was and is still both shocking and astonishing to me is that : Quite often, in the royal family of Silla kingdom, not only the royal men was engaged in polyamory, but the royal women, I have to repeat, royal women was also engaged in the same act.
I’m sorry that I have to repeat, it did quite a deal with me. Well, I did mentioned above it was ‘polyamorous’. Maybe it’s true with the royal men, because mostly they just have one wife with many concubines, but I’m not quite sure with the women. Okay, first, I may have to admit that this ‘research’ was actually just my lonely nights searching in Wikipedia, and since I quite understand how to read Hangeul, I decided to give it a go. But, I remembered that mostly for the ‘polyamorous’ women, the men that they had relationships with was mentioned ‘nampyeon’, or as I understood, ‘husband’. Other than this, I may have actually read somewhere in an Internet article (I actually forgot the website) that a Silla woman can marry 3 men if she wants. Well, maybe I’m wrong, and maybe at this point you may be confused as to what the hell I’m about to ask you. But the whole point to this and the question is, is it true? I mean, it is obviously true (I trust the facts from Wikipedia), but I just can’t quite understand. I mean, if it is true, then how did they decide whose sons or daughters from such situation (since the DNA test hadn’t been found)? And maybe you think that the women might have been just remarrying a lot after their husbands died, but I don’t know. In my opinion, the probability is too low for the women to actually have their husbands died so often so they had to remarry often (forgive my language).
If this question and the whole topic is offensive, I didn’t mean to and I’m sorry. I’m just incredibly curious with this and I just want to know the truth. All in all, this doesn’t mean that I’m now less fascinated with Korean history. Well, maybe a little bit, but it still doesn’t stop me from looking into Korean history and still be mesmerized by it. If you have any idea or no idea at all, could you please respond?
Again, thank you for wonderful blog.
P.S. My personal favourite during my ‘research’ : to know that the concubines of Silla kings are quite badass (I think), because they’re mostly also wives to other people. Kinda like a mistress, but I think with little ‘discretion’.
Hello! Just curious about the traditional korean hairstyles.. I know unmarried women (in dramas… probably.) wears this braided hairstyle. But can they not braid their hair and let it loose in the past? or is it a must to braid their hair and tie it with a ribbon?
Hello there!
Braided hairstyle only went popular during Joseon Dynasty. Prior to that, maidens in Three Kingdoms Period and Goryeo Dynasty mostly tied their hair into a low ponytail and younger girls made their hair into loops on top of the head. We can’t really know if they did let it loose back then, but based on the historical paintings and records, the hair were tied or pulled into various shapes most of the time.
Discuss the Silla and Goryeo dynasties sis
Hello!!!
This is a random question as I don’t know where else to put it. Who were the women and eunuchs who followed the King, Queen, Crown Prince, Crown Princess, and concubines around the palace?
Hi again Lilah!
The women who followed around and served the royal family in the palace were the court ladies and palace maids, while the eunuchs were, well..eunuchs. Just like the palace maids who were trained from young age, the eunuchs were also recruited and trained ever since they were young. They did not only serve the royal family like a modern day butler but also helped to deliver messages and also acted as bodyguards for their master.