earticle

영어

Jeonju has been one of the representative hanji-producing centers for a long time. This is to analyze the historical background of Jeonju hanji. It is not clear when the paper-making technique was introduced to Jeonju. But it is assumed that the skill would be brought into the area in the 3rd to 4th century, in light of the fact that it began to be imported to Baekje kingdom at that time. Among the three kingdoms, Baekje played the most important part in the development of paper manufacture. The nation imported papers made of the mulberry tree for the first time in the Korean peninsular from China. Baekje had ideal soil conditions for growing the mulberry tree, then it was most likely that the nation already grew up to the typical producing center of hanji in the Three Kingdoms era. The tradition of Jeonju hanji was succeeded to the Koryo dynasty. Gyeonhwon, a king of Later Baekje, sent a fan as a gift to Wanggeon, a founder of Koryo. And Isaek, a famous civil minister of the late Koryo and the early Joseon dynasty, gave high praise to Jeonju, naming it the hometown of paper. Jeonju produced papers of the best quality with the Namwon area during the Joseon dynasty period, which were used for the diplomatic documents. It is quite natural for Gyeongguk daejeon, complete code of law in the Joseon Dynasty, to record that Jeonju and Namwon had equally 23 Jijang, paper artisan, which was the highest number throughout the country. Jeonju has continued to be a typical paper-producing center from Japanese colonial rule to the post-liberation times. According to Joseonji encyclopedia published in 1944, Jeollabukdo province had the highest number of inhabitants engaged in paper-manufacturing industry all over the country. To sum up, Jeonju is the most representative paper-making place with the historical background from the Baekje kingdom to the present age.