[The unheard Stories about Ojuk : The Origins] Chapter 3. Ojuk, Considered as a Sacred Bamboo

3 Jan 2022


As we have seen through the origins of Ojuk, it is said that it is a plant of self-renewal, because it is to be born. Ojuk symbolizes loyalty and filial piety man, because it grows and die by itself in a place where the soul of loyalty stands. Therefore, Ojuk is consider to be sacred.


Ojuk did not directly use as a material unlike nowadays. For this reason, Ojuk craft had only the symbolic meaning behind it. Ojuk color and feel was expressed on the ordinary bamboo. It was used as a material for the Ojuk crafts.


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<Unlike the past, Ojuk is now being used as a material for crafts. Craftman Choe Seonhui’s Ojuk button work>      ⓒ Gongyeedam



It is said that the production technique gradually developed to express bamboo like the Ojuk. 


The representative techniques are as below.

_Yumjuk is by dyeing bamboo to produce a Ojuk-like effect or making patterns.

_Nakjuk is a technique to draw a picture by ironing bamboo with pharynx soldering iron.

_Banjuk technique is to add bamboo pigments, to make pattern, and then drying it.



bd0d2ed0869a4.png<Jukjang double story long table (19th Century): A relic created by using a ‘Banjuk’ technique in which bamboo skin turns brown by applying chemicals >  ⓒEwha Womans University Museum


It is said that Ojuk, which was used as a material for crafts as the spiritual culture, but as passed down to modern times the scaredness declined away.




This story of Ojuk, Considered as a Sacred Bamboo is based on the story of Gongyeedam’s [Ojuk Collection].

From the successor of the 15th Intangible Cultural Heritage of Seoul, Choe Seonhui

You can listen for yourself through the link below.