Hangul Day

It’s Hangul Day (why is it on October 9?) And as it’s a national holiday there are usually lots of events happening around the country. Of course there’s not much going on in 2020! So I’m sitting at home making this roundup of posts from my blog on hangul-related topics! Read more about the Hangul Museum, Hangul calligraphy, typography, and King Sejong in film and drama.

In this post on The National Hangul Museum read about the rocky history of hangul and see some ‘hangul chairs’.

These days hangul appears in design to signify Korean national identity. In 2018 hangul characters made up the emblem for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics (평창) and a piece of hangul calligraphy was a symbol of shared culture with North Korea.

Ahn Sang Soo is a pioneer in Korean typography. He has developed several well-known and distinctive fonts which often appear in posters and advertising. See some of his fonts and advertising.

CALLIGRAPHY

In this post on the different styles of hangul scripts I find out about the characteristics of two traditional hangul styles. One for printing books, the other for writing with a brush in the royal court. 

In a great exhibition on at the MMCA in Seoul, I learned about the The First Generation of Modern Korean Calligraphers. in this post I look at four calligraphers who worked with hangul. Watch a video of the exhibition as the curator talks us through a selection of the most famous calligraphers from the 20th century. (with English subtitles)

There’s not a huge amount of material in English about Korean calligraphy. So I was keen to get hold of the book Beyond Line. It gives an overview of Korean calligraphy from the original seal script found on turtle shells to contemporary modern work.

FILM & DRAMA

Deep Rooted Tree (SBS 2011) is an exciting murder mystery. It’s set in the 15th century at King Sejong’s court when he was creating hangul.

Forbidden Dream is the story of the fruitful but ill-fated relationship between King Sejong the Great (r.1418–1450) and his famous scientist Jang Yeong-sil.This isn’t about hangul but it gives us an idea of what was going on at that time in King Sejong’s court right before he made hangul public. Actually, the film and drama both star Han Suk-kyu as King Sejong!

King Sejong’s Tomb is set in spacious grounds just outside Seoul. It’s even got a museum in the grounds to commemorate all the king’s achievements! It’s a nice day trip from Seoul!

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For more dramas see the chart of Joseon kings and related historical dramas

Studying Calligraphy at Seoul Arts Centre