Insadong

Insadong is a community in Seoul that is supposed to be artsy and traditional and more for tourists.  It was hard to find the traditional for me.  I saw lots of the usual fare, but a lady in my group who is only here for a few months did her research and allowed me to tag along.  One of the first places we went to was a museum that specialized in funeral ornaments.

This is the Mokin Museum.  Mokin refers to carved wooden human figures.  Yongsoopan is the name of the ornament that attaches to the front and rear of a bier.  A bier is a movable frame that carries a coffin.  The word yongsoopan literally means dragon-shaped board.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            These yongsoopan would be attached to the ends of the bier.  Some of them were quite ornate.                                                      

Ancient hunting decoys.                                     

The top of the mokin museum had a small garden with these figurines out.  It was a beautiful summer day.  

We went to a shop were traditional Korean paper making or hanji was sold.  The artist has been making hanji and things from this paper for 50 years.  His granddaughter-in-law was in the shop and showed us many beautiful pages of paper.  It is made from the bark of mulberry trees and is very strong.  She had hats, necklaces, all manner of things made from this paper.  It is beautiful and light and strong.

I enjoyed visiting Insadong but not sure what the big deal is over the area.  I'll have to go back and explore some more.