Gyeonggi Province is publicly recruiting intangible cultural heritage bearers for knot-making masters, casting brassware masters, and bamboo hat rim makers.
On the 6th, Gyeonggi Province announced that it is recruiting holders and transmission instructors of the knot-making master and casting brassware master, which will be newly designated as Gyeonggi Province intangible cultural heritage items by February 2 next year, as well as holders and transmission instructors of Gyeonggi Province Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 51, the bamboo hat rim maker, who is at risk of transmission discontinuity.
The knot-making master and casting brassware master were newly designated at the Gyeonggi Province Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee held in November 2023. Accordingly, the number of intangible cultural heritage items in Gyeonggi Province has increased to 70.
The knot-making master is a person who twists and combines silk threads, dyes them, applies stringing, and then uses them to tie various types of knots and make tassels, possessing such skills.
The brassware master is a person who makes various utensils from brass, with production techniques including bangjja (hand-beaten brass), casting, and half bangjja. The recruitment item this time is the casting brassware master, who pours molten metal into a mold to make desired utensils, not the existing bangjja brassware master.
The bamboo hat rim maker is a craftsman who weaves bamboo split as thin as hair to make the round rim part of a traditional Korean bamboo hat called "gat." Although the item was designated and the holder recognized on June 8, 2010, after the holder, Jang Jeong-sun, passed away on March 5, 2020, there has been no successor, putting it at risk of transmission discontinuity.
A holder refers to a person who has acquired and preserved the skills or arts of the relevant item in their original form and can faithfully reproduce them.
A transmission instructor is a person who conducts transmission education and must have been engaged in transmission activities for more than five years after becoming a graduate of the relevant item.
To become a holder or transmission instructor, candidates must meet criteria such as practical improvement and fidelity to the original form, traditionality of skills, transmission lineage, locality, transmission activities and career, transmission conditions, theoretical knowledge, qualifications as a holder or transmission instructor, residence and activity records in Gyeonggi Province, among others.
Gyeonggi Province plans to recognize holders and transmission instructors after conducting on-site investigations and deliberations by the Gyeonggi Province Intangible Cultural Heritage Committee for applicants.
Park Seong-hwan, head of the Cultural Heritage Division of Gyeonggi Province, said, "We hope that those with excellent qualifications will be recognized as holders and transmission instructors so that Gyeonggi Province's intangible heritage can be well transmitted."
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