Collected Essays 2: The Secret of Silla's Gold Crowns

By Kim Dong-ryul · Original publication: September 25, 2024

English translation · Original: https://gujoron.com/xe/notice/1639925

Just as I recently settled the longstanding dakdoritang debate, I have now resolved the gold-crown controversy. My point is that Koreans seem determined not to use their brains. Historical dramas usually show swords worn incorrectly. Their quivers also omit the most important arrow: the whistling arrow used for signaling.

They wear the gat incorrectly, too. A manggeon, the woven headband, is not meant to cover the forehead. It keeps stray hair in place; the gat conceals the topknot. The manggeon should be tilted back as far as possible. Just as neither the manggeon nor the gat should cover the forehead, a gold crown should not cover it either.

If you do not understand, visit a museum. The various controversies about Silla's gold crowns arise because people do not know why a gat was worn. A king tied his hair in a very high topknot and wore a gold crown to conceal it. Look at the headwear worn by the Japanese emperor at his enthronement. It never covers the forehead.

Original image 1: https://gujoron.com/xe/files/attach/images/198/493/613/001/2019102215.jpg

This is not a hat pulled down over the head. It is placed on top and tied with cords. It may look as though it could fall off, but this is how a crown is properly worn.

Original image 2: https://gujoron.com/xe/files/attach/images/198/493/613/001/789.jpg

This is wrong. Does it not look ridiculous? More decisively, pressing it down this way is extremely uncomfortable.

Original image 3: https://gujoron.com/xe/files/attach/images/198/493/613/001/921938a8-2297-48a0-a613-4d91f1494a83.jpg

The hanging ornaments of the Hwangnamdaechong crown obstruct the view. The thick ring blocks the wearer's sight. It is very uncomfortable. Gold crowns normally have two hanging ornaments; this one has six because the crown from Hwangnamdaechong's northern mound was for a woman. It was intended to cover the face, like a woman's veil.

The claim that gold crowns were used to cover the faces of the dead is especially absurd—like imagining a body buried wearing a gat. Is that not childish? The people making such claims probably have “professor” printed on their business cards. KBS even broadcast this absurd idea on History Special.

“History Special: The Gold Crown Was a Death Mask,” broadcast September 22, 2000.

What nonsense. Please, people, develop the habit of using your brains for at least three minutes a day. Married men and women wore their hair up. Kings and queens who never cut their hair therefore needed tall gold crowns to cover it.

Original image 4: https://gujoron.com/xe/files/attach/images/198/493/613/001/371px-%EA%B3%A0%EC%A2%85_%EC%9D%B5%EC%84%A0%EA%B4%80.jpg

The king's ikseongwan, the winged official crown, does not cover the forehead either.

Original image 5: https://gujoron.com/xe/files/attach/images/198/493/613/001/EEbmioBUUAAsKEi.jpg

Press it down like this and you look ridiculous. Though, of course, what would Song Kang-ho know about it?