Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 335
Episode 335: Fashion Revolution (3)
At some point, high-heeled shoes began to become popular in Joseon.
At first, boot-shaped shoes were the trend, but soon, flat-shaped shoes also began to appear.
The people of Joseon, who were clearly more relaxed than before the start of the ceremony, began to pay attention to decorating themselves little by little.
In addition, the mindset of the government officials who ran Joseon, starting with King Sejong, also became considerably more flexible.
No, it wasn’t just that their way of thinking became more flexible.
Through the purge just before the Gyeongjang, the senior ministers who had to pay attention to the king were swept away, and the number of noblemen who were picky was drastically reduced due to the Giyu Rebellion, making them pay less attention.
-Joseon’s national policy is Neo-Confucianism.
-According to the teachings of Neo-Confucianism, luxury is a shortcut to ruin and is an evil that must be eradicated.
-However, there is nothing we can do about it because there is a certain physical appearance that a nobleman must have.
As those with a way of thinking that could be called ‘the height of double standards’ were ousted from the ranks of power, King Sejong and his ministers were able to respond flexibly to change.
* * *
As ‘height-increasing shoes’ became popular, changes began to occur in men’s attire.
It all started with the military.
Because the response was good, the new military uniforms proposed by Hyang immediately began to be supplied to the entire army.
Soldiers and officers who became accustomed to the new uniforms and boots soon began to try their hand at the uniforms.
“Who did you say is the best at sewing in the village?”
“What about sewing? Where was it torn? “If that’s the case, if I do it…”
Chun-shim, who was answering her husband Il-sik’s question with a sour face, soon opened her eyes and glared at Il-sik.
“What? Are you saying that I can’t sew? Big breasts like that? This guy really…”
“That’s not it…”
Ilshik hurriedly made an excuse, but it was too late.
That day, Ilshik and Chunsim had to have a huge fight.
Soldiers who received military uniforms had their uniforms repaired by leaving them with their wives or at a house known for being good at sewing.
The military uniform pants that were repaired in this way were significantly reduced in size.
Hyang’s newly designed military uniform had a much reduced width compared to the existing Hanbok pants, but the pants that had been repaired had an even smaller size.
The combination of tight pants and military boots showed off her slender legs.
The soldiers’ show of style did not end there.
Unless they were worn out and exchanged, boots had to be purchased for money at a military-only retail store of each territory or camp – PX or Veterans Affairs stores in the 21st century.
At that monopoly, soldiers purchased spare military boots, and a strange phenomenon occurred: cavalry boots were sold in huge quantities.
Military officers and soldiers in branches other than the cavalry wore designated boots when training or on duty, but when going out on vacation or going out, they always wore shortened pants and cavalry boots.
This was the same for the navy.
This phenomenon was immediately written up in a report and brought up to the top.
“Not only are you tampering with the clothes given to you by His Highness the Lord, but you are also wearing military boots other than those designated… Don’t you think you should be punished?”
When high-ranking commanders who read the report argued for punishment, the village opposed it.
“no. You need to check the words properly. It is not a gift, but a national supply. It’s not a gift. And all I did was shorten my trousers and wear different combat boots. It is the same as spearmen tinkering with their greatswords and gunners tinkering with their long guns.”
“… I understand.”
Because I remembered something I had experienced once before, I created an item called ‘national supplies’ and put military uniforms and boots in that item.
By making it a ‘supply’ rather than a ‘giveaway’, the same thing was prevented from happening again.
And as time passed, a funny thing happened.
High-ranking commanders of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff Headquarters also began walking around wearing shortened trousers and cavalry boots.
* * *
New clothing that imitated the stylish attire of soldiers began to become popular among the civilian population as well.
Those who did not yet have the financial means to wear work clothes as their going out clothes wore loose-fitting trousers and jeogori like before.
However, men from families who could afford to wear separate clothes for going out walked the streets wearing jeogori (jeogori) and durumagi (durumagi) that accentuated the shoulders and waist lines, trousers with shortened legs, and high-heeled shoes.
Unusually, this trend did not start in Hanseong, but was occurring almost simultaneously throughout the country. But as expected, Hanseong was the most radical.
High-heeled shoes with a fitted durumagi. And black lip made from horsehair began to become popular during the mid-Taejong era.
There was Cha Il-kyung in his eyes and a fan in his hand.
Hyang muttered softly at the sight of the young nobleman bowing as he walked leisurely, showing off his best style.
“Are you a hipster in Hanseong?”
Hyang smiled slightly as she looked at that and continued speaking.
“When winter comes and trench coats come out, things will change again.”
Hyanghyang, who arrived at Area 51 while imagining future fashion changes, was just going out and muttered softly when she saw the pants of the soldiers bowing.
“Let’s not go all the way to Jokkini or Kotuktu…”
It was a fragrance that was carrying out a clothing revolution through such bold attempts, but it was not moving forward easily in one place.
The wall blocking Hyang’s steps was a ‘topknot’.
* * *
“For hygiene reasons, topknots should be eliminated.”
In history before the intervention of incense, if the ‘short hair order’ implemented by King Gojong was a symbol of westernization and modernization, incense was for the purpose of hygiene.
“Hygiene is hygiene, but how annoying is this!”
Hyang, who has a 21st century way of thinking and hygiene, takes frequent baths and washes his hair.
Of course, the court ladies came and helped him every time, but his messy hair was always uncomfortable.
Therefore, Hyang began to prepare thoroughly.
“Please bring me statistics on various infectious diseases that have occurred in the internal medicine clinic.”
“yes? “Everything?”
“entire.”
“… Yes, Your Majesty.”
After receiving orders from the local government, the Naeui-gwan loaded a cart full of statistical data from the Naeui-won and returned to the Eastern Palace.
A few days later, the governor ordered the eunuch again.
“This isn’t enough. Go to the Ministry of Finance and Economy and get statistics on infectious diseases.”
“… yes.”
Hyang carried out the entire process of organizing and analyzing data alone.
“It would be easier to entrust it to someone else, but it is certain that there will be strong opposition from within. “If you do it wrong, you may get stuck before you even start.”
Hyang was worried about what might happen and proceeded with everything on her own for the first time in a long time.
However, the rumor quickly spread through internal officers and researchers at the institute.
-The Crown Prince is doing something with statistics on infectious diseases!
-I do not entrust the work to anyone and carry out the work alone!
Everyone in the government paid close attention to the rumors coming from the East Palace and the research institute.
Of all the things I’ve done so far, there wasn’t a single one that was light. However, the work that Hyang carried out alone had a huge impact.
The cowpox vaccination campaign started with a self-inflicted uproar and led to the ouster of senior ministers, including Ryu Jeong-hyeon.
An announcement of political views that broke the balance between King Sejong and the senior ministers.
Tax reforms that put pressure on local noblemen and eventually led to rebellion.
The ministers, who were well aware of the enormous ripple effect caused by the work carried out by Hyang alone, looked at the East Palace with very nervous faces.
Sejong was also so nervous.
“Are you not telling this father what you are doing now?”
“I’m sorry, Abama. “Please wait a moment.”
“I trust you, but I’m worried.”
“… sorry.”
Sejong’s face hardened at Hyang’s answer.
“Seeing that you keep saying sorry, I guess it’s not normal. i get it. “First of all, don’t wait.”
“thank you.”
* * *
Ten days later, Hyang began his presentation at the gathering of King Sejong and all the ministers.
Hyang hung the royal chart brought by the naeguan on a rack, bowed to King Sejong, and then bowed lightly to the ministers.
“For the past 15 days, I have been doing analysis based on statistics from the National Assembly and the Ministry of Finance and Economy. So, to start with the conclusion…”
Hyang paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and continued.
“We petition to implement the short hair order for our Joseon men.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Hyang turned the sign of the chart backwards. The cover was turned over and the newly revealed paper had the words ‘short hair rule (斷髮令)’ written in large letters.
“Short hair order?”
King Sejong and his ministers looked at the Chinese characters for Danbalyeong written on the first page of the chart and racked their brains to figure out its meaning.
The first to speak was Sejong.
“If you say the short hair order for men in Joseon… does it mean getting rid of the topknot?”
“yes.”
“It’s impossible!”
“It’s impossible to buy back.”
At Hyang’s words, the ministers all shouted in unison.
Lee Jik came forward as the representative of those ministers.
“The topknot has been worn since ancient times in Gojoseon. “A topknot is not just about growing one’s hair; it is about announcing that one has become a saint. Getting rid of it means getting rid of a deep-rooted tradition that has been around for thousands of years, so it is absolutely impossible.”
The ministers nodded at Lee Jik’s words.
Hyang immediately responded to Lee Jik’s words.
“How can I not understand the weight of this time-honored tradition? However, the benefits gained by changing the tradition are greater than those gained by maintaining the tradition.”
Hyang, who passed the paper with his pointing stick, continued his explanation.
“The table and function diagram you see now record the number of infectious diseases and the number of infected people throughout Joseon from the first year that Abama came to the throne to last year. As you can see, it is decreasing.”
“It all happened because of His Majesty the Lord’s virtue.”
“It’s cancer.”
Hyang nodded in response to the ministers’ answers.
“That’s right. Since Abamama is of high virtue, it is thanks to him that the people followed his commands. As you can see, the number of outbreaks and infected people has decreased significantly as drinking water has been thoroughly managed and hygiene management, including bathing, has been thoroughly implemented. However, we still continue to see significant outbreaks of infectious diseases.”
“Shouldn’t that be viewed as an unavoidable force majeure?”
Hyang shook his head at Lee Jik’s point.
“no. During this analysis process, we found out something about the people living in Hanseong. A considerable number of the people were bathing more frequently than before, but not their heads. The reason was that it was annoying to take off the topknot and then put it back on.”
“Does it seem far-fetched that topknots are the source of infectious diseases?”
“no. When I asked people from the West, they said that the devastating Black Death was spread by fleas that lived on rats and became parasites on humans. “Where on the human body is the most infested with lice and fleas?”
“Head…”
“That’s right! It’s the head! The way to get rid of head lice and fleas is cleanliness, and the easiest way to stay clean is to wash your hair often. But if you can’t wash your hair because your topknot gets in the way, shouldn’t you get rid of the topknot?”
Sejong intervened in Hyang’s words.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to order him to wash his hair more often?”
“If it had been an order, it would have been rolled up often already. And isn’t it possible to appoint someone to monitor whether the people wash their hair properly?”
After that, a war of words continued for a long time, but King Sejong and the ministers still did not give up their opposition.
The arguments of King Sejong and the ministers were as follows.
-It is a tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years. No matter how much it is said to be a hygiene issue, the people will strongly oppose it.
-The people think that people without topknots are unscrupulous people like fire fighters. I will never accept the order to shorten my hair.
In the end, after a heated war of words, King Sejong came to the following conclusion.
“The topknot is a tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years, so it cannot be eliminated carelessly. However, since there are clear hygiene issues, we recommend washing your hair more often.”
“I follow your orders.”
‘If it were the era of imperialism, there would be justification for using it a little more. Countries that are doing well can claim that they have all made a short cut, but that is not possible now… It is a pity. Sigh!’
It was the scent of surrender as it whetted one’s appetite.