The History and Social Status of Korean Shoes at Your Feet

“You can tell a person by the shoes they wear”

• How shoes reflected ancient views of the afterlife
• How Joseon-era shoes represented strict social hierarchy
• The revolutionary meaning of rubber shoes for equality in Korean society

The history of Korean shoes is a grand narrative that goes beyond mere protection, embodying the wearer’s social status, life, and the spirit of the times. In the Joseon dynasty, the meeting of a scholar wearing delicate Taesa-hye (太史鞋) and a farmer wearing dirt-stained jipsin (straw shoes) silently revealed the gap in social status. Shoes were the clearest indicator of the wearer’s identity.

This article traces the traces of our history engraved at the feet, from the golden shoes of Silla to the Joseon social hierarchy and the rubber shoes that embraced everyone’s feet equally.

Three Kingdoms Period: Golden Steps Toward the Afterlife

The most magnificent shoes in our history were made not for the living but for the dead. The gilt-bronze shoes (金銅神發) found in royal tombs of the Three Kingdoms period were sacred ritual items illuminating the soul’s path to the afterlife rather than this world.

Symbol for the Dead, Gilt-Bronze Shoes

About 56 gilt-bronze shoes excavated so far have been found only in the tombs of the highest elite. Their most notable feature is that they were made so that one could not actually walk in them. Thin gilt-bronze soles studded with long nails made walking impossible in reality.

This clearly shows that gilt-bronze shoes were purely symbolic funeral items for the journey after death, not for earthly life. Their exclusive presence in the tombs of supreme rulers proves they symbolized absolute power wishing to extend their reign into the afterlife with gold and exquisite craftsmanship.

Cosmic Map for the Soul, Symbolism of Patterns

The patterns on gilt-bronze shoes were not mere decoration but a cosmic map for the soul. Intricately engraved were hexagonal patterns resembling turtle shells (guigapmun, 龜甲文), dragons (龍), phoenixes (鳳凰), and lotus flowers.

The combination of these symbols served as a “cosmic navigation” guiding the soul’s path.

• Hexagonal pattern: longevity, immortality, cosmic order
• Lotus: purity and rebirth (Buddhist meaning)
• Birds: messengers connecting earth and heaven
• Dragon and phoenix: absolute royal authority

Thus, gilt-bronze shoes were powerful talismans proclaiming that the deceased’s soul was destined to be reborn into eternal life under the protection of sacred animals.

Goryeo and Joseon: Society Divided by Footwear

While shoes of the Three Kingdoms pointed to the afterlife, those of Goryeo and Joseon strictly reflected the present social order. Especially in the Confucian social hierarchy of Joseon, shoes were among the clearest dress codes defining one’s social position.

Shoes of the Ruling Class: Symbols of Authority and Leisure

• Hwa (靴): Tall boots mainly worn by male officials with their official robes. They symbolized state-sanctioned power.
• Taesa-hye (太史鞋): Low-necked shoes made of leather or silk, with elegant curves and decorations clearly indicating the wearer was a ruling class who did not perform manual labor. I was quite surprised to learn that a pair of Taesa-hye once cost as much as a sack of rice.

• Danghye (唐鞋) and Unhye (雲鞋): ‘Flower shoes’ for noblewomen, made of the finest silk embroidered with elaborate patterns. Their delicate and impractical form shows that their feet were objects of admiration rather than transportation—almost like works of art. This hints at how restricted women’s lives were at the time.

Shoes of the Common People: Tools for Survival and Practicality

• Jipsin (straw shoes): The most common footwear woven from rice straw, durable only about a month. They embodied the harsh economic reality of the common people.

• Mituri: Made from hemp or paper strings, sturdier than jipsin, mainly worn by middle-class people or travelers.
• Namaksin (wooden clogs): Shoes carved from logs, worn on rainy days. The nickname ‘ddalkkakbari’ (from the clicking sound) came to refer to poor scholars who had to wear wooden shoes even on clear days because they couldn’t afford leather shoes.

Comparison of Joseon-Era Shoes by Social Status

The Rubber Shoe Revolution: Modernization and Democratization of Footwear

The most dramatic change in Korean shoe history was the advent of ‘gomu-shin’ (rubber shoes). This black, rough footwear instantly broke down centuries-old social hierarchies marked by shoes. Imagine living in an era when only jipsin were worn—how would you have felt seeing rubber shoes for the first time?

The rubber shoe era began in 1919 with the founding of the Daeryuk Rubber Company. Initially a luxury item, their durability and waterproof qualities made them a symbol of modernity and very popular.

Mass production lowered prices, making rubber shoes the standard footwear for the entire nation. This brought a tremendous ‘democratizing’ effect to Korean society. The era when one’s social status could be read from their shoes ended. Shoes that once reinforced social classes became tools for dismantling them.

Moreover, the idiom “wearing rubber shoes backward” symbolizes changes in relationships between lovers awaiting military service, becoming a cultural symbol reflecting collective experiences of an era.

Conclusion

Shoes are mirrors reflecting the times. The history of Korean shoes reveals the path our people have walked.

• Three Kingdoms gilt-bronze shoes: embodied hopes for the afterlife and the ruler’s authority.
• Joseon shoes: Taesa-hye and jipsin defined the strict social order from the feet up.
• Modern rubber shoes: broke down social barriers and put the value of equality on everyone’s feet.

Thus, these small objects at our feet are precious historical materials compressing the ideas, structures, and changes of their eras. Next time you visit a museum, why not take a moment to look at the old shoes quietly standing among the splendid artifacts? You might discover the true history of our ancestors who walked step by step on this land.