Dorongi — Joseon’s Raincoat

With the monsoon drifting in and out, we present one of our favorite summer objects: the dorongi, Joseon’s raincoat.

The dorongi is a traditional rain cape of finely bundled grass stems, worn draped over the shoulders. Every strand is woven to flow downward, so raindrops slide off along the grain the way rain runs down a thatched roof. With a satgat hat above and a dorongi below, a Joseon farmer was fully armed against the rain. If the galmo we introduced earlier was the rain gear for the hat, the dorongi was the rain gear for the body.

Up close its grain is as fine as a long-fringed textile, and hung on a wall it becomes a great grass-scented wall hanging. The thing that once shed rain now cools the humid air of summer from the wall.

This dorongi was shown last summer at “Hyeongsim (形心),” an exhibition at Le Modular in Yeonnam-dong, Seoul. Beside a concrete column, a modern steel table and rush-seated chairs — hanging under an old signboard — it read less like an antique than a piece of fiber art. It was also the object visitors asked about most.

Few objects style a summer room this well. One dorongi on a white wall lowers the temperature of the space by a notch with its dry-grass texture, and it goes without saying how well it sits with linen, rattan and wood. In monsoon season, hang it by the entryway and introduce it to guests as “the Joseon raincoat” — the conversation takes care of itself.

Dorongi in the Museum Collection

Dorongi from the National Folk Museum’s storerooms. Outside, the stems flow downward to shed rain; inside, they are netted tight. The last image shows that inner weave.

Reference images: dorongi in the National Folk Museum of Korea (KOGL Type 1, attribution). See more via an e-Museum search for “dorongi” (emuseum.go.kr).

The grain that once shed the rain now combs the summer air cool. This summer, try draping a suit of grass on your wall. :-)