▶ Watch the 1-minute version: Before air conditioning, how did Koreans survive summer nights?
What it is
A jukbuin is woven from thin strips of split bamboo into a long, round, open tube. It is hollow and full of gaps. You would not use it as a pillow. You hug it, arms and legs around it, the way some people sleep with a body pillow today.
How it kept you cool
On a humid summer night, a sheet lying flat against your skin traps heat. People would lie down under a thin hemp sheet with a jukbuin in their arms. The tube held the sheet up and away from the body, and air could move through the gaps in the bamboo.
No nails, no string
Jukbuin were woven without string or nails. That was a practical choice: you were going to press this object against your skin all night, so nothing sharp could stick out of it.
A Goryeo "loyal lady"
People in Korea were already sleeping with jukbuin in the Goryeo period, more than six hundred years ago. A late-Goryeo writer, Yi Gok, even wrote a short allegorical tale, Jukbuinjeon (竹夫人傳, "The Tale of Lady Bamboo"), in which the jukbuin is a woman of loyal and upright character. The name stuck: juk means bamboo, and buin means wife or lady.
Six centuries later it is still the simplest answer to a hot Korean night: no electricity, no noise, just bamboo and air.
FAQ
What is a jukbuin?
A jukbuin (죽부인) is a long, hollow tube of woven bamboo that Koreans hugged in bed on hot summer nights. The name means "bamboo wife".
How does a jukbuin keep you cool?
It holds a thin hemp sheet away from the body, so the sheet does not stick to your skin, and air can move through the gaps in the bamboo.
How old is the jukbuin?
Koreans were using it in the Goryeo period, more than six hundred years ago. The late-Goryeo writer Yi Gok wrote "The Tale of Lady Bamboo" about it.
Sources
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Jukbuin" (죽부인, Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Escaping the summer heat" (피서, Korean)
- Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: "Jukbuinjeon" (죽부인전, Korean)
- Photo: e-museum, National Folk Museum of Korea, Minsok 678 (KOGL Type 1)
Written by the Korea in Time team. Each fact above is checked against the sources listed. Found a mistake? Tell us.
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