History of Korean Giwa

Giwa is the Korean word for roof tile. Curved tiled roofs on wooden posts and bracket sets are the most recognisable feature of traditional Korean architecture, from palaces and temples to the tiled hanok houses of the Joseon period.

Origins

Clay tile technology first developed in China. Tiles were used on official buildings in the Chinese commanderies set up on the Korean peninsula after 108 BCE. The Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art states that fired roof tiles became established in Korea in the 4th century along with Buddhism. Before that, and for ordinary houses long afterwards, roofs were thatched; pit houses of the Mumun period had wattle-and-daub walls and thatch.

Three Kingdoms

• Goguryeo palaces in Pyongyang used patterned tiles with ornate bracket systems.
• Baekje (Sabi period, 538-660) produced roof-end tiles with lotus designs, the most popular Buddhist motif of the time. A rafter-end tile from Mireuksa temple, built in the reign of King Mu (600-641), is the earliest known use of green glaze on Korean roof tiles. Baekje craftsmen also carried tile making to Japan in 588.
• Silla sites, notably the Wolji pond (Anapji) at the East Palace in Gyeongju, have produced elegant roof-end tiles.

Ridge ornaments

Large ceramic ornaments called chimi crowned both ends of the main ridge on important buildings and were believed to ward off evil. Unified Silla (676-935) examples from Wolji have a plain body and a strongly projecting rounded spine.

Parts of the roof

• Round roof-end tiles capped the lowest convex cover tiles at the eaves.
• Rafter-end tiles were nailed through a square central hole onto the ends of timber rafters to protect them from rot.
• Lotus patterns with six, seven or eight petals are common, eight being the most frequent.

Later periods

Goryeo (918-1392) and Joseon (founded 1392) architecture refined the bracket systems that carry the heavy tiled roof. A simple bracket system was already used under Goguryeo; a multiple-bracket system developed from the mid-Goryeo period under Chinese influence.