Kind · By use
Book wrapper
The cloth book bundle schoolchildren tied across the shoulder or round the waist before school bags, into the early 1970s.
- Made of
- Cotton
A cloth for wrapping and carrying books. Through the twentieth century it was the schoolchild's satchel, tied over the shoulder or round the waist.
History & tradition
Korea, mid 20th century (post-1945 to early 1970s)
After liberation, when bags were scarce, schoolchildren wrapped textbooks, notebooks, pencil case and lunchbox in a cotton cloth, biggest books first, sometimes closing it with a safety pin. Recollections say boys slung it diagonally across a shoulder and girls tied it round the waist; leaking kimchi from the lunchbox is a stock memory. Plastic cloths came next, then two-strap school bags, and by the early 1970s the 책보 had largely disappeared.
Now a nostalgic image of postwar school days, recalled in essays and a 2013 picture book.
End date varies by region; namu.wiki says 'until the early 1970s'.