Korean Intangible Cultural Heritage

Kayagum Production Technology

Pyongyang, July 29 (KCNA) -- The kayagum production technology is the traditional one of making kayagum, a string instrument peculiar to the Korean people.

Kayagum invented by gifted musician Uruk in the early 6th century is a wooden and rectangular musical instrument. It is a zither-like string instrument.

In kayagum, the letter ”gum” is a term used in ancient times to refer to the rectangular instruments, which is also called "go" in Korean.

In an old book, kayagum was described as kayago.

The body of kayagum was made of paulownia, and in the Koryo period, its soundboard was made of paulownia and its back panel was made of chestnut.

In the period of the feudal Joson dynasty, several sound holes symbolizing the sun, moon and clouds were arranged in harmony on the back panel of kayagum, and the number of strings, which had been twelve, was also increased to thirteen.

The kayagum production technology has been handed down for a long time through a process of change but it has not been changed in main. The number of its strings has been increased to nineteen from thirteen, and nowadays it is twenty one. Its range was further expanded and it has been developed to make it easier to tune.

The kayagum production technology was registered as a national intangible cultural heritage in April 2017. -0-