遊牧ㆍ騎馬民族 靴의 구조적 특성과 유형 연구

Abstract

The origin of clothing set fourth from a larger frame; protection and decoration of the body. Particularly, protection of body has in depth relationship with the natural environment, living condition, and life style. Though specific times, forms, and materials of footwear are unknown, it is recognizable that footwears emerged to protect feet and serve other special purposes related to human survival at specific regions. Thus, it is only natural that the shoes necessary for certain living condition was created and that those shoes were made with the materials available in the region. Normally, presence of ankle shaft based on the tarsal bone, especially, those boots with ankle shaft exceeding the ankle are known to be worn with the purpose to adopt to natural environment such as mountainous terrain, prolonged snow precipitation, equestrian nomadic life style, or desert. Wearing and structural difference of the boots are deeply related to either the terrain of habitation or to their living environment. Thus, this study focuses on the differences, categorizes the form of boots into three types and inspects the structural characteristics and significances using research documents and photographic data.. Type A and similar boots with elevated toe-box originated from the purpose to improve gait performance in mountains, meadow, and desert terrains and from the knowledge of equestrian nomads of the steppe region and their effort to maintain their habitation. Modern outdoor footwear with toe-spring were designed after the boots with elevated toe-box, used by the mountain tribes. Type B and similar boots without elevated toe-box but has a round shape were mainly worn at the regions using stirrups, in which equestrian lifestyle fitted better than the nomadic lifestyle or at the desert areas of the steppe. Type C and similar boots, with upper part of the shoes made out of number of pieces connected together, include boots worn with the traditional official uniform in Korea and China. Since use of leather was limited at the agricultural areas without nomadic lifestyle, there are many instances where fabrics other than leather were used for the shoes upper. These boots were far more fragile than the boots made out of leather and were vulnerable to transformation. Comprising the shoe upper with separated pieces sewn together decreased the vulnerability to transformation and increased the comfort. However, significance of the different number of fabrics in the boots during the progress of transforming into the multi-piece boots with emphasis on decoration elements as the boots with emphasis on functional elements of equestrian nomad were transferred to the China and whether toe-box has been lifted or not are in need of further research.