Chilling with a Bamboo Mistress
Written by Cho Namhee
The most troublesome part of summer is the fact that it brings a long period of “tropical nights.” Oftentimes, this season makes you feel apologetic for running fans or the air conditioner all night long. However, you still have to keep them going; otherwise, the heat will never let you sleep. Since the Korean summer temperature has not abated over the centuries, it is worth learning how our wise Korean ancestors managed to get quality sleep throughout the summer nights. Remarkably, the secret was to have an extra wife (or spouse) – that is, a nonhuman one, made of bamboo.
A “bamboo wife” or jukbuin (죽부인) is a body-length pillow, a woven tube of bamboo strips, with open spaces between the strips. It has traditionally been used in much of East Asia to alleviate the summer heat. “Dutch wife” is a similar term used in Western cultures; however, this often refers to more modern types of devices or even human-like figures used on other sultry occasions. (I will leave this to your imagination.)
The Korean term is a combination of juk (죽, meaning bamboo) and buin (부인, meaning wife), and it shares its etymological origin with similar terms used in other East Asian languages. It was called a “wife” because it was about an armful in size and because men mostly cuddled them in summer instead of their wives. Interestingly, this was in part the reason why sons could not inherit their father’s bamboo wives. There were also heat-busters available for women. They were called jukno (죽노), which was a combination of juk (bamboo) and no (servant). They were a bit smaller than jukbuin and limited to the wives of wealthy families. (You are free to fanaticize further.)
Most “bamboo wives” are machine-woven nowadays, but since there are more convenient technologies available, the bamboo heat-busters are a rarity these days. Ironically, only members of the wealthy nobility could afford this sleeping aid. It was handcrafted and required high-quality bamboo that had to be grown, stored, and processed meticulously. Only the best one-year-old bamboo was selected, and since twelve fine strips of the bamboo surface were used in the process, only one to two bamboo wives could be made at a time. Most importantly, only bamboo of the highest quality – such as that found in the Damyang region of Jeollanam-do – was used in the production.
Damyang, the county neighboring Gwangju, produces high-quality bamboo products, including “bamboo wives.” There are also a number of workshops for making bamboo goods in the local area. If you get a chance to go, check out a bamboo wife and feel how “cool” they can be! Best of all, no guilt feelings attached!
The Author
Cho Namhee, an over-zealous sports fan, is a free spirit who calls Gwangju home. He studies communications at Chonnam National University and works for the 18th FINA World Championships, Gwangju 2019.