Han’gul, the Korean alphabet, is one of the greatest treasures to Koreans around the world. It was developed more than five hundred years ago by a team of Korean scholars during the reign of King Sejong the Great (1418–1450) of the Choson dynasty. It has been called one of the most scientific writing systems in use today in any language.

hal-ah-buh-jee (grandfather)

Koreans speak a unique language, different from Chinese, Japanese, and other languages of East Asia. Throughout centuries of close ties between Korea and China, however, many written and spoken Chinese words have been introduced to Koreans and incorporated into their language. Long before han’gul was developed, difficult Chinese characters provided the only tools for writing. Even today, Chinese ideographs are sometimes mixed with han’gul in Korean textbooks, newspapers, and magazines.

At the time when King Sejong decided that the people of Korea should have their own system of writing, Korean scholars were immersed in studying classical Chinese histories, poetry, and religious texts. But because learning Chinese required long years of study, only the most highly educated people, usually men of the wealthy yangban class of landowners, were able to read and write. It was the hope of King Sejong that all Koreans would one day be able to express themselves through writing letters and verses, and enjoy reading scriptures in their own language. While the goal of widespread literacy in Korea has been reached only in the past century, Korea’s king set forth this ideal long ago.

Today, han’gul is used much as it was originally devised. It is a phonetic system comprising fourteen consonants and ten vowels. Words are written in syllables as they sound, unlike written Chinese, in which an individual character can represent an entire word or thought. While han’gul letters may resemble the brushstrokes of Chinese characters, their forms are designed to mirror the shapes made by the human mouth, tongue, and throat when uttering these sounds. For example, the symbol. for the letter "k" or "g" depicts the angle of the tongue blocking the back of the throat. Han’gul may be written vertically from top to bottom in columns, which are then read from right to left. It is also common, however, to see han’gul written horizontally from left to right in rows, just as we read and write in English.

Calligraphy is the art of the written word. In places such as Korea, China, and Japan, this art has been practiced for centuries using brush and ink. It amounts to far more than just "good handwriting," as great calligraphers can use the elements of line and space to create visually captivating and emotionally expressive compositions. Sometimes the result is a powerful work of art.

The ability to read and write was a very special skill in the past, available to only a privileged few. Great calligraphers would have been celebrated as much as great painters and poets, and the greatest of artists would have excelled in all three art forms. In Korea, training in calligraphy was part of an upper-class gentleman’s education, along with learning the Chinese classics. Calligraphers would have worked in Chinese characters, but examples of han’gul calligraphy attest to a distinct tradition. Brush, ink, inkstone, scrolls, books—all these tools of traditional learning and scholarship can be found in the sarangbang, or men’s quarters, of Grandfather’s House!