Why I Chose a Hanbok Doll Playing Janggu as a Thank-You Gift to Send to the United States

I wanted to say a proper thank-you to someone in the United States. Whenever something unfamiliar came up during the time I spent there, this person was the first to reach out a hand. After I came back, we kept in touch through messenger. But typing out "I was really grateful back then" on a screen kept feeling too light. I wanted to put those words into something tangible and send it.

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I had two worries. One was what to send. Their home in the United States already has plenty of things, and food is a hassle to clear through customs and disappears quickly anyway. The other worry was whether it would survive the long journey without getting damaged.

At first I searched for "thank-you gifts to send to the United States," looked at all sorts of things, and eventually searched for "traditional dolls with international shipping." Something that makes it immediately clear it came from Korea, and something that can be set in a corner of the living room and enjoyed for a long time. The thing that best fit those conditions was a hanbok doll.

Gayageum or Janggu?

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There were more types of dolls than I expected. The first one that caught my eye was 한복인형-가야금[분홍치마] (Hanbok Doll – Gayageum [Pink Skirt]). The gayageum is a traditional Korean string instrument, so it also suited this person who loves music. However, the figure is seated in a playing pose, which makes it fairly wide (31 cm across), and I was worried about whether it would fit in one shelf of their bookcase.

In the end I chose 한복인형-장구 (Hanbok Doll – Janggu). Standing upright at approximately 31 cm tall, 12 cm wide, and 8 cm deep, it is easy to place on a single shelf or in one section of a bookcase. Details such as gold embroidery-style decoration, saekdong (multicolored striped fabric), and maedeup (traditional Korean knotwork) are all present, and because the figure holds a janggu (an hourglass-shaped Korean drum), it shows both hanbok and traditional music in a single scene. The product is made in the Republic of Korea and weighs 250 g, which also made sending it overseas less of a burden.

There was one more reason I chose the janggu. A while back, this person had been watching a video of Korean pungmul (traditional percussion ensemble music) and said, "This rhythm — it feels like my heart is beating along with it." Those words had stayed with me ever since.

Two Lines on the Base

What I actually spent the most time deliberating over was not the doll but the inscription. I felt that sending the doll alone would make it end up as just a pretty souvenir. I searched around for "personalized keepsakes with name printing" and eventually just emailed the shop directly. I asked how much the shipping would be to send the doll in an acrylic case all the way to the United States, and whether there were other options besides EMS, such as sea mail.

I asked them to put the inscription not on the case but on the black base at the bottom. I felt that if there were text on the transparent case, it would catch the eye while looking at the doll. Two lines on the lower right of the front face of the base: the top line with this person's name, and the bottom line with my signature beginning with a word of thanks. In cursive, with the bottom line indented one space so that the commas would be vertically aligned. Looking back, it was quite a fussy request, but I really wanted it to feel like signing a name at the end of a handwritten letter.

Whether inscriptions or cases like this are available can vary by product, so it is more reassuring to ask the shop first before placing an order.

What I Put in the Box Alongside It

I tucked one set of [10장 묶음] 한국의 아침 엽서 시리즈 - 사물놀이 ([Pack of 10] Korea's Morning Postcard Series – Samulnori) in beside the doll. Samulnori is a traditional Korean percussion ensemble featuring the buk (barrel drum), janggu, kkwaenggwari (small gong), and jing (large gong), and the illustrations of these instruments playing together made a fitting pair with the janggu doll. I planned to write a short letter on one card and thought the rest could be shared with the people around them when talking about Korea.

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The Day It Arrived

About ten days after sending it by EMS, I asked the shop where it had gotten to, and the reply came back that delivery had already been completed. That evening, a photo arrived from this person. The box was open on the living room table, and a hand could be seen lifting the case.

"The writing on the base — is this printed? I thought you had written it yourself."

They said they had traced the two lines on the lower right of the base with their finger. Then they pointed at the janggu and asked, "Is this the drum from back then?" — so I spent a good while explaining that it is an instrument called a janggu and that its defining feature is its narrow waist. Apparently it is now standing on the eye-level shelf of the living room bookcase.

When it comes to sending a gift to a faraway person you are grateful to, I think two things have to come together. Something that will stay in that home for a long time, and one line of my own words placed within it. If the doll showed Korea, the two lines on the base conveyed my feelings in its place.

This account is based on an actual purchase; individuals and organizations have been anonymized and some scenes have been reconstructed.