---
node: garment_dopo
type: garment
slug: dopo
title: "Dopo"
lead: "The dopo is the wide-sleeved outer robe of the Joseon scholar, cross-collared and belted with a sash, with a distinctive extra panel hanging down the back. It was what a Confucian gentleman put on to leave the house."
published: 2026-08-18
updated: 2026-08-18
---

## Overview

It crosses left over right at the chest, ties inside and out, and falls to the ankle with deep open sleeves. Its recognisable feature is at the back: an added panel called the jeonsam hangs from the waist over the rear vent, so the robe reads as closed from behind while the sides can still be walked in. Ramie and hemp were used in summer, silk in winter, and plain white or pale blue was the scholar's colour.

## How it is worn

It goes over the jeogori jacket and baji trousers, closed with the inner tie and then the outer, and held by a wide sash, the sedado, knotted at the front or side. A gat, the horsehair hat, completes it; without the hat the outfit was not considered dressed. Because the sleeves are wide and the skirt full, the wearer moves deliberately, which was read as the physical form of Confucian self-restraint.

## History

The dopo appears in the mid-Joseon period and becomes the standard outdoor dress of yangban men, worn to the academy, to visits and to ancestral rites. The 1884 dress reform tried to abolish wide sleeves in favour of narrow ones and met organised resistance, because the sleeve was a political statement about Confucian order. It survives in Confucian ceremony, in the clothing of some Korean religious groups, and in period drama.