This study is about the meaning of wooden brackets that are distinctive elements of wooden architecture in Korea, Japan, and China. Existing studies about wooden brackets have been limited to the boundary of formalism, so the object of this study is to make a breakthrough in the field of those studies. The Wooden brackets in this study are considered to be decorative elements, and the principles of their design are examined. The specific subject of the study is wooden architecture with Jusimpo-styled brackets that have brackets only on pillars. The definition of Jusimpo is reexamined first, and ChulMok-Ikkong which has not been regarded as a Jusimpo-styled wooden bracket is interpreted as Jusimpo-styled one in this study. Categorized into three types, Jusimpo is examined how it is expressed according to the type of the roof in a building. In view of the results, the wooden bracket system is an effective technique to express the formality, and two designing principles can be seen in Jusimpo; one that wooden brackets observed externally are standardized and regarded as the same ones, and the other that the style of wooden brackets used in the most formal building is Yi-ChulMok. These designing principles mean that the carpenter who was in charge of building the architecture had certain principles when expressing wooden brackets as well as the roofs according to the class of the architecture. In addition, although the styles of wooden brackets that were used in the most formal architecture during the Chosun period were mostly Dapo, Jusimpo in the form of Yi-ChulMok was also adopted in some temples depending on their scale, and that means Jusimpo-styled wooden brackets were never considered to be inferior to Dapo-styled ones. And this point leaves the argument that the reexamination of Jusimpo-styled wooden brackets which have been regarded as the style used in the attached building or small structures since the Choun dynasty should be conducted.

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