A Humble Hat and Clogs: Why Memorial Rites for Su Shi are Held in the Middle of Winter

By Kim Woollim, Curator, Chuncheon National Museum

Su Shi 1037–1101 , also widely known as Su Dongpo 蘇東坡 , is a rather special figure who, despite being neither a saint nor an emperor, has been widely revered for more than a thousand years to this day as the subject of varied images and stories. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a sort of rites were held to mark Su Shi’s birthday on the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month and this practice spread throughout East Asia. As his birthday falls around the time of the winter solstice (around December 22), considered to be the end of the year, sometimes it was celebrated instead on the day marking the onset of spring (around February 4), considered to be the start of the year. In East Asian literati society of the nineteenth century, Su Shi’s birthday was a special occasion when the old year was sent out and the new year welcomed.

“A hundred years is a moment, a thousand years goes like a dream; The hours of a summer day are so very long; Take life at a leisurely pace for there’s no reason to rush.”

As Lee Eun-sang 1903–1982 said in his poem “Travel to the Red Cliffs 赤壁遊 ,” published in 1934, Su Shi, through his eternal masterpiece “Ode on the Red Cliffs 赤壁赋 ,” has captivated the hearts of intellectuals in China, Korea, and Japan for about a thousand years Fig.2. The classical image of Su Shi is that of a genius poet traveling by the Red Cliffs on the Yangtze River under the moonlight. This trip took place on the sixteenth day of the seventh lunar month and on this day members of the literati would hold a “red cliff meeting” in memory of Su Shi as a magnanimous man who loved people and poetry and song, an image embellished with literary imagination Fig.1. In the same way the artistic elegance of the so-called “Elegant Gathering in the Western Garden 西園雅集 ” hosted by the son-in-law of the emperor, which Su Shi is said to have attended, is summoned in association with the poet to create yet another image of him Fig.4.

In the eighteenth century, production and distribution of images of Su Shi took a new turn. This is related to the rites held in memory of Su Shi on his birthday, that is, his memorial day rites, which were first held in 1699 by Song Luo 1634–1714 and carried on and developed further by Weng Fanggang 1733–1818 . In contrast to previous gatherings related to Su Shi focused on drinking and the enjoyment of poetry, calligraphy, and painting, the gathering for such memorial day rites involving the burning of incense and bowing was by nature formal and reverent in mood. Moreover, as the season of Su Shi’s birth is the middle of winter, it is very different to the season for the outing to the Red Cliffs in summer. Paintings in the birthday rites are set against a solemn, cold, and snowy background and hence of an entirely different character to paintings of a summer gathering in a lush, wide open landscape.

The image of Su Shi reflected in paintings of his memorial day rites is therefore different to previous images freely created with literary imagination. It stresses accuracy based on historical evidence rather than creative inspiration, in the endeavor to find the true image of Su Shi as a person. A popular painting from this time is Dongpo in a Humble Hat and Clogs 東坡笠屐圖 , depicting him during his time in exile on Hainan Island. One day at his place of exile Su Shi was caught outdoors in the rain, so he borrowed a bamboo hat and clogs at a nearby farmhouse and hurriedly made his way home. The village women and children laughed at the sight and ridiculed him, and even the neighborhood dogs came to bark at his door. Though he had degenerated into a figure of fun for the village women and children and even the dogs, Su Shi, far from laying blame on anyone or growing angry, seems to have been rather aloof and said he did not know why people were laughing at him. This story about the most difficult and wretched point in his life was reborn as a legend that vividly portrays his great spirit and noble character, shining brilliantly in the midst of despair.

Paintings of Su Shi’s memorial day rites were introduced to Joseon in the early nineteenth century through tribute missions. Later, notable figures such as Shin Wi 1769–1847 , Kim Jeonghui 1786–1856 , and Jo Huiryong 1789–1866 held memorial rites while in exile themselves, identifying their own unhappy fates with that of Su Shi and internalizing their yearning for the noted poet, writer, and statesman. For them, the story of a man in a humble hat and clogs was not simply the story of one intellectual from faraway China that took place 800 years ago but an event closely identified with their own situation in exile.

The National Museum of Korea’s Su Dongpo in a Humble Hat and Clogs 蘇文忠公笠屐像 is typical of the paintings of Su Shi that were hung up for his memorial day rites Fig.5. With the right hand holding onto the hem of his coat and the posture of his feet indicating forward movement, the painting encapsulates the scene of Su Shi making his way through the rain and mud in borrowed hat and shoes. Unlike Chinese paintings of the same scene, however, in this Korean painting there is little realistic depiction of the despairing mood and shabby appearance of a man caught in such a situation. Rather, the easy manner with which he runs his hand over his beard and the deep look in his eyes as he turns his head to the left and looks over his shoulder at the distant sea as the rain rushes in convey the skill and experience as well as the spirit of a great old man who lived a turbulent life. This rather artificial modeling and unrealistic, immortal-like appearance aroused empathy among reclusive scholars who knew all about exile and political ruin and the fleeting nature of power. Indeed, this was the special quality of Joseon-style paintings of Su Shi in a humble hat and clogs, which consoled government officials who were constantly exposed to political tension and had to accept the fact that they too could be exiled at any time with changes in the court.

It is said that the true value of the greenness of the pine tree isonly recognized in the depths of winter, and in the same contextthe “humble hat and clogs” painting represented the spirit ofa great man who remained unbeaten under hardship, like thespirit of a tree in the harsh cold of winter that does not lose faithin the coming of spring. Hence it is not in the midst of summerbut the cold of winter that incense is burned and rites held inhonor of Su Shi. By memorializing political ruin and the miseryof exile, the “humble hat and clogs” painting rather reveals SuShi’s superhuman character, and in this respect was a work withlayered contexts like Christian art in which the cross is an icon for resurrection Fig.3. The paintings of Su Shi in a humble hat and clogs that would have been hung in every home on the nineteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, the middle of winter, reflected the yearnings and resolutions of the literati to nurture a great spirit that does not bend under suffering.