Koreana Autumn 2000 (English)

Vol. 14 , No. 3 Autumn 2000

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BEAUN OF KOREA

Traditional Spools

When Koreans discuss the three basic human needs-clothing, food and shelter-clothing is most frequently mentioned first. In traditional Korean society, sewing skills were a must for women along with weaving skills.

During the reign of King Yuri of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 935), girls were taught sewing from an early age. According to Yeosasecr eonhae, a book published during the reign of King Yeongjo of the ]oseon Dynasty (139?-1910), whereas boys should play on a table with marbles, girls should play under the table with spools.

This demonstrates the importance of sewing for women at that time.

Needles, thread, and spools have been used ever since people began sewing in ancient times.

Spools came into use to prevent thread from getting tangled and knotted. They were originally

made from twigs, tree branches or animal bones shaped into simple rectangles with extruding ends or concave sides.

According to shamanist beliefs, thread, which can seem endless, is a symbol of good health and longevity. This symbolism was significant to ancient Koreans, such that they sometimes placed spools on a baby's first birthday table and used them as ties on a baby's clothing.

Early rectangular spools became more elaborate in shape and design in the late Joseon Dynasty. During this period, spools for upperclass women were embellished with carved floral designs and inlaid mother-of-pearl.

Korean women made spools into something more than a utilitarian item by artistically transforming them into things of beauty. +

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Cover: Korea boasts a large number of museums, both national and privately operated. There are also numerous specialt y museums encompassing everything from medicine, tea, paper, cosmetics, communications, furniture and clothing to Christianit y, calligraph y, fo ssils, gramophones and sericulture.

In this issue KOREANA takes an in-depth look at several of the outstanding museums that shed much light on Korean culture and aesthetics. On the cover is an embroidery work of Chinese characters and symbols for longevity and happiness. ,

Editor's Note

Heretofore, KOREANA has used the modified McCuhe-Reischauer system to romanize Korean words. Beginning with this issue, however, KOREANA will use the new Romanization System for the Korean L1nguage, as fom1ally adopted by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Korea on July 4, 2000.

KOREANA Internet Website With the inauguration of the Korea Foundation's home page on the World Wide Web, on-line access to its publicanons is possible wfth abstracts of KOREANA features along with photographs.

Please visit our Internet website at: http1AYww.kofo.or.krlkoreana/index.html © 11Je Korea Foundation 2000 All rights reseJVecl. No pmt of dlis publication may be reproduced in any fonn leViC.hoU£ c.he prior pennission of 71J(: Korea Foundation.

l11e opinions expressed by the authors do not necessariJy represent those of the editors of KO REANA or The Korea Founcbtion.

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Specialized Museums

0 N T E

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s

4 An Overview of Specialized Museums '

Kim Quae-jung

18 TheMuseum ofKorean Embroidery · Gewn Key-soak TongdosaMuseum · Shimjae-ryong OnggiFolkMuseum ·Lee Young-ja Cheongju Early Printing Museum · Kim Moon-h wan Gangjin Celadon Material Museum · Choi Sun-il SukJoo-SunMemoria!Museum ·Park Sung-sil, Koh Bou-ja GongjuFolkDramaMuseum · Sim Woo-sung Agricultural Museum· Kim Hwang-yaung ChamsoriEdisonMuseum ·Han Myung-hee Bokcheon Museum · Ha Byung-um

40 Festivals in Korea Kim Seung-hyeon

48 TRADITIONAL ARTISAN

Ornamental Knot-making Maedeup Master Chung Bong-sup Lee Hyoung-kwon

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Classification

By Items on Exhibit

General Museums ¡ General Museums are those that collect and exhibit materials encompassing a broad spectrum of subjects, such as the Smithsonian Institution of the United States. In Korea, the National Museum, Incheon and Busan Municipal Museums, Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, Jeju Folkcraft and Natural History Museum, and Hoam Art Museum fall under this category.

Specialized/Special Museums Specialized/Special Museums collect and exhibit objects in one or two specific fields. In keeping with modern social trends that are becoming ever more segmented, diversified and specialized, more specialized museums are now being established. Museums specializing in a specific subject area were either establis,hed for a special purpose, or the items on display are distinctively different from others. The public often refers to museums that display unique objects as yisaek, "unique" museums. Nowadays,

there are also museums referred to as "theme" museums. The terms "special museum" and "theme museum" are often used interchangeably with specialized museum. Although the more proper term is specialized museum, there is no practical difference among these designations.

Special museums in Korea encompass a diverse range of areas: medicine, ancient books, magazines, embroidery, cosmetics, tea, clothing and dress ornaments, agriculture, postal services, forestry, railways, textbooks, education, lighthouses, bambooware, irrigation, beer, kimchi, straw, brassware, communications, ceramics, design, pottery, furniture, Buddhist art, finance, and banking. Others specialize in modern clothing, money, education, horses, land, transportation, commerce, lamps, snow skiing, phonographs, coal, ancient printing, foil\: drama, sericulture, paper, fossils, pears, masks, shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, Roman Catholicism, calligraphy, children, photography, film, lotteries, pre-historic culture, books, Latin American and African cultures, and

European ceramics. The Sejong the Great Memorial, Patriot An Jung-geun Memorial Hall, Yi Sun-sin Memorial Museum, Monk Seosan Memorial Hall, Yun Bong-gil Memorial Hall, and Gosan Memorial Museum should also be included in the category of specialized museums as they were established to commemorate historic individuals.

Those specializing in a particular event, such as the Independence Hall and War Memorial of Korea, should be included in the specialized museum category as well.

By Founder

National Organizations Museums founded and managed by organizations affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism include The Royal Museum, National Maritime

Hoam Art Museum (top),Jeju Folkcraft and Natural History Museum (above)

Buyeo National Museum

Gangjin Celadon Material Museum

Museum, Yi Sun-sin Memorial Museum, and National Music Museum. The Ministry of Information and Communication founded and manages the Postal Museum and the Communications Memorial Hall. In addition, the Korean National Railroad operates the Railway Museum while the Korea Forest Service manages the Gwangneung Forestry Museum and Jinju Forestry Museum, the Ministry of Education the Textbook Museum, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade the Diplomatic Museum.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs oversees the Archives Museum, the Seoul Metropolitan Government the Police Museum, and the Pohang Regional Marine Police the Janggigap Lighthouse Museum.

Public Museums Public museums include the Hanbat Education Museum, Mungyeong Saejae Museum, Gangneung Ojukheon Municipal Museum, Boryeong Coal Museum, Seoul Education Museum, and Cheongju Early Printing Museum.

As for provincial museums, these include the Gangwon Provincial Folk Museum, Jeollanamdo Folk Museum, Jeollanam-do Yeongsanho Tourism & Agricultural Museum, Jeju Education Museum, and Mireuksa Temple Museum, while county museums include the Damyang Bambooware Museum, Naju Pear Museum, Gangjin Celadon Material Museum, and Yanggu Prehistoric Museum.

Public Corporation Museums There are also museums that are both public and private in nature, somewhere in between public and private museums. They are different from public museums and private museums founded by private concerns in the way that they are managed. Key examples are the Korea Correspondence

8

Museum and Chungnam Electric & Correspondence Museum, both managed by Korea Telecom. Other such museums include the Currency Museum founded and managed by the Korea Minting & Security Printing Corporation, the Textbook Museum founded and managed by the Korea Educational Development Institute, the Taebaek Coal Museum founded and managed by Korea Coal Corporation, and the Land Museum founded and managed by Korea Land Corporation. The Equine Museum operated by the Korea Racing Association can be also included in this category.

Special Corporate Museums Among the museums or memorial halls established by incorporated associations are the Sericulture Museum founded by the Korean Society of Sericultural Science, the Sejong the Great Memorial, Patriot An Jung-geun Memorial Hall, and the Korean Magazine Museum founded by the Korean Magazine Association. Those founded by special-purpose corporate entities include the Medical Museum at Seoul National University Hospital, the Independence Hall of Korea, which was created pursuant to the Independence Hall of Korea Law, and the Global Village Folk Museum, which was established under the Tourism and Culture Promotion Law. Among the museums established with donations from individuals or businesses are the Hansol Paper Museum founded by -the Hansol Foundation of Culture, and the Hwajeong Museum set up by the Hahn Foundation for Culture.

Museums Established by Clans The Korean Buddhist Art Museum established by the Gwon clan of Andong, Gangreung Seonkyojang Folk Museum, and Gosan Memorial Hall established by the Yun clan of Haenam belong to the category of museums established by clans.

Museums Established by Religious Organizations . The Tongdosa Museum, Jikjisa Museum, Sudeoksa MusetJm, and Catholic Jeoldusan Martyrs' Shrine are museums established by religious organizations.

Private Corporate Museums The Handok Medico-Pharma Museum was established by the Handok Pharmaceutical. Co. in 1964 as Korea's first corporate museum. Other museums established by corporations include the Pacific Cultural Museum, the Agriculture Museum founded by the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Ski Museum of Korea by the Dae Young Alps Resort, Peeres Ami Museum by the Peeres Co., Pulmuone Kimchi Museum by Pulmuone, Samseong Museum of Publishing by Samseong Publication Co., Cho Hung Bank Museum by Cho Hung Bank, Shinsegae Commercial History Museum

by Shinsegae Department Store, Hansol Paper Museum by Hansol Paper Co., Samsung Children's Museum by Samsung Business Group, Jungmun Folklore Museum by Jungmun Tourist Fishing Village, Gacheon Museum by Gil Hospital, Seoul Design Museum by Han Saem, Gyung-Bo Museum of Paleontology by Gyung-Bo Co., Lottery Ticket Museum by Housing & Commercial Bank, Samsung Traffic Museum by Samsung Motors, and Sinyoung Jeju Movie Museum by Hanju Heungsan.

One characteristic of private corporate museums is that they have access to an abundance of human and material resources related to their

gather items which were being kept by va.t·ious relatives, but she drowned in the West Sea, together with the items, when she was forced to return by boat upon finding all surface roads blocked off.

After the evacuated government returned to Seoul, Kim donated about 7,000 items in his collection, including two National Treasures and two Treasures, to his alma mater, Soongsil University, which established the Korean Christian Museum.

partictilar field. They also serve as a means for businesses to return part of their corporate profits to society. Many of these museums provide free admission to the public as a public relations gesture.

Private Museums Private museums founded and managed by individuals are introduced under a separate category later in this a.tticle.

Brief History Period o£ Awakening

Korean Christian Museum Kim Yang-sean opened the Korean Christian Museum in 1948 and managed it for two yea.t·s until the outbreak of the Korean War. The museum was established on privately owned land within the compound of the Shinto Palace on Mt Namsan built during Japan's colonial rule of Korea Korea's first museum specializing in Christianity, it was closed after the Korean War. Many of the items that had been exhibited in the museum were not removed from harm's way during the war. The founder's wife went to Pyeongyang to

Handok Medico-Pharma Museum The Handok Medico-Pharma Museum was established by Kim Shin-kwon, founder of the Handok Pharmaceutical Co., as the first corporate museum in Korea. Kim began to collect materials after he visited the Apoteke Museum in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1957, which very much impressed him. He opened the museum in Sangbong-dong, Jungyang-gu, Seoul, on the occasion of the lOth anniversary of the company's founding in 1964, and named it Handok Pharmaceutical History Hall. On display at the museum are about 7,000 items related to the medical and pha.t·maceutical history of the Orient and West, including six Treasures designated by the governm~ as well as ancient medical books, medical instruments, and herbal medicine ingredients. The museum moved into a new building with a floor space of 2,833 squa.t·e meters in 1974 and changed its name to Handok MedicoPharma Museum. It was again relocated to a new building with a floor space of 39,600 square meters in Eumseong-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do province in 1996.

The Museum of Korean Embroidery Huh Dong-hwa (pen name Sajeon) and his wife opened the Korean Embroidery Museum on the second floor of the Eulji Hospital's dental office at Euljiro 3-ga in 1969. The couple had been collecting pieces of traditional embroidery since the early 1960s, fascinated by its beauty. They also began to focus on collecting bojagi, wrapping 9

Onyang Folk Museum

cloths, for their exceptional symmetry and craftsmanship, which also exemplified a spirit of frugality and utilitarian aesthetics. Their collection began to attract public interest after the introduction of color TV and photographs that were able to do justice to the magnificent colors of the embroidery and bojagi The museum has contributed greatly to promoting Korean "women's culture" to the world by presenting some 20 exhibitions abroad, including an opening exhibition at the Tokyo Cultural Center in 1979, an embroidery exhibition commemorating the centennial anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and Germany held at the Keramison Museum in Cologne, Germany, an exhibition marking the centennial anniversary of the establishment of Korea-Britain relations held at the Victoria & Albert Museum in Britain, as well as a special exhibition presented at the Korean Cultural Center in Paris in 1984. The founders have also written .a number of books on embroidery, bojagi and women's culture. The museum moved into a beautiful new building in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul in 1991. (see 18 page) Period oÂŁ Growth The period from 1971 to the 1980s was an important time in the history of museums in Korea. The Korean Popular Museum Association, a consultative body of private museums, was inaugurated, the Museum Law was enacted,

10

and a number of unique and noteworthy museums were established during this period.

Seong-am Archives of Classical Literature Korea's first museum specializing in books, the Seong-am Archives of Classical Literature opened in 1974 within the Taeseong Building on Taepyeongno,Jung-gu, Seoul, occupying an area of about 198 square meters. The museum focuses on ancient books, prints, letter types, and wood-printing blocks that curator Cho Byeong-sun (pen name Seong-am) collected during his lifetime. The founder first began to collect ancient books, letter types and seals when he was in his forties. At the time, he had been searching through secondhand bookstores to find a book entitled Dongmunseon, which 'contains a collection of writings by King Seongjo, and began to collect old books and documents, now numbering about 70,000, when he found them being sold at ridiculously low prices. The museum has a large number of valuable books on Korean history and literature as well as bibliographies. About 20 of the items have been designated National Treasures or Treasures.

Pacific Cultural Museum Suh Sung-whan, founder of Pacific Chemicals Co., established the Pacific Cosmetics History Museum as part of the company's Sindaebang-dong factory in Seoul in 1979, with a collection of mainly cosmetic items and ¡accessories for women that he had collected since the early 1970s. When the company began to commercialize traditional Korean tea products, he also began to collect tea-related materials and established the Tea Cultural Hall in 1981, and changed the name of the museum to Pacific Cultural Museum. It currently houses and exhibits about 7,000 items, which have been shown at special exhibitions at the National Museum of Korea and provincial museums, and also

in Japan. In 1997, the museum, which focuses on the study of cosmetics, ':\'omen's life and tea culture, was relocated to Yongin, Gyeonggi-do province.

Period of Development The period from 1981 to the 1990s can be called an age of prosperity for Korea's private museums. The Museum Law was enacted in 1984, and a subdepartment for museums was established under the Office of Cultural Properties the following year. When seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games, the National Museum of Korea moved to the former Japanese colonial headquarters, and after the heavy inflow of visitors from around the world during the 1988 Seoul Olympics, Korea started to turn more attention to the preservation of its traditional culture. With renewed interest in traditional culture, the National Museum of Korea began holding a series of . exhibitions on the nation's indigenous culture, which continued through a seventh exhibition in 1991. The Ministry of Culture was inaugurated at that time, and the first Culture Minister Lee 0 Young enacted the Museum and Art Gallery Promotion Law that envisioned establishing 1,000 museums throughout the nation, while significantly easing the registration standaJds for museums.

Suk Joo-Sun Memorial Museum Suk Joo-Sun, a renowned authority on the history of Korean traditional clothing and ornaments, first began to collect objects related to historical documents when she was teaching the history of Korean costumes at Dongduk Women's University and Sejong University. Over the course of some 40 years, she collected about 8,000 costumes, accessories, h yungbae, or embroidered works for the front and back of official uniforms, official hats, and bags, ranging from those used by the king down to commoners. She donated her entire collection to Dankook University, which opened the

Suk Joo-Sun Memorial Museum in May 1981. The museum has since played an instrumental role in the study of the history of Korean clothing and ornaments. (see 30 page)

Taejeong Folk Museum The Taejeong Folk Museum, established by Kim Chang-mun (pen name Taejeon,g) in Jinju, Gyeongsangnamdo province in 1982, was originally called ¡ the Furniture Ornaments Museum. It mainly exhibits locks and feldspar, used as ornaments on Joseon ¡period furniture. It moved to its current location in 1985 and its name was changed to Taejeong Folk Museum. The founder, who owned a shoe store, happened to see a junk collector passing by one day, with feldspar piled up high on his cart. He thought it was a shame that such beautiful artifacts were being sold as scrap metal, and began to collect them. There are some 200,000 items in the museum's collection.

Dongjin Irrigation Folk Museum In Gimje, Jeollabuk-do province is Byeokgolje, Korea's first manmade reservoir built in 453 during the Baekje Kingdom. The Dongyang Farmland Improvement Cooperative opened the Dongjin Irrigation Folk Museum nearby the reservoir in 1983. It was the nation's first museum specializing in irrigation, and the first to be founded by a cooperative. The cooperative was established during Japan's colonial rule of Korea.

The management and 11

.'

employees of the cooperative began to collect irrigation equipment and farm tools beginning in the 1970s. There are about 1,500 articles on display in the museum, which is used to educate the general public about Korea's farming culture and irrigation facilities.

Mok-A Buddhist Museum

Mok-A Buddhist Museum

Haegang Ceramic Art Museum

The founder of this museum is Park Chan-soo, a wood-carver who received the presidential award at the 1989 Traditional Handicrafts Competition.

After first opening in 1990 as an exhibition hall focusing on traditional handicrafts, in 1993 it was officially opened as a museum, and named after the founder's pen name Mok-A. The main hall is built with 1,080 red bricks that are decot ~ ated with Buddhist-related numbers and text, such as Geumganggyeong, (Vajra Sutra). Park was designated -Human Cultural Asset No. 108 in 1996, ironically an especially symbolic number in Buddhism. In addition to Buddhist sculptures carved by Park, a variety of other related items are also exhibited

Haegang Ceramic Art Museum The Haegang Ceramic Art Museum opened in 1990 in Icheon, a renowned center of ceramics in Korea. Yoo Kwang-yeol, son of Yoo Keun-hyeong (pen name Haegang), a distinguished ceramist who succeeded in re-creating the color of traditional Goryeo celadon, established the museum. The museum has been instrumental in reviving Goryeo celadon, arguably one of Korea's best-known cultural legacies, by collecting and exhibiting a diverse range of celadon ceramics and shards of ancient pottery. It has also contributed significantly to the study of Goryeo celadon.

The square meters in area, with two underground floors and 12

one aboveground floor. On the first floor, celadon ceramics are classified by type and era. It also offers an overview of the production process. A room devoted to commemorating Haegang and his work is also found on the first floor. Celadon pottery, including Goryeo celadon, ]oseon white porcelain, and other relics are displayed on the second floor.

Seonkyojang Folk Museum The Seonkyojang Folk Museum is located at Seonkyojang, a traditional upper-class residence in Gangneung built by the 11th descendant of Prince Hyoryeong more than 200 years ago.

This museum is unique in that it exhibits traditional everyday utensils, clothing and books that were used by the same family for generations. With Ojukheon and Gyeongpodae nearby, the museum attracts many tourists visiting the region.

Dongbang Brassware Museum Yi Hui-jae, who collected brassware for more than 30 years in Itaewon, Seou~ opened the Dongbang Brassware Museum in 1984. This specialized museum only exhibits brassware that has been used in the everyday life of Koreans from the ancient past through today.

Gosan Memorial Museum The Gosan Memorial Museum, located in Haenam-eup, Jeollanam-do, hometown of the Yun clan of Haenam, opened in 1986 in Nokudang, the former .residence of Yun Seon-do (pen name Gosan), who left many literary classics.

Because it had been burglarized several times, the museum opened a new, 376square-meter hall in 1991, with a partial subsidy from the county. The museum has about 4,600 items in its collection, including one National Treasure, and three Treasures.

Agricultural Museum The Agricultural Museum was estab-

lished in the former cooperative building on Chungjeongno, Jung-gu, Seoul in 1987, five years after the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation began to collect and preserve agriculture-related items. It is a special museum that exhibits a collection of items related to the history of

Korea's agriculture. It comprises six exhibition halls, categorized by time period, from the prehistoric age to the present An interesting feature is the exhibition on future agriculture and dairy farming.

The museum attracts many students as it is situated in a convenient location, and also presents in a systematic manner a wide range of information on farming, most of which is unavailable elsewhere. (see 34 page)

ing the museum's collection. The museum presents the histoty of Korea's horse racing of more than 70 years, while also providing a look at the various ways that horses have been used since the Three Kingdoms period, as well as a variety of riding gear and accessories, and horse paintings.

Pulmuone Kimchi Field Museum The Pulmuone Kimchi Field Museum was founded by the Pulmuone Co. to promote Korea's famous dish The museum uses utensils, drawings, documents and photographs to describe the histoty and evolution of kimchi It also features various kinds of kimchi and their ingredients along with re-creations of kimchi from each region of the country.

The museum was first opened in Pildong, Seoul, in 1986. It was then relocated to the COEX complex in Samseongdong, Seou~ around the time of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, when it changed its name to the Myeongga Kimchi Museum After its official registration as a museum, it was renamed the Pulmuone Kimchi Field Museum, after the name of its founding company. The museum is conveniently located and thus attracts many visitors.

Tongdosa Museum Every building at Tongdosa Temple, built by Monk Jajang during the reign of Queen Seondeok in 646 B.C., is a museum in its own righ~ befitting the temple's ancient history. The museum opened within the temple grounds in 1987.

Before its opening, curator Go Junggwang worked to consolidate the fmmdation of the museum His successor and current curator Kim Bum-ha also devoted about 10 years of preparation to the relaunch of the museum as Korea's largest religious museum in 1999. (see 21 page)

Peeres Ami Museum The Peeres Ami Museum opened in 1989 within the Peeres building in Chungjeongno, Seoul, for the display of items that the cosmetics producer had collected over the years. It was the second museum specializing in cosmetics in Korea, following the Pacific Cultural Museum The 231-square-meter exhibition hall is noted for its attractive layout and display.

Equine Museum The Korean Racing Association opened the Equine Museum in Gwacheon to commemorate the 1988 Seoul Olympics, as well as to study and promote the development of equine culture. The first curator Yi Gang-chil put great efforts into gathering and develop-

Shamanism Museum Geondeulbau, located in Daebongdong, Jung-gu, Daejeon, has been used by shamans since ancient times for the performance of shaman rites. The Shamanism Museum was opened close to the site on March 3, 1990, with a collection of objects related to shamanism 13

and fortune-telling, such as props and costumes, paintings, statues of gods, and amulets. Gwak Dong-gweon and his son collected all the items.exhibited in the specialized museum over more than a decade. The museum is housed in a 634-square-meter remodeled private residence, which includes exhibition halls on the first and second floors.

Samseong Publishing Museum Kim]ong-kyu, chairman of Samseong Publishing Co., opened the Samseong Publishing Museum in 1990. Its collection features a printing of the Goryeo Tripitaka Koreana and numerous books printed with metal type that are designated National Treasures and Treasures.

Its 100,000-piece collection includes the first textbooks used in Korean schools, along with magazines, seals, ancient books, and stationery items.

Ski Museum of Korea The Alps Resort opened the Ski Museum of Korea at the ski resort on Mt. Seorak, Goseong, Gangwon-do. The museum contributes to the development of ski culture and the continuation of traditional sled production technology through its exhibition of traditional sleds and hunting equipment used in winter in the mountains of Gangwon-do province. The museum attracts many tourists and skiers visiting the Seorak region and the East Coast.

Each year when the winter ski season begins, the museum holds an exposition and demonstration on sled riding, complete with traditional costumes.

Cheongwon Broadcasting Museum Yu Byeong-eun (pen name Cheongwon) established the Cheongwon Broadcasting Museum with some 2,000 articles he collected during the more than 30 years he worked in the broadcasting industry. The museum is part of his residence in Banpo-dong, Seoul.

Take-off Period During the period 1991-1999, many 14

more museums and art galleries were established after the stringent Museum Law ¡was replaced with the Museum Promotion Law. Thus a wide variety of private museums and art galleries were established across the nation during this period of rapid development.

Korean Magazine Museum The Korean Magazine Association opened the Korean Magazine Museum in 1992 with a display of about 4,700 magazines and related items in several rooms encompassing 380 square meters on the second and third floors of the association's building in Cheongjindong, Jongno-gu, Seoul. The museum introduces the history of magazines in Korea with displays of the Great

Chamsori Edison Museum Architect Son Sung-mok opened the Chamsori Phonograph & Audio Museum in Gyeongpodae, Songjeongdong, Gangneung, in 1993, with displays of all types of radios, phonographs and audio systems he personally collected.

The museum includes an exceptionally large number of phonographs and other items invented by Thomas Edison, making its collection comparable to that of the Edison Museum in the United States. Unfortunately, the exhibition space is not large enough to accommodate its entire collection. The museum presented an acclaimed special exhibition during the Sokcho World Tourism Expo. (see 36 page) Museum of Korean Indigenous Straw & Plant Handicrafts The Museum of Korean Indigenous Straw & Plant Handicrafts specializes in the by-products of agricultural society, such as objects of daily use made with straw, barley and wheat. The founder and curator In Byeong-seon opened the

joseon Independence Association Bulletin, the first magazine to be published in Korea, the first issues of other magazines such as Boys, and magazines published by the ethnic KoreanChinese community in China. The museum has staged a number of special exhibitions, including a display to mark the centennial anniversary of the publication of magazines, and a book fair commemorating the sixth centennial of the designation of Seoul as the capital of Korea. The museum annually celebrates November 1 as Magazine Day in honor of the publication of

Boys.

museum in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, in 1993, exhibiting some 2,000 objects which she had collected over 20 years while roaming throughout the nation.

The museum also features a comprehensive exhibition of women's accessories and ornaments as well as folk religion objects. The exhibits include straw shoes and hats, everyday articles, and mats and sacks used in rural areas.

The museum also holds various exhibitions on straw bags, barley and wheat straw.

Korea Modern Clothing Museum Sin Hye-sun established the Korea ]'vlodern Clothing Museum in Namsandong, Seoul, in 1993. The museum offers an overview of the development of clothing in Korea, from before Western clothing was introduced to Korea to the present day, as well as the development of Western-style clothing in the nation.

About 150 of the 1,000 articles on display are designer clothing items actually worn by celebrities.

Centro Cultural De America Latin Museum Lee Bok-hyong and his wife, who lived in Latin America for many years as a diplomat, opened the Centro Cultural De America Latin Museum in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do; in 1994. The 990square-meter museum includes displays of ancient earthenware, stoneware, masks and other indigenous cultural items from Mexico and neighboring countries, as well as artifacts from the Maya, Inca, Indian and Spanish civilizations. The outdoor exhibition of sculptures, which covers an area of about 2310 square meters, features works by Latin American sculptors. It is a unique museum that only exhibits the folk crafts of Latin America, a region with which most of the general public is quite unfamiliar.

There is also a Latin American Cultural Center, focuing on the study and disemination of Latin American culture, including food. The Centro Cultural De America Latin Museum is among the most noteworthy museums in Korea.

Shinsegae Commercial History Museum The Shinsegae Commercial History Museum opened in 1995 on the grounds of the Shinsegae Logistics Training Center in Yongin, Gyeonggido. The. museum occupies two floors totaling 709 square meters in area. The museum is equipped with state-of-theart video facilities to show the development of commercial retailing, from

ancient primitive society to modern capitalism. Photographs, products and other objects are used to describe commercial development in Korea. The displays include models of early peddlers, photographs of the Dajeon Yangyeong Market, as well as the traditional markets in Jeonju, Pyeongyang and Ganggyeong, Suwon, the Chilpae Market of South Gate, and wood markets. There are also commercial ledgers, banking records and materials about currency development and modern cash dispensing cards, the development of packaging, commercial advertisements, early department stores and all kinds of tools and equipment used for commercial retailing.

Korean¡Furniture Museum The Korean Furniture Museum, founded by Jeong Mi-suk in Seongbukdong,- Seoul, includes a collection of about 2,000 pieces of traditional Korean furniture, classified by region, type and material. The founder has been collecting furniture for more than 30 years.

Each piece of furniture is displayed to show the way it would have been used. A larger size traditional Koreanstyle house is currently being constructed nearby to house the museum, which is scheduled to open in 2001.

Onggi Folk Museum Lee Young-ja opened the Pottery Folk Museum in Ssangmun-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul which displays the pottery works she collected over the years. The museum features a 2,000piece collection, with about 500 works being displayed inside and outside the building. The museum also holds pottery workshops for students during their vacation. (see 24 page) Sericulture Museum The Korean Society of Sericultural Science opened the Sericulture Museum in 19% to mark the 70th anniversary of its founding. The museum exhibits all kinds of tools related to sericulture as

well as photographs, graphs and tables, to introduce the history of sericulture from the past to the present, including the process of producing silk from silkworm cocoons.

Hahoe Mask Museum Hahoe Mask Museum

Korean Lamp Museum

The Hahoe Mask Museum, which is located nearby Hahoe village of Andong, was established by Kim Dongpya in 1996. Fifteen types of masks designated either an Important Cultural Asset or Provincial Cultural Asset as well as 550 masks from 15 countries are displayed in the 297-square-meter exhibition hall. The museum is a popular destination for many visitors as it is located nearby Hahoe village, a. major tourist attraction. It also conducts maskmaking classes for children, and occasionally holds outdoor theater performances.

Korean Lamp Museum Khn Dong-hwi, a doctor by profession, opened the Korean Lamp Museum specializing in lamps, candlesticks, brass mirrors, and lamp holders, in the suburbs of Yongin, Gyeonggi-do. About 200 pieces of earthenware from the Three Kingdoms period, brassware from the Joseon period, and porcelain lamps are on display, all of which Kim collected over his lifetime, to introduce the history of the development of lamps and candlesticks in Korea.

Gongju Folk Drama Museum Folklorist Sim Woo-sung opened the Gongju Folk Drama Museum in Cheongnyong-ri in Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do province, i'n 1996.

Various types of dolls and other objects used in Korea's traditional folk drama are on display in its exhibition rooms, which total 660 square meters in area.

The museum hosts the Asian Mono Drama Festival every September. (see 32 page)

Sukbong Ceramic Museum ]o Moo-ho, a ceramist specializing in the production of large ornamental ceramic murals, opened the Sukbong Ceramic Museum in 1997. It is located in Yeoju-gun, Gyeonggi-do. His son Jo Won-hyuk now manages the museum, which focuses on ceramics dating from the Goryeo Dynasty to the present. The museum also includes a kilri and offers classes in making ceramics.

Hansol Paper Museum Korea's first museum specializing in paper, the Hansol Paper Museum opened within the Hansol Paper Co.'s Jeonju factory in 1997. The museum exhibits hanji, traditional mulberry paper, together with all types of objects related to the production and use of paper. The museum encourages visitor participation by allowing them to try 16

their hand at malting mulberry paper in the traditional way, or creating paper handicrafts.

Galchon Mask Museum Yi Su-ja and Yi Do-yeo! opened the Galchon Mask Museum in 1996 in Goseong-eup, Gyeongsangnam-do, an area renowned for Goseong Ogwangdaenori, "Play of the Five Clowns." On display are about 800 items, including 20 Goseong Ogwangdae masks and 300 masks from various regions designated Cultural Assets. The museum also features an outdoor performance area for mask dance performances, an outdoor exhibition of jangseung (spirit posts), and a workshop where the museum's founders produce masks and jangseung.

Gyung-Bo Museum of Paleontology Kang Hae-jung, president of GyungBo, opened the Gyung-Bo Museum of Paleontology, Korea's first museum specializing in fossils, in 1996 on the east coast of Yeongdeok, Gyeongsangbukdo. About 1,500 fossils that Kang collected over the years are on display. Fossils of animals and plants from about 20 countries, including Korea, are classified by type and period.

Dongsan Porcelain Museum Lee Jeong-bok, a pediatrician in Daejeon, opened the Dongsan Porcelain Museum in 1997 to exhibit porcelain and related objects including earthenware, stoneware, crockery, celadon, and white porcelain. Lee founded the museum with the goal of promoting children's understanding of, and interest in, Korea's traditional culture.

Shinyoung Cinema Museum Shin Young-kyun, a former actor and parliamentarian, opened the Shinyoung Cinema Museum in Namwon-eup, Jejudo, in 1998. The museum specializes in the history of Korean movies, and displays all kinds of items related to film, and film production equipment.

Korean Photo Museum 0 Gang-seok opened the Korean Photo Museum in Guui-dong, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul in 1998 to display all types of cameras, lenses, and auxiliary photography equipment, as well as other objects related to photography.

Art Museum of Africa Designer Han Jong-hun opened the Art Museum of Africa in Daehangno, Dongsun-dong, Seoul, in 1998. The museum displays African woodcrafts, including masks and sculptures of female figures that Han collected while visiting Africa or purchased through overseas antique dealers. The museum is especially popular with young people.

Samsuog Children's Museum The :Samsung business group opened the Sa'msung Children's Museum in Songpa-gu, Seoul, in 1998 to stimulate children's creativity and promote research and problem-solving skills by providing hands-on interactive exhibits.

The museum also offers a variety of programs, including drama classes, puppet plays, art, and science. It is Korea's first children's museum founded to promote a healthy family culture through enhanced interaction between parents and their childJen.

Celadon Museum The Celadon Museum, established by Jung Hong-taek and his wife in 1998, specializes in European celadon. The couple use their home in Pyeongchangdong, Seoul, to exhibit about 1,000 pieces of outstanding European celadon ceramics from the 17th to the 20th century. The collection includes many celadon pieces by Meisen of Germany and Royal Copenhagen of Denmark, some of which the couple bought through auctions at Christy's.

Youngwol Book Museum Pak Tae-hon established the Youngwol Book Museum in Yeongwol, Gangwon-do in 1999. The museum specializes in books, while focusing on ancient books and school textbooks used since Korea's independence from Japan. The museum hosted the 2000 Yeongwol Book Fair in May. Yeoju Sericulture Museum Park Jae-myong opened the Yeoju Sericulture Museum in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do, in 1999. It introduces the history of sericulture in Korea, with exhibitions of silkworms and cocoons, folkcraft articles related to sericulture, folk paintings, and ancient books on silk production.

Chojun Textile & Quilt Art Museum Kim Sun-hui (pen name Chojun) opened the Chojun Textile & Quilt Art Museum in Namsan-dong, Seoul, in 1999. The museum exhibits knitted products from Europe and the United States, textiles and quilted works. It also presents special exhibitions of textiles from around the world twice a year.

Hwajeong Museum Hahn Kwang-ho (pen name Hwajeong), head of Beringer-Ingelheim, opened the Hwajeong Museum in Itaewon, Seoul, in 1999. The museum held the Tibet Art Exhibition to mark its opening. + 17

• SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS

Utilitarian·Aesthetics Reflected in Multicolored , Patterns and Embroidery

he Museum of Korean Embroidery displays the traditional Korean beauty embodied in bright multicolored patchwork wrapping cloths and brilliant five-color embroidery. Located in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, the museum is a splendid cultural venue where embroidery on various items of clothing and ornaments as well as patchwork wrapping cloths are permanently displayed and the world of traditional Korean colors can be viewed as well. The scale of the museum and its display area are not large while most ?f the items on display are made of fabnc; however, the museurn does reveal the traditional culture of Korean women and the high level of Korean aesthetics. · A total of 2,000 items are displayed and preserved here including folding screens, h yungbae, embroi-

T

otlorean Embroiden Geum Key-sook Associate Professor, Department of Textile Arts, Hong Ik University

dered insignias court officials wore on the front and back of their robes, Buddhist embroidery, some ~0 embroi-

dered and patchwork items for daily use, and many items of clothing, purses and personal ornaments. The high quality and exceptional condition of each individual item in the collection is a special characteristic of the museum. This is especially true of the patchwork wrapping cloths that have received much attention and been exhibited numerous times both in Korea and abroad Items in the museum's collection were shown to the general public for the first time in a 1978 exhibition at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul In fact, this event marked only the second exhibition of a private collection held at the national museum. This was also the first exhibition for which an additional fee was charged for admittance to cover exhibition expenses. Nonetheless, some 15,000 people viewed the exhibition, which at that time was a record number of visitors for a special exhibition. As the first domestic exhibition to focus on the uniqueness and beauty of traditional embroidery, it provided an opp01tunity to build momentum for the advancement of traditional embroidery in addition to being a tremendous boost to the fields of fashion, textiles, textile design, dyeing and industrial design.

After the Museum of Korean Embroidery helped to make known the beauty of Korean embroidery, a large number of exhibitions were held overseas as well as in Korea, greatly contributing to enhancing public appreciation of the excellence of Korean embroidery. This was especially true of the 1979 special opening exhibition of the Korean Cultural Service in Tokyo, the first event held to heighten awareness of traditional Korean culture in Japan. Thereafter, exhibitions were held at the Ewha Womans University Museum, the Carameon Museum in Cologne, Germany, the Victoria & Albert Museum in the U.K., the Folk Art Museum in Tokyo, the international section of the Nagoya International Design Exposition, the Folk Culture Center at Lotte World, the Fitzwilliam Museum at the University of

Cambridge, and the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford. Korean embroidery and wrapping cloths were also introduced and received critical acclaim at exhibitions in New York, Seattle, Boston, Belgium, France, Australia, and other prominent foreign museums and art galleries where they were displayed by invitation.

Folding screens, traditional wedding gowns, official insignias for the front and back of court officials' robes, and other valuable items of embroidery are displayed at the museum. Visitors can see demonstrations of Korean embroidery in an area decorated with curios.

The symbolism of the designs helps viewers appreciate and understand traditional Korean aesthetics. Crimson silk wedding gowns with wave patterns, intriguing rock patterns, lotus patterns, peony blossom patterns, pear blossom patterns, white heron patterns, plum blossom patterns, talismanic patterns, and orange blossom patterns in vivid colors and various techniques reveal the elegance of Korean embroidery.

Hyungbae and bo .Ca circular insignia worn by the king, queen and other members of the royal family) feature an especially sophisticated embroidery technique. The wearer's status is identified

The founder and director of the Museum of Korean Embroidery, Hub Dong-hwa (opposite).

Queen's supo-silk with embroidered bird and flower designs, ca. 17th century, 82cm x 93cm (top). Various embroidery works and wrapping cloths (above).

19

Top to bottom: Korean ibulbo (quilt wrapper); linen and hemp with patchwork design, blue (ca. 18th century, 145cm x 145cm); The exhibition hall of the Museum of Korean Embroidery

by the different embroidered patterns of these insignia, which help us to understand the politics and educational systems of each era. A bo with a five-footed dragon, called ojoryong, was worn by the king, a peacock insignia by the queen, and a four-footed dragon bo wa.s worn by a prince. The crane pattern hyungbae wa.s worn by civil servants whereas the tiger hyungbae wa.s the insignia of military officials.

The patchwork wrapping cloths collected by the museum are also significant. These wrapping cloths are made from pieces of square material with a multitude of crossing lines and smaller sections. The unique spatial composition of these wrapping cloths has a special character and creativity unbound by any era with a sensibility that could even be considered as modern art. In particular, the color compositions used in these patchwork cloths are similar to those

found in contempora.ty att As such, the beauty of these patchwork wrapping cloths transcends time and style with a universal appeal. Traditional Korean patchwork wrapping cloths are no longer simply handicrafts from the da.ily life of a past era; they now receive acclaim and are displayed as fine a.rt by unknown creators.

In addition to these items, there are pieces of traditional clothing of outstanding quality, diverse fabrics, and textile products that help to present traditional Korean dress culture. The museum thus serves as a valuable cultural asset and means of expressing the uniqueness of Korean aesthetics. The skillfully displayed introduction to the techniques of embroidety, the symbolism of the patterns, and the patchwork wrapping cloths created from vividly colored pieces of fabric give us an insight into the creative world of traditional Koreans. +

20

.. .. ~

hen I arrived at Tongdosa Temple with my fellow travelers, there was a ligh~ intermittent sprinkling of •rain. The owner of the restaurant where we were eating explained that although the approaching monsoon had reportedly ah·eady hit the southern areas, there had only been this spitting mist-the torrential downpours characteristic of the monsoon season having not yet arrived Our group, which had hurriedly driven all the way from Seoul to the monastery without a break, had waited until arriving at 3:00 p.m. to have a late lunch.

Tongdosa is peacefully perched on the lower slope of Yeongchuksan Mountain.

With no particularly elaborate or rugged terrain, these mountains have the cozy simplicity of a next-door neighbor. As a repository of the Buddha sarira, Tongdosa is one of the most representative of Korea's many Buddhist temples, a distinction it shares with Haeinsa Temple, which represents the Dharma, the Buddha's teachings, and Songgwangsa Temple, which represents the Sangha, the community which practices the Buddha's teachings. As with other prominent temples, Tongdosa has long been the site for diverse cultural activities and unabashed

W

commercial endeavors. In front of the temple, one finds a seemingly transported urban entertainment district replete with hotels, restaurants and recreational facilities. This juxtaposition of the secular and sacred is nowadays nothing out of the ordinary. I wonder, then, why I never quite get accustomed to it.

Tongdosa possesses a rarely seen magnificence and elegance, which on rainy days is accented by a unique fragrance and atmosphere. I strolled leisurely through the monastery's courtyards past the various halls as I took in the heavy air.

It at once reminded me of ancient historical remains or the smell of one's childhood home as recalled in faded dreams.

The wood smoke coming from the kitchen where the cook was making dinner stin.:ed memories of some long-forgotten fragrance and settled the mind of this traveltit• who had freshly returned from

·-

• SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS

A Repository of Sacred Buddhist Art

·Tongdosa Museum

the busy and "dusty'' secular realm As one passes through fljumun (Single Pillar Gate), Tongdosa Museum stands directly on the right across from a small

Shim Jae-ryong Professor, Department of Philosophy, Seoul National University

Front view ofTongdosa Musewn which is also called Seongbo, or Sacred Art Musewn.

21

stream over which an elegant arched stone bridge has been built So as not to detract from the elegance of the temple, the museum has been constructed in a crisp, modern style. Begun in 1994 and completed in 1999, it stands on a 16,500square-meter site with one basement and three aboveground floors with a total exhibition space of 4,290 square meters.

Rather than any grandiose or dominating stature, the structure conveys a refreshing ambiance, an effect which could perhaps be attributed to the harmonious manner in which the structure's modern design combines with the monastery's classical architectural beauty.

Although the building is new, the impetus for the museum dates back to 1954 when the relics maintained at Tongdosa were first put on public display. But the actual origin of the museum was the 264 square-meter building erected in 1987, now known as Nocheon Museum This structure is currently used as the exhibition hall for the relics of Grand Master Worha, the spiritual head of the Yeongchuk Monastic Training Center, otherwise known as Tongdosa.

Tongdosa Museum, which is also called Sacred Art Museum, includes several unique features. It is the only museum

Gilt bronze Amitabha Triad (Unified Silla, height llcm) 22

in Korea with a gallery devoted exclusively to Buddhist paintings, and incidentally contains the largest number of such paintings in the world. In addition to its collection of over 600 Buddhist paintings, the museum houses over 30,000 items, including a National Treasure, 11 treasures and 34 Regional Cultural Artifacts.

A taenghwa hanging painting more than 12 meters high hangs in a specially designed open forum extending between the first and second floors of the museum's middle hall. Here, hanging paintings from various Korean temples are presented in chronological order. When I visited, a hanging painting from Gimnyongsa Temple at Mun-gyeong was on display.

Around the central hall on the first floor are the Tongdosa Historical Hall and a room aisplaying donated articles. The second floor is divided into the Buddhist Painting Hall and the Planning Hall.

Besides these exhibition halls, there are a number of auxiliary rooms, such as the Artifact Storage Room and Preservation and Management Room, which facilitate the efficient preservation and management of Buddhist artifacts. The Artifact Storage Room maintains important cultural assets from temples throughout Korea.

The first floor is operated as a cultural center to provide education for Buddhists and members of the community in regard to the preservation and dissemination of traditional culture.

In keeping with its name, the Buddhist Paintings Room preserves Buddhist paintings and altar paintings of outstanding quality from the museum's collection. The two items that particularly stand out among Tongdosa's exceptional artifacts are its taenghwa and sarira (gem-like remains) of the Buddha. The hanging painting (1,204 cmx493 em) is a depiction of the Buddha's "enjoyment body" (the body received as a result of past-life merit) in the birth scene known as "only the Tathagata is eminent." Of particular note is the fact that unlike typical portrayals of Sakyamuni Buddha, this painting depicts him as a Bodhisattva adorned with a jeweled crown and ornate neck-

laces. In spite of the image's bold colors, ornateness and complexity, it still manages to convey a sense of dignity. With its gentle visage, elegant lines and bright, vivid coloring, the painting distinguishes itself as a superb work even among the altar paintings of the late Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

Originally, hanging paintings, unlike ordinaty altar paintings, were hung from tall poles behind an open-air altat·. During outside services or events, such hanging paintings would stand in the center of the service area along with waving flags and other ornate decorations. Because the paintings were not displayed except on special occasions, they were usually stored in a lat·ge box in the back of the Main Buddha Hall. Accordingly, they could only be viewed by the public during outside services. When looking at this particular hanging painting, the artist's piety and sincerity a~ · e readily evident in the way that the awe-inspiring figure seems to be looking directly downward upon the viewer. ill spite of this, as I look at the painting ·hanging in the museum, I sense an awkwat·dness that it is not situated in its rightful place. On the other hand, I suppose the museum is only performing its proper function, of preserving, managing and displaying notable items.

As Tongdosa is the monastery which represents the Buddha, it is not surprising that the sarira of the Buddha have been enshrined at the center of the museum's central hall. When we were visiting, there just happened to be a special exhibition of the sarira and sarira containers, an event that attracted an endless succession of devout believers. Sarira is a Sanskrit term referring to the cremated remains of a deceased person. In Buddhism, the Sat·ira that serve as an object of veneration are crystallized, pearl-like gems which remain from the cremated body of a person as the result of genuine spiritual cultivation.

Usually enshrined within stupas, they have become, along with Buddhist statues, one of the most important objects of Buddhist devotion. The sarira from the Buddha's remains, known in Korean as

jinsinsaJi (true lxxiy SaJ·ira), are enshrined

within pag<XIas. The SaJira of monks, on _the other hand, are enshrined within budo, stone reliquaries in the form of small stupas.

According to tradition, in order to share the large amount of 5a.1·ira from the Buddha's remains, missions from eight countries gathered. At the time of King Ashoka, this sarira was, in turn, enshrined in 84,00J stupas.

The 5a.1·ira now enshrined at Tongdosa is said to have been one of the hundred "fruits" that the Vinaya Master Jajang brought back with him from Tang China in 643, during the 12th year of the reign of Queen Seondeok of the Silla Kingdom.

Jajang enshrined this sarira within Hwangnyongsa Temple's nine-story pagoda, the Taehwasa Temple pagoda and Tongdosa's Vinaya altar. Accordingly, Tongdosa was among the first Korean temples in which the sarira of the Buddha was enshrined. The sarira now on display consists of seven or eight pieces each about the size of a grain of rice. The special sarira exhibition included various sarira containers and relics from museums and temples throughout Korea.

A sarit·a container is an ornately decorated reliquary vessel with progressively small-

Tongdosa Museum's exhibition hall

er vessels contained within As the object of resolute faith and devotion, these reliquaries ~ have been fashioned, since Tang times,· using the finest materials and refined techniques. Goldsmithing techniques utilized to produce ritual tomb objects prior to the introduction of Buddhism are of the same artistic spirit evident in sarira reliquaries produced after the advent of Buddhism.

As the residual matter remaining after the body is cremated, sarira is of only symbolic significance. Even so, in the eyes

Taenghwa Buddhist Painting at the entrance to the exhibition hall. Colors on ramie cloth.

(Joseon period 1792, 1,170cm x 558cm)

of devotees gazing at these artifacts, we can sense the reverance felt at the Buddha's entry into Nirvana. For them, the Buddha's sarit·a is much more ·than a mere symbol, as it represents the essence of the Buddha's original vow to achieve enlightenment and save all beings-a ceaseless endeavor from the distant past As I stepped out of the museum, I heard the temple bell's thunderous echo resound throughout the Dharma realm, awakening all living beings from their state of ignorance. •

Bronze incense bumer with silver inlay National Treasure No. 334, Goryeo period, height 33.2cm

23

â&#x20AC;˘ SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS

In the past, these dark br_own, glazed ceramic crocks called onggi were an essential part of everyday life. Today, they have come to symbolize the traditional Korean way oflife and traditional Korean food. Though onggi still exist, they are steadily being rendered obsolete due to lifestyle changes and Westernization of the Korean diet.

p until 20 or 30 years ago, if you looked over the wall of a typical Korean farmhouse you would invariably see a row of ceramic crocks standing in the yard. But with the onset of Korea's industrialization in the 1960s, crockery terraces began to disappear from yards, along with rice crocks from the storeroom, water jars from the kitchen, and vinegar jars from the kitchen range.

In the past, these dark brown, glazed ceramic crocks called onggi were an essential part of everyday life. Today, they have come to symbolize the traditional Korean way of life and traditional Korean food. Though onggi still exist, they are steadily being rendered obsolete due to lifestyle changes and Westernization of the Korean diet.

In order to promote the significance of onggi as a valuable cultural treasure, the Seoul Municipal Government estab-

U

onuui Folk Museum Lee Young-ja Director, Onggi Folk Museum

This particular onggi yogang (portable toilet) was said to have been used before the Tlu-ee Kingdoms period, ca. 1st century B.C.-7th century A.D.

lished the Onggi Folk Museum in Ssangmun-dong, Dobong-gu, Seoul. The museum was first opened under the name Koryeo Folk Museum in April 1991, then in March 1993 it was registered under the then Ministry of Culture and Sports as the Onggi Folk Museum. Unlike other museums, it is not a place which just exhibits objects but rather one that encourages the participation of its visitors.

Currently, the museum features some 2,000 items on permanent display. The onggi exhibition room is located on the basement floor, while the first floor includes an exhibition room for dancheong patterns and a film room. On the second floor , there is an exhibition of household items and the outdoor dis-

----=--

24

play area features farm implements, stoneworks and sculptures.

The exhibition of onggi includes a wide variety of vessels, from a round earthenware tub for washing barley called jabaegi, coupled vases for making soju (grain liquor) called sojutgori, a bottle for making vinegar called chobyeong and other vessels such as water bottles, steamers and a jar for honoring the kitchen god. There are also a good number of onggi of special note for their historical significance, including a water jar dating from the Goguryeo period (37 B.C.-A.D. 668), a rice crock inscribed with a landscape reserved exclusively for the king called eomidok and a cross-shaped tile that was placed over the chimney at the time when Catholics were being persecuted by the Prince Regent Daewon-gun.

There are two major types of ong~ unglazed and glazed. It is not known exactly when onggi came into use, but since the earthenware used in the Three Kingdoms period (1st century B.C. -A.D. 7th century), many different kinds of ceramics have been developed including cheongja (celadon) of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) as well as buncheong (slip-covered ware) and baekja (white porcelain) of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Nevertheless, thanks to its diverse uses, onggi remained an indispensable part of everyday life.

As storage vessels, onggi were put to a variety of uses in all areas of Korea's agrarian society. They can be categorized according to where they were kept-the kitchen, the crockery terrace or the storeroom- or they can be classified according to their specific function-for storage, conveyance or food processing-or they can be identified by such categories as household objects, religious items or musical instruments.

Onggi for storage purposes included rice crocks, water jars, soy sauce crocks, bean paste jars, chili pepper paste jars, kimchi crocks, fish preserve crocks, and oil bottles. Onggi musical instruments

~ "'

included bu (a perscussion instrument), hun (wind instrument) and a waterfilled gourd called mulbak. The various onggi used in folk religious practices included pots for enshrining lucky animals, the kitchen god, the guardian god of the home, and a statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin.

It has long been said that a properlyfired onggi can breathe. A well-made onggi was, for example, a soy sauce

crock with salt encrusted around the mouth or a jar that would make a metallic sound when tapped Onggi are made from clay containing fine particles of sand. When fired, the particles dissipate leaving microscopic holes. These holes in onggi vessels allow the food stored inside to ferment slowly. The carbon and smoke emitted by the burning wood during the kiln-firing process gathers around the mouth of the onggi and coats it with soot. This carbon coating serves as a kind of preservative to help prevent the stored food from rotting, thus enabling storage for extended periods of time.

Onggi were exposed to direct sunlight and wind out on the crockery terrace and if by chance one became craked _ ~ or broken, the shattered pieces returned to the earth from whence it came.

Origgi not only help us to better understand how Koreans used to live, but also provide valuable inspiration for today's ceramic artists. Onggi can still be found in a corner of most homes as people who savor the traditional taste of kimchi and soy sauce wouldn't even think of using anything but onggi to store them. +

Clockwise from top left: Yangnyo byeongwas used for medicinal purposes by commoners; Pungno (cooking brazier) which was used in the royal chambers is engraved with royal patterns and the red phoenix symbol; Onggi chimneys are still in use today in the countryside; Various types of onggi on display in the front yard of the Onggi Folk Museum.

• SPECIAliZED MUSEUMS

Buljo jikji simche yoje~

~ften

simply Jikji simgyeong arJikj~

called

is an

anthorogy ofteachings ofrevered

Buddhist monks edited by Monk Baegun in 1372. The historical significance ofthis book isfound on its

last page where the year, place and method ofits printing are stated, vital

information that has led academia to acknowledge it as the oldest book in

heongju, home of the Early Printing Museum, is an education-oriented city with some 140,000 of its total population of 560,000 attending its four universities, one two-year college, 89 elementary, middle and high schools and four special education institutes. The academic atmosphere of this city is well in line with the fact that Baegun the hwasang's Buijo jikji simche yo jeo~ world's oldest book printed with movable metal type, was published here in 1377, some 70 years before Gutenberg's much-heralded printing of the Bible.

When a joint archaeological team from Chungcheongbuk-do province and Cheongju University Museum excavated an ancient temple site in the sub-

C

·u Ear .

IV ~-; . ~lngJu ch OnUI Prl·nu-·ng Mus··-eum :~;v

the warld printed with '111£f£ll type.

0

I

.

Kim Moon-hwan Professor, Seoul National University

]ikji shimche yojeol, the world's first book printed with movable metal type, was published in Korea in 1377.

26

:

with the inscription "Heungdeoksa

cover of a vessel with the inscription "Tenth Year of Hwangtong (dynastic denomination indicating 1150 A.D.), Heungdeoksa Temple" were unearthed, putting an end to the search for the site of Heungdeoksa, the birthplace of the world's oldest movable metal type printing. The

Cheongju Early Printing Museum, which opened in 1992 after five years of construction, stands on the original temple site.

Buljo jikji simche yojeol, often called simply jikji simgyeong or jikji, is an anthology of teachings of revered Buddhist monks edited by Monk Baegun in 1372. The historical significance of this book is found on its last page where the year, place and method of its printing are stated, vital information that has led academia to acknowledge it as the oldest book in the world printed with metal type. The book came into the possession of Collin de Plancy, a French charge d'affaires stationed in Seoul toward the end of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) who took it with him to France at the end of his tour. Now in the collection of the French National Library, Jikji entered the limelight in 1992 at the History of Books Exhibition held in commemoration of the World Year of the Book The Early Printing Museum houses some 1,100 items including ancient books, printing equipment, and relics from the Heungdeoksa site. It presents the history of printing in Korea through exhibitions featured in its five pennanent halls and one special exhibition hall. The permanent halls include the Jikji and Heungdeoksa Temple Room, where relics relevant to Jikji and arti-

facts recovered at Heungdeoksa are exhibited; the Making of Jikji Room where the metal type printing process is demonstrated in nine steps with the use of animated mannequins; the Printing Equipment Room where contemporary printing equipment and machinery are on display; the Library of Old Printing, where visitors can search the Internet and other sources for information about Jikji and old printing; and the Printing Culture Room that chronicles the history of printing by era and subject from ancient times to the Joseon period. In addition, visitors can view the printing technique in the Video Room and experience it firsthand in the Demonstration Room.

On the second floor are the Special Exhibition Hall and the East/ West Printing Culture Room which presents an interesting comparative study of the printing cultures of the East and West with a display of a Gutenberg printing press alongside writing brushes, ink stones, ink sticks and paper, known in Korea as the "four friends of the scholar."

The museum also includes a 300-seat seminar room equipped with state-ofthe-art facilities and capable of hosting international academic conferences. The UNESCO Documentary Heritage Council is scheduled to meet here in June 2001. One of the meeting's agenda items will be the inclusion of the ]oseon wangjo sillok (Annals of the Joseon Dynasty), Hunmin jeongeum (Proper Sounds to Instruct the People), Jikji and other early publications on the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage List. The museum has already garnered favorable

Reenacnnent of the printing process with movable metallic type (top).

Movable metal type (above).

support by staging a special exhibition entitled "Ancient Printing Culture of Korea" in Paris during the UNESCO Congress in 1999.

Conveniently located nearby the Seoul-Busan and Jungbu Expressways as well as Cheongju International Airport, the Early Printing Museum is well worth a visit for anyone interested in Korean culture. + 27

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â&#x20AC;˘ SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS

angjin, located in Jeollanam-do province, is an area blessed with picturesque natural scenery and many culturally important sites, including a particular area that was the home of Goryeo celadon, Korea's most wellknown form of ceramics. Within this area, a total of 188 celadon kiln sites were investigated which at present are being collectively managed and preserved as National Historical Site No. 68.

These kilns were active from the latter part of the 9th century until the late 14th century, a period of about 500 years.

The Gangjin Celadon Material Museum was opened in 1997 in the Sadang-ri district of Gangjin, which includes the greatest concentration of

G

Gannil¡n Celadon t~.,:;7 Material Museum ~;:i ~

Choi Sun-il Curator, Gangjin Celadon Material Museum

blue Goryeo ce-

tematic study of this unique art form. In addition to being a theme museum, it also has the distinction of being one of only a few outdoor museums.

The museum building is situated on a site of 85,800 square meters with a floor space of some 2,105 square meters, including a basement and two floors above ground. Two Goryeo celadon kilns (Sadang No. 41 and Yongun No. 104) are located alongside the museum.

There is also a workshop and research room where potters work to keep alive the Goryeo celadon tradition. It is because of these activities that the museum has earned the reputation of being a place where you can directly observe and learn about the past and present of Korean celadon.

The museum's display area features a room for scheduled exhibitions and another for the exhibition of historical artifacts. In conjunction with the September Gangjin Celadon Culture Festival, the museum holds regular exhibitions of celadon and related special displays each year. In 1999 an exhibition of rarely seen celadon works entitled "Goryeo Celadon: In Search of the Hidden Soul" was staged, while this year an exhibition entitled "Goryeo Celadon, A Special Exhibition: Returning Home to Gangjin, Excellence and Kiln Masters" will be held When special exhibitions are not being held, a group of 40 pieces specially selected from the museum's collection of Goryeo celadon are exhibited to present celadon pottery from the different eras. The room used for the display of historical artifacts helps the general public to understand the process of celadon production The museum has also increased public awareness of Korean pottery with exhibitions of pottery tools, the construction of kilns, and demonstrations of traditional hwamok kilns using Goryeo era artifacts. In order to reveal the diversity of Goryeo celadon, the museum exhibits carefully selected artifacts from among its 30,000 pieces. Among the

Celadon pottery workshop site to the left of the museum entrance (left).

28

items displayed in the exhibition hall are broken pieces of unusual shapes and sizes of celadon not extant today.

For example, there is a shard â&#x201A;Źlf a very rare and treasured piece, "Celadon maebyeung with a dragon design in relief' (on loan from the National Museum), which was excavated in Gangjin in the 1960s. The piece has a gray-blue glaze over its entire surface and a four-footed writhing dragon that reaches into the sky. The mouth is all that remains of a celadon soy sauce vessel, evidence that countless pieces of celadon were created during the Goryeo Dynasty. This is noteworthy because among extant Goryeo celadon items there are very few large pieces that were used in daily life, perhaps because they were too large to be placed in tombs.

The museum also includes an exhibit of celadon obtained from the Haegang Pottery Museum's excavation activities

in the 1990s. The exhibition reveals the various changes that Goryeo celadon underwent (related to its origins, period of refinement, period of highest quality production, and expansion) by type of kiln. This exhibit is more suited for art specialists than the general public and is the only display in which the process of evolution in celadon pottery and recent kiln excavation sites can be viewed At this museum, Goryeo celadon, which until recently the general public had only been able to look a~ can be held and touched +

Ancient kiln excavation site located at the right of the museum (top right).

Re-creation of a Goryeo celadon pottery kiln (right). - .

Outdoor wall created from tiles of various celadon- colors (below).

29

..

"' ~

â&#x20AC;˘ SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS

he Suk Joo-Sun Memorial Museum at Dankook University was opened on May 2, 1981 to exhibit Dr. Suk Joo-Sun's collection of 3,365 folk antifacts items and clothing. Since then, additional donations of excavated clothing have been made to the museum such that the Suk Jcx:rSun Memorial Museum's current collection numbers some 9,000 items.

This year the museum celebrated its 19th anniversary. Over the years it has presented 14 exhibitions and academic conferences. Its nationally designated cultural treasures include Important Folk Material Item No . ~ a purple and gold formal dress worn by Princess Deogon

Joo-SUn Memoltal Museum, UnlversiiV Park Sung-sil, Koh Bou-ja Professors, Dankook University

The late Dr. SukJoo-Sun, founder of the museum (above).

The original SukJoo-Sun Memorial Museum was opened in 1981 at the Dankook University's Seoul campus. It has since moved to the Cheonan campus (right).

30

(1822-1844), the third daughter of Sunjo, the 23rd king of the ]oseon Dynasty (1392-1910), and Impottant Folk Material Item No. 2, a coutt official's robe, along

with 76 other items which have been designated valuable cultural treasures.

The museum has four exhibition rooms. The first room displays 16th century clothing excavated from a tomb.

Traditional children's clothing is displayed in the second room; hats, trinkets, hair ornaments, and shoes in the third room; and in the fourth room are wedding attire, official robes and other garments worn by kings, queens, princes and princesses, in addition to the court attire of civil and military officers.

Funeral customs differed according to era, region of the country and the social class of the deceased During the ]oseon period, a funeral began with a ceremony for laying the corpse in a coffin. After the body was clothed, it was wrapped in blankets and put into the coffin To fill the space remaining in the coffin, clothing, generally the clothing normally worn by the deceased, was placed inside. This was called bogong. The ground in which the coffin was buried determined whether the contents remained intact. Although the corpses have decomposed over time, most excavated tombs have contained bones and clothing, in which case the clothing is usually turned over to a museum for preservation.

The shape and patterns of the clothing excavated from tombs differ according to era as well as the social status and sex' of the tomb occupant. Most of the clothing that has been found in tombs is made of silk, although some hemp and cotton clothing have also been recovered The higher the social status of the tomb occupant, the higher the quality and more decorative the clothing, such as patterned silk and cotton clothing.

Most of the clothing with designs is made of sheer silk or satin.

The majority of men's official robes are decorated with a cloud pattern, with the size of the clouds ranging from about 4 to 10 centimeters in length.

There are simple cloud designs and clouds combined with auspicious symbols.

There is greater variety in women's clothing. Women's clothing tends to be decorated with flowers, birds and other feminine designs. Among the flower designs, lotus, peony, and chrysanthemum are prevalent, with bird designs tending to be of types inhabiting the area where the tomb

The SukJoo-SunMemorial Museum's collection contains some 9,000 artifacts, many of which still need to be categorized (above).

Embroidered insignia served as a status

occupant resided. Fruit designs are rare, but the Buddhist symbols and other geometric shapes are quite common. In the 15th and 16th century ]oseon Dynasty, the dongjapodomun symbol was rarely used on the seullan, a woman's ceremonial skirt. The fabric used for the samhoejang jeogeori, a type of tr-iple-colored upper-body clothing worn by women, was mainly satin, often decorated with cloud designs. On women's upper-body garments more than one type of design could be used and there are examples where two or three different types of designs are combined together.

The majority of patterns that appear on clothing excavated from Joseon era tombs were woven into the fabric.

There are even instances of gold threads ¡ being woven into the fabric.

Gold cloth was mainly used for women's samhoejang jogeori or specific parts of men's clothing. In fabrics where the gold was woven into the cloth or sewn on, the gold is still visible, but this is not the case with gold-leaf designs, which typically deteriorate over the years.

Originally, clothing was decorated for aesthetic reasons. However, as society began to use decorations to indicate a person's rank or class, certain designs took on special meanings and the desire to use such designs spread to even the lowest classes. This was especially true of the designs used on the clothing of nobility. + 31

â&#x20AC;˘ SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS The museum plays a central role in the transmission ofKorean folk art. Its main purpose is to recreate, in a manner appropriate for today, the creative dramas unique to folk drama

n a low-lying hill in Cheongnyong-ri near Gongju in Chungcheongnam-do province, there is a museum dedicated to preserving and displaying items related to folk drama collected from all over South Korea.

The collection includes a variety of traditional dolls, masks, musical instruments, and props used for various dramatic genres, as well as books and materials related to drama. The museum plays a central role in the transmission of Korean folk art. Its main purpose is to recreate, in a manner appropriate for today, the creative dramas unique to folk drama, while utilizing small modern theaters as well as outdoor stages, seonangdang (altars for tue~ a ry deities) and traditional theaters: ¡ The Gongju Folk Drama Museum houses more than a thousand items

0

Gongju Folk Drama Museum Sim Woo-sung Director, Gongju Folk Drama Museum

including dolls used in puppet plays and the Manseokjung drama, and masks such as those used in the Yangju Byeolsandae, along with items from Japan, China, Indonesia, New Guinea, and other countries, musical instruments (zithers, harps, drums and other percussion instruments), clothing and accessories. When discussing folk drama, one first thinks of the Ogwangdae drama of Gyeongsang-do province (from Goseong, Gasan, Tongyeong), Deulnorum (from Suyeong, Dongnae), the mask dance of Hwanghae-do province (from Bongsan, Eunyul, Gangnyeong), puppet plays, foot puppet plays and doll dramas such as Manseokjung. However,

Dolls used in puppet shows (elderly man and woman).

in a broader sense, it includes sari performances such as pansori, Baebaeng-i gut and other gut (shamanic exorcism performances) as well as the dramas performed at the pungmul and the

pan tori.

Yet in order to discuss folk drama, we must first discuss the term minsok, "folk." Minsok, short for min-ganui pungsok (people's customs), is something spontaneously created and transmitted. Seen in this light, folk drama can be described as a form of drama created by the common people.

As such, it is a unique form of dramatic expression that defies explanation in terms of the concepts of Western commercial drama.

For this reason, even within the context of the introduction of and opposition to foreign influences, it expresses an active acceptance of foreign culture in ways that accord with Korea's situation, in short, transmitting and modifying it in ways that make it Korean.

For example, Manseokjung Nori is a drama for Buddhist missionary purposes. Held around the time of Buddha's birthday, it teaches Buddhist principles. But the drama, based on a Korean folk tale about the beautiful Sipjangsaengdo, tells the story of how a simple person named Manseokjung attains awakening as the dragon and carp fight over a cintamani, a magical wish-fulfilling gem.

Korea's traditional art forms possess a comprehensive character as seen in the traditional definition of the arts as ."music, singing and dance." Hence, Korean "folk drama" represents a unique artistic world that cannot be properly described using Western standards. Even the dramatic form known as pansori is at once a unique dramatic art form combining singing, dance and acting that can also be called a solo dramatic performance.

However, this unique, integrative dramatic form known as folk drama, instead of possessing vitality or the

capacity to be transmitted to future generations, has already become a fos~ ilzed form, frozen in a particular epoch. Moreover, along with <the drive to preserve this drama's original form, there is a rush to develop it as a tourism resource. The Gongju Folk

Drama Museum has taken on the task of transmitting authentic folk drama as well as undertaking research and conservation works on drama-related artifacts. By doing so, it hopes to make known the true form of Korea's unique folk art. +

Gongju Folk Museum (below, left).

The museum's third floor exhibition hall (below). ]angseungor guardian posts and Sotdae or spirit poles on a mountain path (bottom).

33

â&#x20AC;˘ SPECIAliZED MUSEUMS

s Korea has lorig been an agrarian country, our ancestors have left behind many valuable agricultural artifacts.

However, in the process of Korea's industrialization and urbanization, these precious artifacts have been rapidly disappearing, such that efforts to ensure their collection and preservation are urgently needed In this regard, Korea's first agricultural museum was opened on November 18, 1987 by the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (NACF), thanks to the invaluable agricultural artifacts and implements donated by its members. This specialized museum was opened for the purpose of passing on the wisdom and spirit of our ancestors through the study of Korea's rich agricultural history and practices.

The Agricultural Museum is located in ¡chungjeongno, Seodaemun-gu,

A

Agricul ural Museum Kim Hwang-young Director, Agricultural Museum

The Agricultural Museum (below).

An exhibit at the Agricultural Museum (below, right).

34

Seoul, and houses some 1,600 artifacts related to agriculture. The first floor includes exhibition rooms for artifacts from the prehistoric, Three Kingdoms (1st century-7th century), Goryeo (9181392) and Joseon (1392-1910) periods, as well as a gallery area. The second floor

contains a room that explains the agricultural cycle and another featuring agricultural machinery from around the country. On the third floor there are exhibition rooms for agricultural lifestyles, kimchi displays, and the NACF library. A lecture room is located on the basement level.

The museum's collection includes some 2,000 items of agricultural machinery, artifacts and materials that cover 5,000 years of Korea's agricultural histoty.

They range from comb-patterned earthenware from the prehistoric period to modern farm machinery, and are displayed according to period. The major exhibits include pictures of slash-andburn cultivation, a rain gauge and precipitation registly.

The prehistoric room on the first floor features mostly reproductions of agricultural tools used in prehistoric tini.es divided into the Neolithic Era, Bronze Age and Early Iron Age. Artifacts from the Neolithic Era include stone axes, combpatterned earthenware and grinding stones. From the Bronze Age, there are crescent-shaped stone scythes, carbonized rice, and bronzeware estimated to date back to the fourth century B.C. Items from the Iron Age include iron scythes, sickles, and hoes.

In the Three Kingdoms exhibition room there is a reproduction of a wall paintihg from the Anak No. 3 tomb at

Hwanghae-do, the oldest known tomb painting from the Goguryeo period (37 ~.C-AD 668), that shows a mill, stable, well and kitchen. It provides -a glimpse into various aspects of a traditional way of life, with a manual treadmill in the mill, a steamer hanging over the furnace, and the clothing and hair styles of the women cooking in the kitchen being clearly depicted The Joseon era room features a display of some 30 pre-modern agricultural texts, including Nongsa jikseol (Experiences of joseon Farmers) compiled by Jeong Cho; Gang Hui-maeng's Geumyang jamnok; a Korean version of the late Tang Chinese book Sasi Chanyo, and a book which is still used today as a medical text, Guhwang Charyo.

Implements on display include weeding hoes, sickles for harvesting, a threshing implement called gaesang, a flail for threshing, and a winnow. There is also a model of two oxen pulling a plow and a reproduction of a smithy where tools such as hoes and sickles were made.

The Agricultural Cycle room displays a variety of agricultural tools used during different seasons of the year as well as replicas of foods that were included on the king's table in the Joseon Dynasty for over 250 years-rice, traditional grains such as sorghum and corn, red beans, cabbage, raddish, chestnuts, dates, persimmons, apples, and other

fruits and vegetables. There are also such stuffed animals as chickens, goats and wild boars.

The Geographical Distribution of Agricultural Implements gallery exhibits tools such as hoes, sickles and plows organized according to the region of their use, along with implements used for raising cows, pigs and chickens; irrigation devices such as water pumps and water scoops; and compost-related implements such as urine barrels, manure trays and night soil buckets.

The Agricultural Lifestyle room, which was opened in 1996, includes displays divided into sections for major rural tasks such as irrigation, spinning, conveyance, milling, weighing and measuring, and trading. In this hall, there is }t kimchi exhibition designed to show the importance of kimchi to Korea and its people. It starts with the histoi-y of kimchi and goes on to explain the development of kimchi, kimchi ingredients, types of kimchi according to region, how to make kimchi, fish preserves (jeotgal), and various kimchi dishes.

On the first floor there is a gallery area of about 99 square meters where various events related to agricultural history are held In the hallway on the second floor there is a map made in 1872 following the invasion of Korea by Western powers. Though it was pre-

pared primarily for defense purposes, it identifies mountains, hills, historic spots and temples, thus providing a unique insight into what the different regions were like at the time.

In front of the museum there is a traditional rural garden in which barley, rice, wheat, sorghum, and cotton are cultivated. Complete with a hut and mill, this serves as a hands-on educational attraction where visitors are able to experience rural life for themselves. â&#x20AC;˘

A visitor enjoys the onggi earthenware (pottery) exhibition (below left).

Reenacting the tilling process (below).

A large basket for collecting grain (bottom).

35

â&#x20AC;˘ SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS

M Han Myung-hee Professor of Music, The University of Seoul

n the east coast of Korea is the town of Gangneung which is home to what may just be the center of the world of sound, the Chamsori Edison Museum.

The museum's unique collection includes thousands of gramophones collected from all over the world, including the tin foil-type first invented

by Thomas Alva Edison in 1877, providing visitors with an overview of the history of recorded sound.

On display are more than 4,000 gramophones including the first speak-

0

er-attached gramophones (cylinder, disc) and 'internal-speaker gramophones (cal::r inef-style), along with various musical instruments dating from before the invention of the gramophone, a wide range of radios and televisions, and modern electric gramophones and audio systems. There is also a collection of music boxes, with the oldest having

been made in 1796. The museum boasts some 7,000 photographs of gramophones, 100,000 records of various kinds, and 8,000 books related to music. The museum is particularly well-known for its collection of inventions by Thomas Edison, some of which are even comparable to those found in the Edison Museum in the United States.

The Chamsori Edison Museum, which presents 100 years of the history of recorded sound through its collection of audio-recording items from all over the world, was founded by Sohn Song-mok, whose first encounter with the gramophone was at the age of six when his father bought him a Japanese Columbia G241 gramophone. His love for and interest in gramophones are remarkable indeed, to such an extent that in the midst of the Korean War (1950-1953) he fled south with agramophone strapped to his back His lifelong passion, which has never waned, was the driving force that made him a world-renowned gramophone collector.

In the future, new facilities such as a music appreciation room, seminar

A close-up of a needle and platter of a hand-operated gramophone (above).

Chamsori Edison Museum's main building (left).

36

room and outdoor concert area will be added to enhance the museum experience and enable visitors to enjoy a true

center of education for the world of sound. +

The museum's exhibition hall (above).

Hand-wound gramophone (right).

The world's smallest record (left).

Needles (and case) used in the early days of gramophones (bottom).

37

• SPECIALIZED MUSEUMS

B HaByung-um Director, Bokcheon Museum

n the course of nine excavations conducted between 1969 and 1998 in Busan's Bokcheon-dong area, some 170 tombs of various shapes were found and collectively designated Historical Site No. 273. In addition, nearly 10,000 relics of various types were unearthed, including Gaya pottery, iron weapons, aJmor, helmets, pole tops with bells, gilt-bronze crowns and necklaces. The Bokcheon Museum of Busan was opened on October 5, 1996, to house the relics as well as promote public understanding of the excellence and importance of traditional culture while showcasing the ancient Gaya culture of the Busan area.

The museum exhibits nearly 1,800 items and features permanent exhibitions ;ind outdoor displays that include relics ~ discover at the Bokcheon-dong tombs, relics from the Three Han and ·~ ~ - :.

I

Museum

Three Kingdoms (1st century B.C.-A.D. 7th century) periods excavated from the nearby Yeongnam area, and Korean mtifacts returned from Japan. The museum also has separate exhibition facilities for special exhibitions.

Exhibition Hall No. 1 focuses on the history of Busan around the time the tombs at Bokcheon-dong were created as well as the style and construction of the tombs. In addition, it highlights the culture of the Yeongnam area before the sixth century through relics, models, information panels, magic vision screens and video monitors.

Exhibition Hall No. 2 displays items excavated from the tombs at Bokcheondong. By showing how the relics were created and used in addition to compaJing them to relics unemthed at other sites, the exhibits attempt to portray the everyday life of the Gaya people who lived in the Busan area and the historical significance of the tombs at Bokcheon-dong.

The "Tomb Park," pmt of the outdoor exhibition area, marks the actual tomb sites with box trees (Bukus koreana). To demonstrate the burial culture, the interiors of several massive tombs are preserved in the original condition in which they were found. In the screening hall on the first floor of the museum, films about the history of Busan and the tombs at Bokcheon-dong are shown every 20 minutes, on alternate days.

There m·e also rooms with touch-screen video monitors that visitors can easily use for information about the museum, exhibitions, and relics.

Pole top with seven bells (Tomb artifact no. 22) (left). Bokcheon Museum (above).

Theo~mBkcng

The tombs at Bokcheon-dong are typical of tombs that are distributed in quite a dense manner on hilltops a,nd along mountainsides. The distribution pattern of the tombs shows large tombs found atop the hills with small to medium-sized tombs on the mountainsides. In general, the earliest tombs are located at the bottom of the hills and over time they were built up along the sides and then the top.

The tombs are a valuable somce of information about the time period in which they were created and show discernible changes in tomb construction techniques and design while the a1tifacts excavated therefrom clearly reflect changes in times and lifestyles.

Apart from the large-scale mound tombs in Gyeongju, the tombs at

Bokcheon-dong 31·e the most numerous in the southern region The a1tifacts excavated from the tombs are of various types while in terms of number they 31·e second only to those excavated from the Gyeongju tumuli The Bokcheon tombs include wooden chamber tombs, vertical stone cist tombs, jar coffin tombs and front-opening stone chamber tombs.

The tombs at Bokcheon-dong reveal a clear transition from wooden chamber tombs to vertical stone cist tombs, to front-opening stone chamber tombs.

Moreover, within the transition from wooden cha1nber tombs to vertical stone cist tombs, incremental changes are evident as well Because the t:ransfotmation of the design and construction of the

Bokcheon-dong tombs is moi·e that many battles OCCUlTed in the region, which is helpful for distinct than in other tombs, understanding the political clithey may be used as a benchmate and foreign relations mmk for studying the structure at the time. and evolution of Gaya tombs.

The BokcheonThat there are larger size dong tombs are the tombs on the tops of hills only pre-sixth cenand smaller tombs along the tury t0mbs of the sides may help us underruling class in stand the hierarchical relaBusan As such, by tionships of society and :;? observing the issues related to the social 0 8 transforn1ation of classes of the era z ~ their structme and There are also notable ~ changes in the differences in the pottery Gilt bronze crown related artifacts, the found according to era Hamcharacteristics and culture of the ruling an pottery and Japanese pottery from the elite can be better understood. Moreover, latter half of the fourth centmy to the the tomb culture of the Gaya and Silla first half of the fifth centmy, as well as kingdoms are important sources for Changnj1.mg pottery from the latter half determining ancient Korea's cultural of the fifth centmy have been unea1thed exchanges with other regions, even with here. 'fhis indicates that there were ancient Japan Accordingly, the tombs at exchanges between Busan and these Bokcheon-dong, centered in the Dongother areas. The blending of the native nae region, provide invaluable informaBusan ·pottery and Silla pottery from the tion on the domestic and international first half of the fifth centmy along with military relations, as well as the cultural the increasing number of pieces of Silla development of the region + pottety found in the later tombs reflect the gradual spread of Silla's influence in the Busan region. Moreover, many iron ingots, pieces of iron armor, and other iron implements were found in the tombs at Bokcheon-dong, indicating that the people who built the tombs possessed considerable iron technology and engaged in exchanges with nearby 31·eas while maintaining an ·'alliance with the neighboring people who built the tombs in Gimhae. The volume of armor, helmets, and horse trappings excavated from the Bokcheon-dong tombs, suggests

Scale model depicting the layout of tombs found in Bokcheon-dong

Pottery jar with stand

39

-Festivals in Korea H Kim Seung-hyeon Staff Reporter, The Munhwa Ilbo

ow did primitive people perceive winter, living as they did without a clear understanding of the four seasons?

Come winter, trees shed their leaves and all traces of green grass disappear. The sweet fruits picked in fall are a distant memory. All signs of life are gone from the frozen land. To the primitive people, living in caves and eating whatever food they were lu cky to come across, winter must have seemed a time of death without a sign of hope -anywhere. Those who failed to store

food would likely starve, or freeze to death as they went around searching for ?omething to eat. If they were lucky enough to kill some anima.l.s out in search of their own food, the cave dwellers might have been able to survive the winter. After spending their days in dark caves, the arrival of spring must have seemed like a miracle. The frozen land would thaw, the air warm, and green g¡rass start to grow. New leaves would also appear on trees. The animals that had hibernated all winter would venture out to feed on grass

sprouts. Only then would the people have come out of their caves and rejoiced happily, basking in the warmth of the spring sun. They would dance, sing and socialize. They would perform rites and offer sacrifices to the gods, thanking them for the return of the warm sunlight. Could this have been the beginning of festivals?

Over time, people's understanding of nature increased, and the primitive heaven-worshipping rites began to take on new dimensions as seasonal, thanksgiving, and communal rites and rituals.

Expressing the ecstasy of having gained a new vitality through dance and song eventually led to the creation of the performing arts. Later, religious elements were added to the heaven-worship rituals, which also gave rise to hierarchical systems that some communities used for ideological purposes.

Although we can reasonably surmise the origin of festivals as thus, it is impossible to pinpoint the exact date of their development. If a festival is defined as a comprehensive integration of art forms, including dance and song as well as

I

'

People perfonning the traditional jeongwol daeborewn (January 15th by hmar calendar) ritual of bringing offerings to a shrine in Southern Chung-cheong Province. Note the white paper they hold in their mouth to refrain from saying anything sacrilegious that may taint the offerings (top).

Gijisi tug-of-war in Dangjin-one of the jeongwol daeboreum rituals (above).

42

music, then festivals can be said to have been created around the time when human beings began to live in communities and use language, after having acquired an awareness of the difference between "self" and the "world," or between "human beings" and their "external environment." This can also be called the time when people began to live as "human beings" in the genuine sense of the term.

It is believed that the earliest forms of festivals in Korea included the Yeonggo of the Buyeo Kingdom (4th century B.C.-A.D: 4th century), Dongmaeng of Goguryeo (37 B.C.-A.D. 660), Mucheon of Eastern Ye and the festivals of the fifth and tenth lunar months of Mahan, which the Chinese historian Chen Shou (233-297) mentioned in his Records of the Three States. Chen Shou described the primitive festivals held in these tribal states, by the ancestors of the Korean people, as follows:

In the first month of each yea1; Buyeo holds a healfen-worshipping ceremony dwing which the people dance, sing and eat heartily for days. The ceremony is called Yeonggo, or the ''spirit-inlfoking" drums hono1ing healfen. In the streets, the young and old continue to sing day and night without stopping The people of Goguryeo lolfe to sing and dance. In both cities and rural lfillages, men and women gather in the evenings to sing together and indulge in merry-making In the tenth month, the kingdom holds a heaven-worshipping Jitual called Dongmaeng.

In the fifth month, the people of Mahan perform rituals to spirits after sowing seeds. During the rituals, everyone dances, sings and dlinks togethe1; without stopping for several days and nights.

When dancing, dozens of people stand up together all at once, and form a line to dance on the ground and jump high in the air. The dance greatly resembled

China's Bell Dance. They go through the same rituals in the tenth month after the harvest is finished In the tenth month, the people of Ye pelfonn heavenly rituals, and dance, sing and drinl( for days and nights, which is called Mucheon.

The fact that the rituals were held at specific times, such as the beginning and end of the farming season, and in the fifth and tenth lunar months, shows that they were directly linked with specific events and seasonal rites. Seasonal rituals can be defined as ritual acts held periodically at the same time every year, in accordance with each season. Heavenworship ceremonies were also a form of seasonal festival and farming rite.

The seasonal festivals held during the age of tribal states continued through the Unified Silla period (668-935). In Samguksagi (History of the Three Kingdoms), compiled in A.D. 1145 by Goryeo scholar Kim Bu-sik, there is the

following account of the Han-gawi (Harvest Moon Festival) of the Silla Kingdom, the forerunner of today's Chuseok thanksgiving festival: In the ninth year of the reign of Yuriwang, the king designated six bu and divided them into two teams. He ordered two royal women to head each team made up of women from the different bu to form a cooperative.

Beginning from the sixteenth day of the seventh month, the women convened in the courtyard of the great bu to weave.

They worked late into the night until the fifteenth day of the eighth month. On this day, the two teams were judged on the amount of weaving they had completed. The team with the lesser amount of weaving treated the winning team to a feast, after which all the women sang, danced and played a variety of games.

This was called gawi. One woman from the losing team would stand up and dance, all the while wailing hoeso, hoeso.

A scene from a mask play at the Gangneung Dano Festival (top).

A scene from a shaman ritual (above).

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The sound was melancholy and beautiful, and later people made up a song based on the sound and named it Hoesogok.

The seasonal rituals held on special occasions throughout the year were festivals comprising both sacred rites and merry-making. These traditions continued through the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) and developed into such religious festivals as Palgwanhoe and Yeondeunghoe. The tradition of Palgwanhoe, a festival for aristocrats, disappeared with the decline of Goryeo, but Yeondeunghoe, a village-wide festival, continued throughout the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

The majority of Korea's traditional festivals were rooted out or distorted during Japan's colonial rule of Korea in the early 20th century, as the Japanese feared such festivals would rally the community and improve the solidarity and morale of the Korean people. Moreover, the few vestiges of these festivals which managed to survive were completely obliterated during the fratricidal Korean War (1950-1953) that broke out after the division of the Korean peninsula. Even more unfortunate, the rapid urbanization that resulted from the nation's economic development even eliminated whatever traces of the festivals that might have remained in rural areas.

Since the 1980s, and especially following the 1988 Seoul Olympics when Korea was recognized as an industrialized nation, the public took a renewed interest in festivals. Furthermore, traditional festivals entered a new age and have seen explosive development since regional autonomy was introduced in 1994.

According to a 1999 status report on regional cultural events published by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, 793 festivals were held in Korea in 1999. These included 154 seasonal folk festivals, 384 cult~ ¡ al art festivals, and 255 cultural tourism festivals. The figure was almost double the 412 festivals that were recorded in 1996 when a systematic nationwide study was initiated 44

From 1945 through 1949, only seven festivals were held in the entire nation: Yangnyeongsi in Taegu, Haengju Daecheopje (The Great Battle of Haengju) in Goyang, Dano Festival in Gangneung, Gijisi Tug-of-War in Dangjin, Hwangdo bunggi Pungeoje (fishermen's prayer ritual for an abundant catch) in Taean, Chunhyangje in Namwon, and Gaecheon Yesulje in Jinju. Ten new festivals were created from 1950-1959, followed by another 33 from 1960-1969, 39 from 1970-1979, 123 from 1980-1989, and then an astounding 581 from 1990-1999-a truly incredible growth in recent years.

Of all the festivals, the one attracting perhaps the greatest interest both in

The vast majority of Korea's cultural and arts resources are concentrated in Seoul, . the nation's capital.

Under such circumstances, it is quite a monumental effort for a regional city to host a modern cultural event of international stature on an annual basis.

content and form is the Chuncheon International Puppet Festival. The vast majority of Korea's cultural and arts resources are concentrated in Seoul, the nation's capital. Under such circumstances, it is quite a monumental effort for a regional city to host a modern cultural event of international stature on an annual basis. Chuncheon, which has been hosting this unique international festival since 1989, is now emerging as an important center of culture and art, advancing in line with the steady expansion of its puppet festival that has proved immensely popular.

In its first year, the Chuncheon

International Puppet Festival attracted 13 domestic troupes and one troupe from abroad. Last year, its 11th year, 34 domestic troupes and six overseas troupes from France, Kazakhstan, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Slovenia presented 64 performances. The festival has since been firmly established as a globally acclaimed puppet event, such that an Italian puppet museum even proposed to co-host the event.

During the period of the puppet festival, which has come to symbolize the city itself, all of Chuncheon is dramatically transformed into a performing arts stage, along with various workshops, similar to the Angouh~me International Comics Festival held in France.

This festival merits in-depth research as the basis for further development of Korea's festival-related activities, especially since it is a unique example¡ of notew orth y success achieved initially through the efforts of the private sector.

The local government was only invited to participate later on to ensure its continued growth, in stark contrast to the majority of recent festivals that have been directly organized by government authorities.

Meanwhile, ]indo Yeongdeungje is a festival with notable competitive advantages. As such, it has become a national tourist festival that attracts visitors from across the country and overseas as well.

In the first half of the third lunar month each year, when flood tide conditions occur, the waters along the 2.8kilometer-long causeway between ]indo Island and Modo village, Jeollanam-do province, part to reveal a 40-meter-wide section of seabed. This natural phenomenon is called Yeongdeungsal. In the beginning, people from nearby areas used to hold a village rite to celebrate the parting of the sea, which progressively developed into a national tourist festival drawing more than 200,000 visitors annually. Its promotion as the Korean version of Moses' parting of the Red Sea proved especially effective in attracting many

foreigners eager to witness the parting of the sea.

In 1978, the county authorities accepted the residents' proposal to develop this event into a national festival, while gradually expanding its scope through the joint efforts of the private sector and local government. In 1975, French Ambassador to Korea Pierre Lande visited the festival and wrote a newspaper article after witnessing the "Miracle of Moses" in Korea. After its publication, Japan's NHK TV aired a story about the parting of the sea, which contributed greatly to the local festival's development into a national festival.

Initially, the festival was a one-day event centered on performing arts native to ]indo, but is now a three-day fete featuring a pre-festival program, the main program, ceremonial rites and various forms of entertainment related to the parting of the sea.

As for Geumsan city in Chungcheongnam-do province, it hosts a festival which highlights local products made from white and red ginseng, capitalizing on the fame of Korean ginseng.

This village festival, which was originally held in a school playground, has been relocated to the Ginseng Market, where it has become a street festival with diverse events, and thus ultimately developed into a festival of national scale. The length of the festival has also been extended from three days to five days since 1996. The Geumsan Ginseng Festival is a good example of how a village festival can flourish by promoting an area's specialty products. The festival offers many interesting programs, while visitors can also enjoy the added bonus of being able to purchase ginseng products at discount prices.

The Icheon International Ceramics Festival is another festival that has been successfully developed along the same Chuncheon International Puppet Festival (top).

A scene from one of the plays at the festival (right).

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lines. Based on the theme of earth and fire, the event began attracting more than 250,000 visitors annually after the Korea National Tourism Organization agreed in 1996 to promote it as an international festival. The Icheon area, home to renowned ceramic villages with more than 200 traditional kilns, offers many sightseeing attractions while the festival generates heightened interest through a variety of entertaining events.

Before the 1990s, hardly any festival in Korea was based on one specific art genre, save perhaps for the Chuncheon International Puppet Festival. The majority of festivals were based on regional themes, especially specialty products or folk traditions. However, after realizing the importance of festivals following the 1988 Seoul Olympics and the introduction of local autonomy in 1994, a variety of festivals based on specialized art genres were inaugurated to pioneer new niche markets.

The Gwangju Biennale, which celebt¡ated its third anniversary this year, has already earned the reputation of being one of the most outstanding contemporary arts exhibitions in Asia. This yeat ~s 46

Curious young onlookers (top).

Vtsitors at the Icheon International Ceramics Festival (above).

biennale, held from March 29 through June 7, under the theme "Man + Space," was composed of special exhibitions that sought to link together art works from North America, Central and South America, Europe, Africa, Korea and the Pacific. The themes of the special exhibitions included "Arts & Human Rights," "Forest of Human Beings," "Forest of Painting," "Human Beings and Gender," "The Past and Present of Fine Arts in Nort)J Korea," and "The Facets of Korean & Japanese Contemporary Art." In addition, the Juksan International Art Festival held in Anseong, Gyeonggido province, is also worthy of note in that it offers an important _performing stage for Korea's avant-garde artists. The festival was initiated in 1995 by Hong Sin-ja, a globally renowned dancer known for expressing Asian aesthetics through highly creative dance movements who made her home inJuksan in 1993. Since then, this event has developed into a festival of notable significance that provides an insight into avant-garde art from around the world.

The festival now attracts avant-garde artists from Japan, China, Indonesia,

Australia and the United States as well as Europe. This year, ten domestic dance groups and nine foreign groups participated in the festival that took place from June 15-18. Of particular note, this year's festival featured the musical Princess Pyeonggang and Ondal the Fool, produced by Ellen Steward, an influential veteran of Off Broadway and owner of La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in New York.

The Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, which celebrated its third anniversary last year, is showing potential for development as a "theme film festival," although it is still too early to know for certain. The festival was held from July 16-24 last year and attracted more than 170,000 viewers. More than 20 percent of Bucheon's 800,000 residents turned out to see the films, testimony to the festival's potential to grow into a regional theme film festival.

The Gwacheon International Theater Festival, which became an annual September event after Gwacheon hosted the World International Theater Festival in 1997, has a promising future as a unique theme-based event.

Although festivals experienced explosive growth in Korea in the 1990s, they still pale in comparison to those of advanced countries. For instance, as many as 20,000 festivals of note take place in France every year, according to data compiled by the French government. The key reasons for the relatively underdeveloped state of festivals in Korea include the abrupt disruption of tradition during Japanese colonial rule, the destruction wrought by the Korean War, and a lack of effective cultural polices during the period when economic development came first. But the situation has changed significantly since the 1990s. Indeed, Korea's economic difficulties that began in late 1997 caused a certain loss of momentum, but changed perceptions of the importance of culture as well as the implementation of local autonomous government led to dramatic improvements in the festival environment.

Anne-Marie Tinot, administrator of the Banlieues Bleues Jazz Festival, held jointly by the satellite cities of Paris, said: "One or two miracles are not enough for a festival to succeed" She alluded to the great

The Bucheon International Fantastic

Film Festival

difficulties involved in developing a successful festival by noting: "A festival can succeed only after countless miracles."

She also stated that a festival can enjoy steady and continued growth only after a long process of development, which can be described as "creation-growthgrowing. pains-overcoming difficultiesstability," even if it is supported by a unique theme, strategy and substantial assistance. The Banlieues Bleues Jazz Festival began in 1984 with the participation of 11 satellite cities of Paris, and is now one of the most popular festivals in the Ile-de-France region near Paris.

Festivals in Korea are still in the early stages of their growth process. Due to their youthfulness, they will attempt diverse experiments, many of which will end in failure. But Korea's emerging festivals are taking on the challenge of expanding into the world by developing events with diverse themes featuring unique Korean characteristics, while promoting universality as well. + 47

TRADITIONAL ARTISAN

Ornamental Knot-making Maedeup Master

Ch

Bong-sup Lee Hyoung-kwon Head, Cultural Properties Research Institute

here is a saying that life begins and ends with a knot. When a woman gives birth, she grasps a knotted cloth rope while in labor to help cope with the pain of childbirth. And when a person departs this world, it is on a flower-covered bier with knotted cords hung from its corners. That's not all. Life may be likened to an endless succession of knots.

In the pas~ Koreans were known for their refinement and grace, and created elegant ornaments out of knotted cords to complement the human figure.

Women would wear their hair in a knot while underneath their fine silk gauze bodice they would place a knotted ornament that would coyly move about, coming in and out of sight, adding to their allure like the scent of a subtle perfume.

To this day, the most common use of knotting, or maedeup, involves ornaments worn with the traditional Korean costume, hanbok. But history reveals that maedeup once had a wide variety of applications.

Through ancient documents, the history of maedeup can be traced back to the aristocracy of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 935), who adorned themselves with dangling silver and gold ornaments. A good example is a pure gold belt from which various gold ornaments were hung. The Silla people loved to lavishly adorn themselves with

T

ornaments which were strung together because they were regarded as being contemporary in style as well as an artistic expression of Silla mythology.

According to Silla's foundation myth, Girn Al-ji, founder of the kingdom's ruling clan, emerged from a gold "box that was found hanging from a tree branch.

This legend was meant to suggest that the ruling class descended from the gods. As such, the dazzling ornaments that the ruling class wore hanging from their waists were a symbolic expression of their descent from heaven.

These ornaments, symbols of privilege, were usually worn at the waist.

However, toward the end of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) when the length of the hanbok bodice was shortened due to the influence of Yuan China, they began to be worn at the chest. As they became smaller in size and their shapes more dainty, they developed into the norigae (chest pendants), which many women still wear .on their vest strings today. In addition to personal ornaments, maedeup was also used to embellish the corners of a funeral bier, as an offering at Buddhist temples, on the banners of farmer's bands, for ceremonies and as decm¡ations.

An integral part of everyday life in the past, traditional maedeup has been pushed aside by Western-style ornaments such that it has now become something out of the ordinary.

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Maedeup is created with a cord made from seven types of threads (right). Processes involved in the making of maedeup (from the top): making the threads; intertwining the threads into a cord; tying the cord into lrnots; a completed maedeup.

However, in one family three generations of women are striving to keep this craft alive: Choi Elm-soon, human cultural asset No. 22 in the art of maedeup, her eldest daughter Chung Bong-sup, and Chung's eldest daughter Park Seonkyung.

Chung Bong"sup's maedeup workshop is located alongside a steep hillside in Taepyeong-dong, Seongnam. It looks more like the living room of an ordinary home than the workshop of an artisan. The only thing in the room is the apparatus required for twining, which stands about as high as a seated person. It is hard to believe that such exquisite, intricate maedeup works are created here.

The master, Choi Eun-soon, is 84 years old. Because of her failing eyesight, she can no longer do the very detailed aspects of maedeup work.

Nevertheless, she is passing on the tradition and her lifetime expertise to her eldest daughter Chung Bong-sup and her granddaughter Park Seon-kyung.

The three generations of women have come to preserve the maedeup tradition because of Chung Bong-sup's father, Chung Yeon-soo. He grew up in a village of artisans that was created during the late ]oseon Dynasty (13921910). It was located where Gwanghuidong stands today and until about 70 years ago, it served as Korea's center of maedeup production. Vendors would display maedeup works, such as bag and purse straps as well as belts and dress pendants on wooden poles, with regular customers being mostly palace women or the wives of senior officials.

"Originally, we were not a family of craftsmen, but father loved to make things," says Chung Bong-sup. "One day he happened to travel to a neighboring 50

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Maedeup on top of the ornament; tying the maedeup to the ornament; a completed maedeup ornament (below).

region and saw people making maedeup. For the fun of it, he tried it himself.

He had a keen eye and was good with his hands and in no time he had mastered the techniques."

Chung Yeon-soo became so interested in maedeup that he would sit at home and work on their creation for hours on end. His parents complained, saying that it was a lowly occupation, but nothing would dissuade him. From the age of 18, he began to take lessons from maedeup masters in the village.

Later, he became the last maedeup master in the community and in 1%8 was designated human cultural asset No. 22, the preserver of an art that had almost disappeared His wife, Choi Eun-soon, became the first heir of his craft. Before she was married, Choi had no idea about what maedeup making involved. When she came to live at her in-laws' house upon her marriage, she was surprised to learn 52

that her husband spent his time at home making maedeup, something that was thought of as a domain for women.

Bewildered, Choi wanted to tell her husband that maedeup was not a man's work. But, believing that a woman should be obedient to her husband, she had no choice except to follow his lead Over time, she was not only able to devote herself to the work as wholeheartedly as her husband, but as she spent time with him, helping out and running errands when needed, she became her husband's assistant and student. And before realizing it, her life was caught up in the art of maedeup.

The work proved to be much more demanding and complex than one could imagine, which is why Choi taught maedeup to only one of her four children, her eldest daughter. The threads and cords would cut her hands and before the wounds could heal, they would be bleeding again.

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Chung Bong-sup saw firsthand all her mother's pain and suffering, but, perhaps because of her father's influence, she was nevertheless captivated by the intricacy, elegance and beauty of maedeup and thus chose to carry on her mother's work A maedeup work is created by making more than three knots on a single cord There are 33 different kinds of traditional knots, including the dor~ butterfly, chrysanthemum, cricket, and dragonfly knots.

As with any other craft, the process of making maedeup is not something that can be easily understood simply by reading about it It can only be learned by doing. Therefore, no matter how simply the process may be explained, it will be practically meaningless without actually doing it with one's own hands.

However, I will briefly explain how the most common maedeup item, the norigae, is created

Strands of silk finer than hair are unraveled one by one and wound around a reel Eighteen strands are twisted together to form thread The thread is then wrapped carefully in a cloth and boiled in soapy water. This is called the "ripening'' process. The thread is dried, dyed and then placed on a reel where it is divided among eight bobbins and woven into cord To create a knotted item, a piece of cord is first folded in the middle (but not cut) to form two pieces of equal length. These are then tied together in a systematic manner to form a sequence of knots. When the knotting is finished, the cord is tightened to secure the knots and complete the maedeup process.

To make the tassel, which provides a brilliant finish to the knots, dyed silk threads are braided first to the left and then to the right, strand by strand. This is placed in a frame and steamed for about ten minutes and dried in the

shade for two days, during which time a small pinhole forms at the ends of the strands that softens and adds body to the tassel. The tassel is attached to the knots to complete the elegant norigae.

The norigae can be further enhanced with the addition of a gemstone such as jade.

Each maedeup work involves a painstaking process. Like giving birth to a child, it requires all of one's energy, while one's concentration must be focused on the end of the cord For this reason, it is said that maedeup is the most demanding handicraft If you watch a person weaving the strands of silk on an implement called a bitot, which looks something like a spool, their fingers moving deftly like a machine to weave the strands into thread and cord, you will appreciate that a maedeup work is a genuine treasure born of ceaseless attention to detail and intense concentration. If the artisan does not concentrate wholly on the weaving process, the cord will not be uniform. If the threads are not pulled evenly, the entire process will have to be repeated Maedeup master Chung Bong-sup epitomizes a woman of the Joseon Dynasty, perhaps because of the painstaking discipline required for creating maedeup or it may be because maedeup work is so representative of feminine beauty. She talks about maedeup in a very low, hushed voice that does not break the silence but rather seems a part of it. Her daughter Park Seon-kyung is very much Hke her in this respect Park says she chose to carry on the maedeup tradition because her grandmother always looked so dignified as she worked In this family where the maedeup tradition has been passed down from eldest daughter to eldest daughter for three generations, the courtly demeanor and demure bearing of these artisans seem to have been passed down as well, something which is most gratifying to see. + 53

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D

Daksil Village Kim}oo-young Novelist

54

t is not difficult to find the way to Yugok-ri, Bonghwa-eup, Gyeongsangbuk-do province. Bonghwa, located in northern Gyeongsangbuk-clo, can be easily reached in about four hours from Seoul, just by consulting a simple map. After reaching downtown Bonghwa and heading in the direction of Chunyang-myeon, a tall building comes into view to the left of the village entrance. This village is Yugok-ri, the home of the Andong

Gwon clan. After crossing a small bridge behind the tall building, there is a slateroof building for senior citizens, where a signboard announces, "Traditional Oiland-Honey Pastry of Daksil's Head Fanlily." This is where the women of the head fanlily of the Andong Gwon clan work together making traditional yugwa, or oil-and-honey pastry.

The village name Daksil, Chicken Room, originated from its physical resemblance to a hen, dak, brooding over

its eggs in a room, sil In order to explain the origin, of the village's traditional yugwa, which are produced to order only, it is first necessary to understand the rituals involved in jesa, or ancestral rites. Jesa is a ceremony performed to pay homage to one's ancestors and ask for blessings with food offerings. In other words, this ceremony combines the functions of venerating a family's ancestors, supplicating their spirits for the well-being of the fanlily and promoting

harmony among family members. In the process of cultural devlopmn~ the rites evolved into a system of stylized forms with the subjects of worship being clearly defined. The rites are based on the teachings of Confucianism, nowadays referred to as the great axis of East Asian philosophy. Moreover, the rites came to be widely practiced by the general populace after Korea became an agrarian society, and they are still observed today in essentially their original form. Following 55

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the introduction of Christianity to Korea, many people called for the abolition of â&#x20AC;˘ jesa, regarding the traditional rites to be a form of idol worship. However, ancestor worship and jesa rites are so deeply rooted in the Korean psyche that there are no signs of their demise as yet The belief and claim that the discontinuation of such traditional rites would erode Korean solidarity as well as communal bonding remains strong even today. ]esa, as part of Korea's traditional ideology, is performed before the memorial tablets of four generations of ancestors.

On the day before the rite, all the family members cleanse their bodies and minds, and avoid coming into contact with unpleasant and impure elements. The ancestral tablets are placed on the ritual table facing southward, below the northwestern wall The tablets of one's father and mother are placed to the west and east, respectively. An incense burner is placed on a small table in front of the ritual table. Chestnuts, jujubes, pears, persimmons, and apples are placed in the first row on the ritual table, in that order.

Dried fish, pickled fish, girnchi, soy sauce, cooked vegetables, and a spoon are placed in the next row, along with stew, fried meat or fish, meat skewered on sticks, rice cakes, oil-and-honey pastry, glutinous rice cake, and bowls of rice and soup in the next Only ingredients produced in the hometown region of the ancestors and their descendents should be selected for offering in the rite.

It is customary not to bargain over price, even if the merchants ask for an exorbi-

tant price. On the way to and from the marke~ care must be taken to avoid any violent or unpleasant incidents, and the possibility of quarreling with anyone. In fac~ jesa is one of the main reasons that Daksil continues to produce traditional oil-and-honey pastry. Another reason is associated with a person who died about 450 years ago: Gwon Beol (1478-1548), a politician who lived during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). Born in Andong, a village of yangban, or aristocrats, not far from Daksil, he passed the civil service examination in 1507. While in office, he was expelled from the court during a campaign calling for "ideal politics" in 1519, following which he returned to Yugok-ri, Bonghwa-eup, Bonghwa-gun, where he bought some farmland There,

he immersed himself in the study of Chinese classics for the next 14 years.

Gwon was restored to his comt position in 1533, but was dismissed again in 1545 when he became embroiled in a court power struggle. He was exiled to Sakju, Pyeong-an-do province and Gurye, Jeollanam-do province, where he died in 1548. Confucianism, the prevailing ideology of the ]oseon Dynasty, is based on strict observance of self-restraint and frugality. For this reason, everyone from the king down to the general public sought to uproot the social stagnancy of the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) when extravagance and abandon prevailed, and instead adopt a lifestyle based on moderation and frugality. Even a quick study of the architecture of the Goryeo and Joseon periods reveals the stark contrasts in their respective ideologies. The ]oseon Dynasty also imposed strict restrictions on the jesa performed by the general public. For instance, the ruling dynasty limited the ancestral rites to four generations of ancestors. Nevertheless, ancestral rites for Gwon Beol, who died some 450 years ago, are performed without fail even today in Yugok-ri, Bonghwa-eup, the village of the Andong Gwon clan.

This is because the Joseon Dynasty gave the family the right of bulcheonwi, meaning that they could perform the ancestral rites permanently in order to pay homage to his virtues and accomplishments. Bulcheonwi refers to keeping the memorial tablet of an ancestor permanently enshrined for worship in order to inspire descendants to learn

A brook flows in front of Cheongamjeong, home of Gwon Beol (above). The women of the Andong Gwon clan in full dress prepare han-gwa for jesa, or ancestral rites (opposite).

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from his spirit and example. This tradition of performing jesa for Gwon Beol on a permanent basis, is the reason Daksil continues to produq; yugwa in their traditional form today.

The rice cakes offered on the ritual table can be compared to Western-style cakes, with yugwa, or oil-and-honey pastry, being comparable to cookies. Hangwa, Korea's traditional pastry, goes by several nan1es, depending on the ingredients used. Among the varieties, gangjeong, a type of pastry made from rice, involves highly intricate skills developed and passed down from the ancient past.

The making of gangjeong is extremely complex. Firs~ glutinous rice, which has been soaked in water for four or five days, is ground into fine powder. The powder is mixed with cheongju, clear

¡-

strained rice wine, sugar and water, and then baked. The baked dough is then spread on a chopping board and cut into small pieces. The chopped pieces are spread out on a heated floor to dry, then cooked in boiling water. Next, they are mixed with honey or grain syrup, and finally, coated in sesan1e, pine nut powder or pine pollen powder. When coated in sesame, they are called kkae gangjeong while those in pine nut powder are jat gangjeong The first step involved in making oil58

and-honey pastry or yugwa is the kneading of dough into pieces of appropriate width and shape. The pieces are dried, fried in oil, mixed with honey or grain syrup, and then coated with popped rice or powdered sesame. According to historical records, during the rule of King Chungseon (r. 1308-1313) of Goryeo, the crown prince offered yugwa at a banquet he hosted while visiting Yuan China The records state that the people of Yuan were greatly impressed with the delightful taste of the yugwa, and praised them highly. After that, the production of yugwa became so popular in Joseon that the supply of honey, sesame oil and grain syrup was almost depleted in the countty. Finally, the court began to limit the amount of yugwa offered even at state banquets for dignitaries.

Y..'1kgwa is another type of traditional Korean pastry. It is made by mixing flour with sesame oil, honey and rice wine.

After being pressed in a mold, the cakes are fried in oil at a temperature of about lSOoc until the inside is cooked. If the temperature of the oil is too low, the cakes can just disintegrate. If it is too high, the outside will bmn before the inside is cooked As soon as a yakgwa is removed from the oil, it is dipped in grain syrup, sprinkled with pine nut powder, and placed in honey water or grain syrup to soak, until the sweetness permeates throughout. Although such a difficult and painstaking process is involved, every procedure is performed completely by hand from start to finish.

Together with my travel companions, I decided to wait until an ancestral rite was held at the head household of Daksil, l)O matter how long it took Fortunately, we heard that one household, belonging to the main branch of the Gwon clan, would be conducting jesa later on the day we arrived The village produces traditional pastry only when there is a jesa of the head family, and when department stores in Seoul place orders for Chuseok, the thanksgiving festival that falls on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. It is not possible to

see the pastry being made at other times.

It was early July and the day was so sweltering that sweat rolled down our backs even when we were doing nothing. Even the cows grazing in the fields were panting laboriously, with their tongues lolling. We wanted to throw off all our clothes and jump into the river, if there had been one, regardless of the embarrassment that would follow. To our astonishment, however, all the women sitting on the raised wooden floor at the residence of the head family to make the pastry were, without exception, dressed in formal hanbok For someone accustomed to life in the city where convenience and expediency are the rule, it was difficult to understand why the women were dressed in layers of clothing in the suffocating heat. The women were attaching tiny flower patterns the size of tobacco seeds ¡onto the gangjeong, and they remained attentive throughout, lest a drop of sweat from their foreheads should fall onto the pastry. The women of the Gwon clan in the village who had come to help out ranged in age from 30 to 60-something.

However, it was easy to see that their spiritual leader was Son Suk, the oldest daughter-in-law of the head family who looked much younger than her 56 years.

Every woman present, regardless of age, followed her instructions, in compliance with the traditional rule of the family that dictated no one should undermine or disdain the authority of the oldest daughter-in-law. The conversation the women engaged in ceaselessly while

Affixing flower decorations onto han-gwa (left).

Completed han-gwa (opposite above).

Han-gwa is made by first frying it and then adding yeot(molasses) and various powders (right). Ingredients and utensils required to make han-gwa (fur right).

making the pastry was extremely far ranging and diverse. Nevertheless, they all spoke in hushed voices so that even the person sitting right next..to them had to listen carefully to be able to hear.

While watching them, I could see that the shackles of countless rules which women of the ruling class had to observe in the past were still casting their dark shadow on these women even today. For instance, Yi Im-hyeong, one of the daughters-in-law of the Gwons in the same village, was a highly educated woman who had graduated from Muhak Girls' High School in Seoul before the outbreak of the Korean War. But from the day she married her husband, born with a life-long duty of preserving the land and house left by his ancestors, she had to be satisfied with the life of a village woman, spending her entire time looking after her husband, children and brothers-in-law. Although she had been effectively isolated from the modern world for a long time, remaining within this remote mountainous region, she said she has no regrets about her sacrifice On the contrary, she was proud of her efforts. Hearing this, I could not help but become solemn I also came to realize that the most essential element of the traditional pastry produced in Daksil was neither its flavor nor attractive appearance, but the resolve and efforts of the Gwon women to keep traditions alive and pass them on to posterity. This is why Daksil's yugwa maintains the essence of Korean traditions, and also reflects the "hands" of

Rear view of Cheongamjeong (above).

View from Cheongamjeong's interior (right).

Stone staircase leading up to Cheongamjeong (far right).

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the women who gave their all even to the smallest detail, while living a life of dedication and sacrifice.

There is a beautiful pavilion called Cheongamjeong at the eastern side of the head residence of the Gwon clan Gwon Beol built it when he lived there after being dismissed from public office. The pavilion sits atop a large rock, and a waterway runs around the perimeter, creating an extremely elegant and refined appearance. Its eaves and nearby trees cast shadows on a pond, producing a scene so picturesque that it deserves to be called the creme de la creme of Oriental aesthetics. The waterway that flows into the pond comes from the rice paddies outside the house to encircle the pavilion before flowing out to the rice paddies again, which are at a lower level than the pavilion. It was posib~e to instantly appreciate the depth of Gwon Beol's vi.ttues, who had undertaken such thoughtful measures to ease the toil of farmers. It is also worth noting that the waterway was designed to allow the pond water to flow constantly to prevent it from becoming stagnant.

Although the stone bridge across the pond is small and narrow, it boasts highly refined taste and exceptional architectural insight, attracting the interest of passers-by. One of the traditional customs of Korea is that when guests visit your house unexpectedly, or even if a vagabond knocks at your door, they should be offered food Certainly, such a hospitable custom is no longer observed in today's self-centered society. But we saw that genuine hospitality was still vety much alive in Daksil where we created a commotion by interviewing people and taking pictures. The warm-heartedness of the Gwon women, who went out without our noticing to buy fruit and rice cakes for the unexpected guests from Seou~ will remain in our memoty far longer than the traditional yugwa in five assotted colors wrapped in elegant cloth that they gave us. They even refused to accept payment for the two boxes of traditional pastry. + 61

MARKETS

Yeongyang Chili Pepper Market KimMi-ok Freelance Writer

eongyang county, located well inland within the northeastern area of Gyeongsangbuk-do province, pulses with activity when autunm comes around.

The reason is the Yeongyang Chili Pepper Marke~ where the taste of Korea is offered for sale.

As the sayjng goes, to get to know a country and get a good feel for how its people live, you should visit its local markets. A visit to the maJket in Yeongyang provides a glimpse into the lifestyle of the area's residents.

Yeongyang is synonymous with chili peppers. The fiery red pepper that has been grown here for the past 300 years, along with tobacco, is a regional specialty.

Located far inland, Yeongyang is an isolated area difficult to access and thus is often called an "inland island."

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Yeongyang lies along the Taebaek mountain range beyond Bonghwa county in Gangwon-do province. Straddling the border between Bonghwa and Yeongyang is Mt. llwolsan, which rises 1,218 meters. To the west is Andong county, one of the highest mountainous areas in Gyeongsangbuk-do.

Yeongyang is surrounded by mountains, which aJe an inseparable aspect of the residents' everyday lives. Located in the mountains are villages of single-family clans. The terrain is 86 percent mountainous with only 10 percent being arable land. It is an area of deep ravines and high mountains where the daily temperature fluctuates widely, while the summers are well-suited for vegetable farming.

Along with its picturesque natural scenery, Yeongyang possesses a lengthy history and unique culture of its own

while scattered about the county are a number of relics designated national treasures or treasures. Also known as a center of literature, the time-honored literary tradition of scholars reading and reciting poetry deep in the mountains has contributed to the emergence of such distinguished writers as Oh li-do, Cho Chi-hun and Yi Mun-yol.

Chili Pepper, the Taste of Korea

Korea's best known food is kimchi in which chili pepper plays an essential role.

From the time people first began to cultivate the land and grain became the main staple, their diet had to be supplemented with vegetables rich in vitamins and minerals in order to achieve a proper nutritional balance. About 1300 years ago, when vegetables were difficult to cultivate in winter, a method of preserving them with salt naturally developed.

The history of kimchi dates back to the seventh century when this method of ¡ A large sculprure of a pair of peppers marks the entrance to the Yeongyang Chili Pepper Market in Dongbu-ri, Yeongyang-eup. From early dawn, pepper farmers begin to gather at the market, bringing in carts full of fresh pepper.

Haggling begins even before sunrise.

The market opens every five days (the 4th, 9th, 14th, 24th, and 29th of every month) at 5 a-m. It usually starts in August and goes on until October or November, depending on the condition of the harvest.

food preservation was first used in Korea. The early types of kimchi were little more than salted vegetables. The chili pepper became a vital k1mchi ingredient around the 18th century and thereafter kimchi gradually developed into what it is today. As a resul~ the chili pepper has played a significant role in the development of a taste that has been unique to Korea for a long time.

Chili powder, one of the main ingredients in kimchi, contains capsaicin that promotes the secretion of gastric juices, thereby helping digestion It is also high in vitamins C and A, which help to prevent acidification and aid in slowing down the aging process.

Chili powder occupies a permanent place on the dinner table of Korean families today as a basic seasoning for all kinds of foods. Indeed, it is hard to imagine Korean food without chili powder.

The taste of kimchi in pa1ticular is determined by the flavor and quality of the chili powder used in its seasoning.

Ripe chili peppers are dried and ground into powder for use in both paste and powder form Young peppers

are eaten green while the leaves are boiled and eaten as well. Traditional foods made with chili pepper include rice and chopped chili pepper wrapped in lettuce, pan-fried stuffed peppers, chili powder-based soups and stews, seasoned chili pepper leaves, and chili pepper leaves preserved in paste, all of which add variety to the dinner table.

Chili pepper has come to symbolize the taste of Korea because it is a "good match," so to speak, with the Korean people. In the past, when a son was born, dried chili peppers were strung together and hung from the gate of the newborn's house. This custom originated from the belief that anything red and spicy had the power to fend off evil.

Koreans also used to believe that eating chili peppers and garlic would protect them against contagious diseases such as cholera Korea's Leading Chili Pepper Producer

The chili pepper originated in Central America and was introduced to Korea in the early 17th century via Japan. In the process of its dissemination, many different varieties of chili pepper have been produced There are now 100 different varieties grown in Korea alone. The peppers are usually named for the area where they are grown with some of the representative examples including the Yeongyang, Cheonan, Eumseong, Cheongsong, ]echeon, and Boeun va1¡ieties.

Chili pepper is grown throughout the country, but only those grown in high mountainous 31¡eas such as Yeongyang where the daily temperature fluctuates

Yeongyang chili peppers have a thick, soft skin, a spicy but sweet taste, and produce considerably more powder than other kinds (left above). Merchants from all over the country gather to haggle over prices and wheedle concessions from pepper growers, creating a raucous scene that is the attraction of a country market (right).

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significantly will have a thick, soft skin, a spicy but sweet taste, and produce considerably more powder than other kinds.

It is for these reasons that Yeongyang chili peppers are so popular.

Chili peppers are Yeongyang's specialty and the county's major revenue source. With ideal natural conditions for chili pepper cultivation, Yeongyang produces the top traditional vatieties such as subicho and chilseongcho, and since the 1970s the area has been recognized as Korea's leading producer of chili peppers.

These days chili peppers account for over 40 percent of the county's agricultural revenue.

Yeongyang is at its busiest in August when it is havest time for chili peppers.

The seeds are sown in Mat·ch and nurtured under the hot summer sun until they ripen bright red. From August to early November when the peppers a~·e picked, dried, processed and shipped, the Yeongyang Chili Pepper Market is an impressive sight Merchants from all over the country gather there to haggle over prices and wheedle concessions from pepper growers, creating a raucous scene that is the attraction of a counuy mat·ket The dried red peppers give off an aroma that is as pungent as their fiery red color, which serves as a powerful lure for merchants and consumers. The sound of country women bantering at the top of their lungs and the earthy laughter of the men create a palpable vitality at the Yeongyang Chili Pepper Mat · ke~ which opens every fifth day (on the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th, and 29th of each month).

Since the 1990s, pepper production 66

has been outpacing demand, and with the easing of chili pepper imports under the Uruguay Round agreement, prices have been falling steadily. The pepper farmers of Yeongyang have naturally suffered as a result, but through their unceasing effo1ts, they have managed to do more than survive.

Yeongyang, where chili pepper is the major cash crop, is home to the only institute in Korea dedicated to chili pepper research. The Yeongyang Chili Pepper Experimental Center was founded under the auspices of the provincial agricultural development agency in April 1995 and commenced operation in

Fast hands of the pepper market trade--doing the bookkeeping, showing off the peppers, and most importantly counting the money after negotiations-make the market come alive

September 1995. Its research activities have served to invigorate pepper production in the Yeongyang a~·e.

The Yeongyang Chili Pepper Experimental Center is located in Daecheon-ri, Yeongyang cou.nty. The center is situated on a site of 22,900 square meters and includes lab a~·es for research, processing, and seed breeding, as well as a greenhouse manned by professional researchers and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. The ultimate goal of the center is to come up with technical improvements for chili pepper cultivation, su·engthen the competitiveness of pepper farms in the at·ea, and promote demand for chili peppers, thereby helping to increase the income of pepper fat·ming households.

Already, the centei S efforts have led to significant results. By studying gene samples collected from Korea and abroad, the institute has succeeded in improving the traditional Yeongyang subicho variety, which despite having the spicy, sweet taste that Koreans prefer, was previously susceptible to disease and therefore difficult to raise.

The center intends to become the world's foremost chili pepper research institute by conducting extensive reseat·ch into breeding, processed pepper products and the development of superior chili pepper varieties, all to help ensure a bright future for chili pepper cultivation in Yeongyang.

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A farmer showing off his grandson. In the paternalistic countty that is Korea, pepper has come to be a sign of masculinity, as well as a phallic symbol.

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"Chili peppers. are cultivated all over the country and each region believes that its product is the best," says center chief Bae Do-ham "This is healthy competition and we feel a great responsibility to enhance the quality of Korean pepper varieties. We will strive to gain recognition, first in Yeongyang, where the institute is located, and eventually across the entire country."

Promoting the Excellence of Yeongyang Chili Peppers

In 1984, the county of Yeongyang inaugurated the Miss Chili Pepper beauty pageant. It is now a biennial event under which a young woman from the county is selected on the basis of her disposition and appearance to serve as a promotional ambassador for Yeongyang chili peppers.

In 1999, the Korea National Tourism Organization conducted a campaign to select a specialty product for each region, for which the chili pepper was chosen as the representative product of Yeongyang, in recognition of its unmistakable excellence. That same year, the county won the grand prize in the sea-

soning/condiment division of the nationwide agricultural products fair, held to commemorate the eighth annual Farmet"s Day. Yeongyang has experienced various difficulties over the past few years. But thanks to the unceasing efforts of its farmers, the local agricultural authorities and the research institute, there has been rapid advancement in terms of cultivation techniques and improvements in the distribution system, especially in comparison to other regions, a good omen of a promising future.

According to Lee Yeo-hyeong, the county chief, a chili pepper festival is planned for September this year to coincide with the opening of the chili pepper ,market in Dongbu-ri, Yeongyang-eup. ''Yeongyang county is investing heavily in creating a foundation that will strengthen the competitiveness of Korean agriculture," Lee says. "As patt of these efforts, Yeongyang has been aggressively pursuing the cultivation of vegetables that at¡e suitable for seasoning with chili pepper and the development of processed pepper products, along

Content from the sales of her produce, a chonno (country grandmother) counts up her take for the day.

with building four processing plants in the mountains. In the future, we will be concentrating on the development of processed products and the production of 100 percent sun-dried chili peppers, as well as promoting the nutritional benefits of chili peppers, and exploring ways to increase the demand for chili peppers and related products."

This autumn, when the chili peppers are harvested, the Yeongyang pepper market will be open as always. No one knows exactly when the market started.

It just developed naturally when people began to settle in the area and grow chili peppers. This is where the chili pepper comes from that can be used to season all kinds of food according to individual tastes.

At the Yeongyang Chili Pepper Marke~ where the trading is as vigorous and strong as the red color of the chili pepper, you can plainly feel the energy of life. + 67

CUISINE

·soybean Paste Soup Koo Chun-sur Director, World Food Research Institute

ttracted by the sweet fragrance_of a dazzling, white native Korean wild rose, a young girl goes up close to smell a blossom and gets stung by a bee. "Ouchf' she screams, and runs away, crying. In no time, the girl's nose is red and swollen The girl's grandmother, who had witnessed the scene, hurries into the kitchen, grabs a glob of something brown and sticky, and proceeds to rub it on the bee sting. Shottly thereafter, the girl begins to play again as if nothing had happened While the girl plays, her grandmother gathers wild garlic, zucchini, peppers and other vegetables along a nearby riverbank With these and fermented soybean paste, she begins to prepare a soup.

Once the soup begins to boil and give off a pungent aroma, the young girl runs toward the soup pot, pleading "Grandma, I'm hungry!" The grandmother brings out a small table laden with rice, lettuce, other vegetables, and a small crockery bowl boiling over with the bean paste soup. The wild garlic gives the simple soup a unique flavor.

Without a word, the young girl immediately wraps some rice in a lettuce leaf

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and pops it into her mouth and follows it with a spoonful of soup. In no time, the contents of the once overflowing bowl have disappeared and the girl is sated. :' Although it was tens of thousands of years .ago that the first people settled on the Korean peninsula, it is assumed that it has only been some five thousand years since Koreans first engaged in agriculture and crop cultivation Since then, Koreans have had to survive countless foreign invasions, as well as frequent flocx:ling and droughts. They also had to endure harsh winters with temperatures plunging below minus 20'c with only limited food until spring. During these hard times, only the elite such as government officials and aristocrats could eat pork, beef or other meat Ordinary people rarely had the chance to eat meat even once a month.

When people started settling on the Korean peninsula, the indigenous sta-

ples included soybean, millet, a wild grass called pi and a few other grains.

Many of these have disappeared from Korean dinner tables since foreign grains, such as rice and wheat, were introduced to Korea. However, Koreans have devised a variety of ways to process and store soybeans, which remain an essential element of the Korean diet. In the earlier story, what the girl's grandmother used on the bee sting is doenjang, a fermented soybean paste. In Korea, doenjang is a kitchen staple used for seasoning, as a basic ingredient in soups, a deodorizer in the refrigerator, a neutralizer for insect bites, and a salve for burns. It is also a good source of protein.

Recently there has been significant

A block of fermented soybean hanging from the eaves (top).

Well-fermented doenjang (below). _

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In Korea, doenjang is a kitchen staple used for seasoning, as a basic ingredient in soups, a deodorizer in the refrigerator, a neutralizer for insect bites, and a salve for burns.

It is also a good source of protein.

Ingredients used in making doenjang soup.

The recipe for doenjang differs greatly depending on the region.

But basic ingredients include tofu, squash, hot green peppers, radish, garlic and green onions.

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research on soybeans and processed soybean products, attracting the interest of many people in the West and throughout the world The soybeans grown in Korea contain more protein than those mass-produced in the United States and Brazil.

Koreans usually cook them with rice and barley or process them differently for preservation. The processing methods were passed on to Japan in the Middle Ages. Meanwhile, Japanese have developed their own ways to process and preserve soybeans, with some of these, especially miso and shoyu, being well-known They are both made from

fermented soybeans and are similar to Korean soybean paste and soy sauce.

Fermented soybean paste in Korea is used as a spice and condiment. It is also known to be an anti-carcinogen, and has other health attributes as well. In i993, Dr. Jean Carper published the worldwide best seller Food: Your Miracle Medicine. In her book, Carper contends that eating soybeans is the most effective way to prevent cancer, and is especially recommended for women. Moreover, Kenneth Setchell of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center says that women in America, particularly those with a history of can-

and an assortment of seasoned blanched vegetables. The crockery bowl helps to keep it piping hot while you eat. That's the fun of eat.ing bean paste soup. However, many Koreans will hesitate to recommend it to foreign visitors because of its pungent aroma. Soybean paste has a unique smell from its fermentation process that can be overwhelming to first timers, especially Westerners.

Once you get used to it, you will find that the soup has a savory taste. But be careful, just like nuokmam from Vietnam, sushi and shoyu from Japan, or curry from India, you can easily get hooked.

There is no particular recipe for bean paste soup. Each family in Korea has their own way of cooking it, using different ingredients.

This nutritious, healthy and traditional Korean soup offers a unique experience for the adventuresome tourist and is definitely worth a try when you visit Korea.+

cer in their family, should eat soybeans regularly. Many readers are attracted to Carper's theory that modern diseases can be prevented and cured without taking drugs, although there might not be instant results. In her book, Carper explains the causes of various diseases and the foods that should be eaten for protection. She states that soybeans regulate estrogen and fight the growth of certain cancers. In addition, miso is also known as an effective anti-carcinogen, which has led to miso from Japan becoming popular in Korea. Related to this, Korean researchers conducted comparative studies on both miso and doen-

For many Koreans, the aroma of doenjang reminds them of home.

jang, which indicated that Korean soybean paste was more effective than Japanese rr:iso.

As bean paste soup is relatively off the beaten culinary path, not many tourists get to try it when they visit Korea. This soup is especially popular among students and budget-minded consumers, as it makes for a moderately priced yet nutritious meal. It is served in a crockery bowl accompanied by side dishes of rice, kimchi

DISCOVERING

KOREA

WETLANDS

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he Upo wetlands in Changnyeong, Gyeongsangnam-do province, make up the largest in Korea. natural wetland ~ rea The original Korean name for Upo was Sobeol The name Upo derives from the name written in Chinese characters and was first used on a map during Japan's colonial rule of Korea (1910-1945).

It is said that the name Sobeol is a combination of the Chinese character so, swamp, and the Korean word bed plains, and to this day many of the local people still use Sobeol rather than Upo.

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Upo, which was recently designated Korea's most significant ecological preservation area, refers not only to the Upo wetlands itself, but a broader area that covers four separate wetlands-Upo, Mokpo, Sajipo, and Jjokjibeol. The wetlands are located at the neck of a mountain to the north of the wetlands called Somoksan, "Cow's Neck Mountain." The village at the foot of the mountain is known as Somokmaeul, "Cow's Neck Village!' Together, the four wetlands form an area 25 kilometers by 1.6 kilometers, the biggest natural wetlands area in Korea.

The wetlands of Ibang-myeon and Daehap-myeon were formed by the narrowing of some of the smaller streams flowing into the Nakdong River.

Swampy lakes formed alongside the banks of the river from the boundary of Gyeongsangbuk-do, which is in the midstream area of the Nakdong River, between Changnyeong and Namji counties.

The Nakdong and Topyeongcheon rivers were formed with the emergence of eroded valleys during the Ice Age. In the late Ice Age, the down-

stream reach of the Topyeongcheon had a limited water-flow capacity which in times of heavy rainfall would cause a backwash. As a result, when the waters of the main Nakdong River impeded the flow of its Topyeongcheon tributary, the sediment carried by the Topyeongcheon accumulated downstream. Natural banks formed and the water trapped within these banks formed marshy lakes that became the wetlands now known as Upo, Mokpo, Sajipo and Jjokjibeol .

All the water of the Upo wetlands

comes from the Topyeongcheon, which is a significant body of water, and other surrounding rivers.

The Upo wetlands are noteworthy for several reasons. First, a wetland area is capable of retaining water while performing the functions of absorbing, releasing and storing water for various periods of time. As such, it provides an ideal habitat for fish and other aquatic creatures while maintaining a constant level of underground water. In times of flooding, when the waters of the Nakdong overflow, the water level of the Upo wetlands rises to

over 5 meters in depth, thus serving as a natural reservoir, with a capacity of some 134 million cubic meters, which helps to control flood waters and provide water for irrigation Second, the chemical processes that take place within the wetlands are of vital significance. The amount of matter produced by the marsh plants of the Upo wetlands is approximately 2,767 deadweight tons per annum, which is a higher average per unit area than any other region The amount of nitrogen and phosphorous absorbed by the aquatic plants are estimated to reach 46,985 and 5,385 kilograms per year, respectively. As leaves and other organic matter decompose, they are spread through the wetlands while the chemicals produced through the eutrophication process, such as nitrate and phosphate, are absorbed by the plants.

Third, because of the richness of the plant matter, the wetlands are an excellent

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habitat for animal life, thereby helping to ensure the diversity of the animal population The water provides plenty of nutrition that enables the plants to flourish.

Birds,. fish and other animals gather around the plants, lay their eggs and rear their offspring there. Moreover, the wetlands play an essential role in the preservation and protection of the fish and shellfish as well as many kinds of freshwater plants living there.

In contrast to land animals, the creatures of the wetlands have nowhere else to go if the wetlands are destroyed They would lose their natural habitat and be threatened with extinction. Studies have identified 1,772 types of flora and fauna that make their home in the Upo wetlands, including plants, freshwater fish, birds, insects, and invertebrates. The preservation of Upo is therefore critical for the survival of its diverse plant and animal life.

Studies indicate that there are a total of 435 different kinds of plants found at Upo, including 38 orders, 109 families, 288 genera, 375 breeds, and 1 sub-order, along with 62 varieties and 7 forms. The plants in Upo show a high level of diversity, accounting for some 50-60 percent of all plant types in Korea. This diversity of plant life is due to the consistent environment of the Upo, Mokpo, Sajipo and Jjokjibeol wetlands and the Topyeongcheon, in addition to the diversity of the surrounding area which includes farmland and agricultural waterways, the comparatively moderate climate and the relatively unpolluted conditions.

Wtld winter geese search fur fuod in the wetlands (top).

Wtld winter ducks flock to the.wetlands' shores (below).

Pond skaters (right, top).

A variety of floating leaves cover the waters (right, below).

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The small cheonggaeguri (green frog), indigenous to Korea, can be found in the Upo wetlands.

The Upo wetlands are home to three kinds of plants listed on the Ministry of Environment's specially protected fauna and flora list. These include the thorny lotus whose leaves, 2 to 3 meters in diameter, are said by Korean scholars to be the biggest leaves of any plant in the country; the h ydronicus asiatica, a kind of grass that grows in the wetlands; and a rare insect-eating plant that has been discovered in the area. In addition, 48 naturalized plants and 10 introduced plants have been identified, while the area where naturalized plants are growing is rapidly expanding.

The types of birds stopping by at Upo vary according to the season As the north wind subsides and the warm spring breezes begin to blow, summer migratory birds such as moorhens, coots and

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dabchicks can be seen making their nests among the reeds or on the water. From June to August as the foliage thickens, newly hatched spot-billed ducks learn to swim in the shallow water near the willows while baby pheasants form lines along the banks.

Adding to the charm of summer at Upo are the sounds of eastern great reed warblers as they venture among the reeds, yellow orioles singing beautifully at the top of their voices, cuckoos who lay their eggs in the nests of other birds and then linger around, and the crystalline sound of bluebirds.

As autumn comes around and the rice plants start bowing their heavy heads, the colors of Upo change to brown. The water level starts to subside and the land begins to show. This is when the spot-billed ducks, mallards, teal ducks, Australian curlews, snipes, and Kentish plovers gather at the wetlands while the flocks of ducks flying

down from the north grow noticeably larger every day.

Toward the end of autumn in October, flocks of geese form V-shaped patterns in the sky while flying in with other winter migratoty birds such as mallards, Bail(al teals and whooper swans.

Winter migratory birds are known to fly over 3,000 kilometers to Korea from Siberia and northern China. They survive a journey fraught with such dangers as gale-force winds, torrential rain, and attacks by natural predators including eagles to arrive in Korea without fail every year. The birds which spend their winter at Upo are mostly water birds, such as swans, ducks and geese. They come between November and January and then take off for the north in February and March. Bean geese and ducks come together from Siberia and northern Manchuria around midOctober while swans visit in November.

Recently, the rare spoonbill has also been sighted at Upo. In the wetlands convention adopted at Ramsar, Iran, in February 1972, wetlands are defined as "areas of marsh, fen, peatland, whether natural or artificial water, permanent or temporary, static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed 6 meters." The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, which is the first international agreement in the world focused on the conservation and protection of the diversity of living creatures, was adopted after the International Conference on the Conservation of Wetlands and Waterfowl. It is a major .international environmental treaty that is closely related to the Convention for Biological Diversity and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The Upo wetlands were included under this treaty in 1998, thus providing an impetus for more effective use and preservation of the wetlands' ecology and enhancing the image of Korea overseas in terms of environmental diplomacy. +

.Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue at ¡Bongjeongsa Temple Moon Myung-dae Professor, Dongguk University/ Head, the Art History Research Institute Korea

.he wooden statue of a seated Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, which has come to be widely known since its recent discovery at Bongjeongsa Temple, is typical of Bodhisattva statues produced in the 14th century during the late Goi¡yeo Dynasty (918-1392), featuring key characteristics of the so-called dana (refined) style of its time. Its splendid jeweled crown, intricate yet elegant ornamental beads carved on the chest, abdomen and knees, graceful folds of the inner cloth covering the chest, and the knots on the waist sash are representative of the exquisite forms that prevailed during the Goryeo period All the wooden ornaments found inside the statue were created and placed within the statue in 1753 when the statue was re-coated in gilt-bronze, according to an inscription. The inscription, however, states that the statue had been refinished in 1363, which verifies that it was originally produced in the 14th century. This article seeks to compare this exceptional 14th century statue with other statues of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas of the same period to highlight its formative characteristics, as well as to delve into its history.

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The long thin fingers of the hand raised to chest level and the thumb touching the middle finger are indicative of the period when the statue was made.

Background of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Statue

"In embracing Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva of great mercy and compassion, we are creating a statue in the image of Buddha and pray for its continuance for tens of thousands of generations," reads a line from the prayer on the statue's inscription. As the

Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva stat1,1e has been preserved for almost 700 years, though not yet tens of thousands of generations, the prayer of its keepers has been realized to a certain extent.

A number of Buddhist statues created during the late Goryeo period remain extant today, with the date of their creation being known in many cases. A large number of these are images of Amitabha Buddha and his attendant Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva. An analysis of Dongmunseon (Selection of W1itings of the East), a compilation of noteworthy writings and calligraphy of the Goryeo period, indicates that Vairocana Buddha, Maitreya Bodhisattva, Bhaisajyaguru Buddha and Amitabha Buddha were equally represented in Bud~ist statuary and painting works at that time.

Nevertheless, the majority of today's existing Buddhist statues and paintings are of Amitabha Buddha and his attendants Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva. One reason for this is the fact that a greater number of Amitabha Buddha statues were originally produced. Another is the propensity of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) Buddhism for longevity and rebirth in Paradise, which led to the construction of Geungnakjeon (Sukhavati or Paradise 79

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Hall) and Myeongbujeon (Hades Hall) halls in Buddhist temples along with the enshrinment of statues of Amitabha and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva therein, including those produced during the Goryeo period This was also one of the reasons why Japanese invaders plundered so many such paintings and statues.

The statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva of Bongjeongsa is believed to originally have been part of an Amitabha triad produced in 14th century Goryeo. Judging from the inscription found inside the statue, the Amitabha and Mahathamaprapta Bodhisattva, the two other figures that had made up the triad, were ah¡eady lost by the time the statue was restored and enshrined in Bongjeongsa's Daeungjeon (the main hall where Sakyamuni is enshrined) in 1753. During the restoration and enshrinment of the statue, the people prayed for the king, his subjects, and the nation to be free from worldly troubles so that they would be reborn on a pedestal of lotus flowers growing in pure soil in the paradise of enlightenment Notable Features of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva Image ¡ ~

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The wooden statue is a beautiful sculpture that exemplifies the refined characteristics that prevailed during the late Goryeo period. Although the Bodhisattva's facial expression has taken on a somewhat rigid look due to the re-creation of the jeweled crown as part of the recent restoration work, it is hardly noticeable since the statue is so exceptional in all other aspects. The torso of the statue is elongated, which appears to be why a tall crown was used. The crown is magnificent, somewhat similar to that of the 1395 statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva enshrined at Jangyuksa Temple. Possibly, it even more closely resembles the tall crowns of the gilt-bronze statues of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Mahathamaprapta Bodhisattva produced in 1333.

The face of the Bongjeongsa statue is long and oval, similar to that of the gilt-

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bronze statue of the Bhaisajyaguru Buddha at Changgoksa Temple created in 1346 or the gilt-bronze Amitabha Buddha at Munsusa Temple produced in 1346. The statue's uma (long white light-emitting curl of hair between the Buddha's eyes), which is relatively large compared to the forehead, and its long nose, small mouth and small eyes are almost identical to those of these two statues. However, the way the tip of the nose was finished and the overall shape of the face resembles the gilt-bronze statue of Buddha at Sinansa Temple. The

body, upper body is slim, as is the ~ower which is in a lotus position, giving the statue a neatly groomed appearance.

The Bodhisattva's left hand rests on one knee while his right hand is raised up to his chest, with the thumb and middle finger touching each other. The long, slender fingers are typical of contemporary Amitabha statues.

The Bodhisattva is wearing a samghati (a long, loose robe worn by Buddha) that covers both shoulders in a manner similar to statues of Buddha produced during the late Goryeo peri-

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od. This differs from statues of the early 14th century in that there is hardly any pattern similar to omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet on the left elbow. The Jangyuksa statue of Bodhisattva also shows almost no traces of the sign. In addition, there are very few folds in the robes of Buddhist statues produced around the 1400s, which provides an important reference for pinpointing the date of their creation. The inner piece of cloth covering the chest is rendered somewhat askew and carved in linear lines, with knots and embellishments-characteristics of 14th century Buddhist statues-and similar to the Amitabha statue at Munsusa and the Bodhisattva statue at Jangyuksa.

Intricate bead ornaments are carved expertly on the chest, abdomen and lower legs, comparable to the statues of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva and Mahathamaprapta Bodhisattva produced in 1333. However, these splendid bead ornaments are perhaps closest to those of the Jangyuksa Bodhisattva in style and form. Another aspect similar to the Jangyuksa statue is the triangular fold of the samghati, draped below the knees. There are usually no folds in the robes of Bodhisattva statues of the 14th

centurY: Still, there are folds carved on the left knee of the Buddha statue enshr!ned at Sinamsa Temple, and on both knees of the Jangyuksa statue. As such, if can be surmised that this feature gained popularity from the late 14th century.

From this perspective, the Bongjeongsa Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva statue is an exquisite and refined sculpture highly similar to the Bodhisattva statues produced during the 14th century at the end of the Goryeo Dynasty. In regard to several of its characteristics, they appear to be almost identical to Bodhisattva statues of the late 14th century. One sentence in the inscription reads: ''Recoated in gilt-bronze on the twenty-first day of the third leap month of the twentythird year of Gemyo of Goryeo." If the word "recoated" is deleted from this sentence, then , the statue becomes a work of 1363, which appears to be the most likely possibility.

Overall Significance

As such, the statue is almost certainly a work of the late 14th century, around 1363. If this could be confirmed, then it would represent the only one of all the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva statues of this kind whose production date is

A full length view ofBongjeongsa's Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (opposite). ¡ Headpiece of the Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva (above left). The face of the statue features thin refined lines (above right).

known. The statue of Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva at Jangyuksa is actually of ]oseon Dynasty origin, as it was produced in 1395 and as such, the Bongjeongsa statue is all the more significant.

It is highly probable that this statue was part of an Amitabha triad, and not created to be enshrined by itself. It is even possible that it was enshrined in the Geungnakjeon of Bongjeongsa. The large statue of a seated Buddha and the statue of Amitabha in the temple's Geungnakjeon should be studied more closely to identify any likely connection.

It is also an important sculpture that reveals the development process of the dana style featured in Bodhisattva statues, while reflecting the refined, magnificent and intricate beauty of other Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva statues.

Accordingly, the statue warrants careful evaluation from multifaceted perspectives to ascertain its significance in the history of Korean a1t. + 81

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A Re rospective Exhibition Of Korea's Monumental Artist

Kim Ki -chang Choi Byung-sik Art Critic/Professor, School of Art, Kyunghee University

he Chosun Ilbo Gallery and Gallery H yundai held the second retrospective exhibition of the works of Kim Ki-chang (pen name Unbo) from July 5 to August 5. The exhibition featured works which reflected the breadth of the artistic range of Kim, who is touted as one of the pillars of Korean contemporary art.

Kim is often referred to as an monumental artist. He is revered as one of the oldest living Korean artists who had served as a bridgehead between modern and contemporary art. Another reason for this reverance is the strenuous and awe-inspiring efforts he exerted to rise above his physical disability.

Kin1 was born in Unni-dong, Seoul in 1914. He graduated from Jungang Kindergarten at the age of seven and entered Seungdong Elementary School.

At about this time, however, he contracted typhoid fever and lost his hearing. He then began to study under Kim Eun-ho (pen name Yidang), a leading painter at the time. Ten years later, he won six awards and a grand prize at the Joseon Art Exhibition. In 1946, he married Bak Rae-hyeon (pen name

T

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Gallery Hyundai

Kim is often referred to as an monumental artist. He is revered as one of the oldest living Korean artists who had served as a bridgehead between modern and contemporary art. Another reason for this reverance is the strenuous and awe-inspiring efforts he exerted to rise above his physical disability.

Uhyang), also an artist. With Bak as his lifelong companlon, competitor and lover, the couple held their 18th joint exhibition in the United States in 1971. The two artists could tell many dramatic stories about their intense love and hatred, as well as compassion for each other, which ended when Bak died in 1976.

In order to discuss Kim 's value as an artist, it is necessary to understand that the vicissitudes the couple experienced during their 30 years of marriage, and Kim's burning artistic spirit that he consummated while overcoming his handicap, are unprecedented in the history of Korean modern art. Since the death of his wife, Kin1 has devoted much of his time and efforts to the disabled, mainly those with hearing disabilities. His humanitarian work contrasts sharply with the paranoia and finicky personality for which he is known, which has further heightened the public's attention to the eccentric artist.

Discussing the artistic world of Kim is extremely difficult for several reasons.

First of all, because his artistic realm spans more than seven decades, studies on the different time periods can be as demanding as those required to under-

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stand Korea's modern and contemporary art history. The artist also experimented with a broad range of different styles during each time period Kim's artistic career can be classified into 10 time periods: infancy and childhood (1914-1929, age 1 to 16); academic (the Joseon Art Exhibitions, 1930-1944, age 17 to 31); transitional (1945-1951, age 32 to 38); dismantlement (1952-1962, age 39 to 49); abstraction (1963-1966, age 50 to 53); diversification (1966-1975, age 53 to 62); Unbostyle paintings I (babo paintings) (1975-1984, age 62 to 71); Unbo-style paintings II (babo paintings, landscape and letter paintings) (1984-1989, age 71 to 76); Unbo-style paintings III (dot and line series) (1989-1992, age 76 to 79); and Unbo-style paintings IV (gen-

eralization) (1992-, from age 80).

The "babo-style (babo means a fool in Korean) paintings," so-dubbed by the artist himself, represent Kim's most unique style. He began to create such paintings in 1975, including Limited,

Moonlit Night, Sounds of Bells at Dawn, and Buddhist Monk. The 1976 Namgyeong Gallery exhibition displayed Kim's works at the height of his style of paintings, featuring natural themes, from deep green mountains to rivers, birds, and flowers. These works were modernized variations on the traditional folk paintings of the late Joseon period, rooted in the same ideological foundation.

His babo landscape paintings were followed by paintings of auspicious signs and symbols of longevity. A key

Kim Ki-chang's babo-style landscape paintings on display at a recent restrospective exhibition.

characteristic of these paintings is a freedom of time and space. Virtually every inch of the painting allows the viewer to .experience a spatial liberation that is almost revolutionary in nature, as well as freely changing forms. The freedom derived from his techniques of bold accentuation and omission, the abstract brush strokes and the introduction of unexpected subjects, as well as the unique composition, does not allow his paintings to be directly understood in an intellectual manner but presents an entirely new way of understanding the world. This world view is based on 83

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Taoism and Buddhism, which are not restrictive but rather enable one to make a free and intuitive departure.

Another fascinating element of the babo-style landscape paintings is their humor. This is a quality that comes from the artist's remarkable wit and selfconfidence, in addition to his childlike innocence. It is also related to the aesthetics of freedom and composure inherent in the thinking of pre-modern Koreans. The babo-style landscape paintings are a manifestation of the artist's ardent desire to embody the Taoist idea of returning to nature, as well as to create contemporary versions of traditional Korean paintings by adapting traditional Oriental ink painting styles to modern painting.

While the concepts of space introduced in this particular style of painting are extraordinary, it is also worth noting that Kim is both deaf and unable to speak But as the artist himself once stated, this disability has allowed him to learn to adapt to relatively less freedom than is enjoyed by most people and to escape from the everyday routine with greater ease.

During the 1980s, he introduced new elements into his babo-style landscape paintings and produced numerous 84

wor ~ s depicting flowers and birds, along with literati paintings. He also produced landscape paintings that were popular with the public. In 1989, he introduced another new series of paintings,¡based on dots and lines, at an exhibition held at the National Museum of Contemporary Art. In 1993, he also held an exhibition of works presenting a new interpretation of his past babostyle landscape paintings, and paintings of mountains and rivers and animals, at Gallery Hyundai in 1993. This was also his last presentation of new works.

After building a new house in Cheongju in 1984, he began to live as a recluse, concentrating solely on his art for the next 10 years. Due to a recent worsening of his heart trouble and septicemia, however, Kim has since distanced himself from .the public while taking the time to contemplate his long,¡ eventful life. He is also seeming! y una ware that two galleries recently commemorated his 88th birthday by holding a large-scale exhibition of his works.

In studying Kim Ki-chang's life and artistic world, it is necessary to briefly summarize the unique concept of the world that he created by integrating both life and art, without specifically

Kim Ki-chang's powerful brush strokes and his use of colors are especially expressive in his works depicting animals and flo~ers.

discussing their significance in the history of art. The first characteristic of his world view is naturalism.

The second characteristic is a combination of boldness and humor. Through the powerful energy created by dynamic bruch strokes as well as expressive and intuitive boldness and sense of space, Kim Ki-chang revealed a unique talent for embracing and harmonizing the 'two contrasting elements of grandeur and diminutiveness.

The third characteristic is the creation of rich and diverse styles. This diversity could be an aesthetic by-product stemming from his intense passion and energy.

Fourth, although it is somewhat premature to discuss the significance of his works in the history of Korean art, Kim can be regarded as an educator who taught many students and as a major artist linking the periods of modern and contemporary art in Korea. As such, it is unfortunate that he did not have enough time to more fully perfect his highly original style of painting. â&#x20AC;˘

Review I

Dance Performances in the Spotlight: La Ba yadere, and Black Angel Jang Kwang-ryul Dance Critic

ummer is a relatively uneventful season for the Korean dance community. At this time of the year, fewer dance performances are staged, while attendance drops off as well. This year, however, La Bayadere performed by the Universal Ballet, and Black Angel performed by the Choe Sang Cheul Dance Project, both captured prominent media interest. The former is a large-scale ballet performance, noted for the difficulties of its stage production, while the latter is a highly experimental work fusing multimedia elements with dance, produced with government assistance.

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Universal Ballet's La Bayadere

A key measure for assessing the caliber of a professional dance troupe is its

repertoire. If a troupe's standard repertoire includes Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere, it is considered a major dance group among global dance circles.

Among these ballet pieces, La Bayadere requires particularly exacting dance techniques and exceptional acting skills from the principal dancers, not to mention from the 32 corps dancers. Moreover, the production costs are higher than usual, in order to do justice to the exotic setting of the story, which takes place in India. Indeed, this is a major ballet production, one that even globally renowned ballet troupes find difficult to stage.

In this respect, Universal Ballet's La Bayadere, performed at the Seoul Arts Center Opera House from June 26-29,

contributed significantly toward elevating the future prospects for Korean ballet's entry onto the world stage.

La Ba yadere takes place in India and tells the story of Solor, a princely warrior, who is deeply in love with Nikiya, a bayadere, or temple dancer. But Princess Gamzatti, the Rajah's daughter, wants Solor for herself. Due to the rather loose dramatic structure of the piece, the dramatic tension can easily diminish, unless supported by consummate dancing techniques and the acting prowess of the lead performers.

Hwang Jae-won, who played Solar in the opening performance, demonstrated adequate technique, while Jun Eun-sun was a joy to watch, especially her resilient port de bras (a movement or series of movements made by pass85

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Art Review

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ing the arm or arms through various positions) and precise movements. Both the dancers, however, failed to convincingly reveal the radical transformation of each character's personality. Ioana Vasilescu, who played the role of Gamzatti, also fell short of expectations both in her dancing and acting.

This less than impressive dancing and acting from the principal dancers served to make the first half of the ballet seem somewhat fragmented, which even undermined the producer's efforts to focus the audience's attention by using only the front of the stage throughout most of the performance.

The most representative dance of La Bayadere was the drum dance performed during the marriage of Gamzatti and Solor in the second act.

Also breathtaking was the starkly contrasting dynamic and restrained movements by the corps dancers in act three.

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Universal Ballet's La Bayadere contributed significantly toward elevating the future prospects for Korean ballet's entry onto the world stage (top).

The drum dance, performed by eight dancers, most of them male, was particularly delightful for its highly entertaining elements. The high point of the ballet piece, however, was the magnificent

and dreamlike third act, the Kingdom of the Shades, featuring corps dances, solo performances by female soloists, and a pas de deux by Nikiya and Solar.

The ever-changing ensemble of 32 corps dancers was spectacular, creating an almost mesmerizing effect, while Kim Se-yon, one of the three soloists, stole the show with her outstanding physique and the fluidity of her movements.

Aside from the stage grandeur, the quality of the dancing of the principal dancers, soloists and corps dancers is the essence of a ballet production. The biggest shortcoming of the Universal Ballet's La Bayadere was the dancers' lack of natural expressiveness, which resulted in their failure to express the story's ¡dramatic elements.

In the past, technical aspects played an important role in the evaluation of a classical ballet piece, but starting in the

1Art Review

late 20th century, an increasingly greater emphasis began to be placed on the creativity of individual characters through emotional expressiveness and the acting talent of the principal performers. In order for this ballet piece by the Universal Ballet to be well received on the world stage, it should be reinforced with the principal dancers' convincing portrayal of "creative" and "individual" characters through commensurate acting skills.

Choe Sang Cheul Dance Project's Black Angel

Starting in the late 20th century, choreographers in many countries undertook various attempts to integrate multimedia elements with dance by using the human body as a medium, as both genres can maximize visual effects.

Until recently in Korea, such fusion

efforts had merely produced a superficial encounter between dance and images. Rather than functioning as a new and experimental means of merging technology with dance, the linages played only a supporting role, simply supplementing the message or defining the setting.

Black Angel by the Choe Sang Cheul Dance Project, a "multimedia dance" collaboration between choreographer Choe Sang Cheul and image creator Oliver Grit):lm, was staged at the Seoul Towol Theater from July Arts CentJ~s 11-13. Of particular note, this performance showed a vast improvement from similar works attempted in Korea heretofore.

Nonetheless, the degree of artistry failed to measure up to Jose Montalvo's Paradise or Philippe Decoufle's Shazam, both of which were staged in Korea.

These two foreign works were artistic

Black Angel by the Choe Sang Cheul Dance Project, a "multimedia dance." Highlights of the work included a large video panel made up of several individual monitors, which captw¡ed views from several different angles (above).

creations that introduced unique sensibilities based on free movements and different spaces, made possible by an intricately coordinated fusion ¡of multimedia elements with dance.

Nevertheless, Black Angel, composed primarily of four scenes, was remarkable in several aspects. The opening scene was particularly impressive: the glimpse of an angel beyond a screen as the curtain rose, the series of highly complex rhythmic movements by the dancers, and the stark contrast created by percussion instruments and the generally slow dance movements, with the dancers sometimes rolling on the floor.

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Other highlights of the work were the movements and facial expressions of choreographer Choe Sang Cheul, shot beforehand and shown in closeup images on a large video panel made up of several individual monitors, and the choreographer's appearance on stage for a solo dance, which harmonized with the superb camera techniques of Oliver Grimm. Also of note were the images shown on a large screen, captured from several different angles, and the speed of moving objects, coordinated with Choe's varied movements and Im Dong-chang's percussion instruments, all of which came together in one of the most superb collaborations of the entire work Im Dong-chang's music added great power to the work His music, composed of variations centered on the use of a different "theme" musical instrument for each scene, helped to accentuate the overall ambience of the dances.

Furthermore, it helped to offset the 88

somewhat distracting nature of the multimedia dance piece, caused by repetitive scenes. The notable differentiation achieved by using only a piano for the appearance of the Black Angel played

by Chon Yon-hui, while integrating piano and violin for the pas de deux between Chon Yon-hui and Park Yongjun, fully revealed Im's unique creativity as a composer of dance music.

Choreographer Choe also introduced a wide range of variations to the movements and colors of the dance, mainly centered on Chon Yon-hui's and his solo daqces and the corps dance of eight dancers. However, they failed to fully satisfy the expectations for a distinctively different composition for each dance. Aside from the corps dances, including the pas de deux by Chon and Park, the dances introduced throughout the show failed to fully come to life on stage. The main reason for this was the overly similar arrangement of the dances. There was also the

The choreographer Choe Sang Cheul appeared on stage for a solo dance.

rather lackluster musical participation of the violinist Eugene Park On the other hand, the comical introducti0n of "national calisthenics," which used to be popular in Korea several decades ago, and the final scene in which an image of a child's face is hung upside down facing the audience were the noteworthy and uniquely creative touches of a choreographer who strives for the unexpected.

Black Angel was an inspirational work of notable achievement that successfully integrated multimedia elements with dance. If it is further improved upon by reducing the redundant dance scenes, and improving the interaction among dance, music and images to achieve greater unity, it could well become a popular piece with an underlying satirical message. +

JOURNEYS IN KOREAN LITERATURE

Song Young

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Aesthetics of Salvation Lim Soon-man General Manager of Editorial Division, The Kukmin Daily

ong Young's short stories are unique in that the beauty of the works remains undiminished even when they are read again after a long time. One of his stories discussed in this article, "Cockfighting," was first published in 1967.

Although more than 30 years have passed since then and the background of the story is vastly different from the circumstances in which Koreans live today, the story still deeply moves readers by effortlessly transcending the barrier of time.

On the surface, his stories give the impression of being an extremely gaunt young boy, but actually are based on a highly resilient and stout composition that reflects the maturity of an experienced adult. Rid of unnecessary fatty substances so that only the salt and bones remain, Song's stories have withstood the passage of years, thus confirming his original creativity.

Only four characters appear in his first literary work, "Cockfighting'': the narrator, his older male cousin, his aunt and a Catholic priest who is also a neighbor.

Two cocks, a Brahma and a Siamese, are also featured in the story. The setting is a dilapidated and isolated house located in a valley in front of a mountain, and the time is usually night The cockfights take place in a dark room beside the kitchen.

The story line, unfolding within such a closed structure, is highly intricate and profound, however.

The main character's older cousin, who idles each day away without doing anything in patticular, is unable to bear the fact that the Brahma emerges the victor in every cockfight, no matter who he is pitted against The cousin continues to

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buy new cocks, to fight against the Brahma until his nemesis is defeated His only raison d'etre appears to be in wanting to see the Brahma lose, staying indoors by himself as he does all day long and spending the nights watching cockfights. The narrator, who is living with his aun~ refuses to take any patt in the cockfights and has to put up with beatings and abuse from his cousin.

The relationship between the two young men represents that of a tyrant and a victim. This appears to be a form of metamorphosis of the desires harbored by solitary individuals who are unable .to obtain anything from social activities or enjoy any victories in their relationship with the outside world that help them to confirm their existence. In fac~ the cousin is a sadist eagerly waiting to witness the downfall of the strongest, as a form of defiance against a reality he finds impossible to challenge and overcome. Meanwhile, the narrator is a masochist who endures beatings and avoids taking part in a world of vier lence.

The cousin adamantly refuses to embrace religious faith, which could offer him a realistic exit. A Catholic woman from the village tries to convert him, but he vehemently rejects her with the warning: "I will slap you if you approach me once more."

One day, the cousin finally succeeds in defeating the Brahma. As he is about to strangle the Brahma according to the rule that any cock that loses a fight has to be killed, a "Western priest" calls on him. The cousin is unable to remain within his closed self any longer and finally opens his mind to the outside world

What significance then does the "Western priest" take on in this story?

He is a symbol of a higher level that makes possible diverse comparisons between desperation and hope, a closed kitchen room and the wide outside world, violence and love, and self-isolation and salvation. Having experienced a victory, the cousin is finally able to abandon his self-imposed isolation and open the door to a hitherto unknown and new form of beauty.

Another short story by Song, "Overnight at Matthew's," is based on the main charactet"s visit to a family in a small village nearby the West Sea where he once used to live. The story also features a closed structure: an isolated hut standing on the slope of a mountain by the sea swept by strong sea winds. As the night as dark as the depths of the sea falls, the hut owner greets the young man who used to be his neighbor.

Although there is no detailed mention of the hut owner, one can surmise from the story that he used to operate a salt pond that went bankrupt. The reason for the narrator's visit is also not clear, but he appears to have made the visit because he missed Yeong-ae, the man's daughter.

A brief look at the structure of the story is in order. Upon seeing the young man who has arrived at his doorstep unannounced, Yeong-ae's father says: "Ah, yes, I think I remember you now.

You are the boy who used to fan your father with that big fan as he took a nap." It is quite interesting to note that the medium for remembering this person after a long time is not a heroic incident or a memorable event, but the image of him fanning his father. In other

Short story writer SongYoung at work.

words, the author perceives the world and people through selected and detailed events. An author must have a flexible and crystalline perspective in order to employ such a method It is obvious that Yeong-ae remembers the unexpected visitor. However, she avoids him and does not come into the room. That night, the narrator takes Yeong-ae's younger brother, christened Matthew, to the beach where he finds out about the tragic events that have fallen upon the family heir. Yeong-ae's mother had died while in a hospital, and Yeong-ae had been tricked into marrying an already married man who was a member of the Fishermen's Cooperative. She is now living with her family, raising a child by herself. She also has to go to the mountains in winter in search of firewood, and cook for her poverty-stricken family.

After the walk along the beach, Matthew holds the first Lent prayer meeting with his younger brothers and village women. His mother used

to preside over such meetings when she was alive.

Since the purpose of his visit is unclear and since he had spent a long time wandering about the beach at night, the narrator is questioned by a policeman from the station the next morning. After barely managing to escape further trouble, he is about to leave when Yeong-ae runs up to him and whispers for his forgiveness. Is she asking forgiveness because her youngest brother had reported him to the police, or could there be some other reason perhaps? At this precise moment, the visitor takes Yeong-ae's young daughter from her arms and hugs her tightly. And the story ends.

By design, this story contains many secrets. It does not state why the main character went to Matthew's house, what Yeong-ae was asking forgiveness for, or what had happened between the two long ago.

This is precisely what makes the story so interesting. The moment such

details are explained, the story's intrigue would be dealt a fatal blow and thus fail to move the reader.

This also demonstrates that the author's narrative skills, while mainly based on minor details, are astoundingly pliant. The st01y about a man who seemingly came without any reason at first appears to be shut off from further development, but the more closely it is studied, the wider its scope becomes. It produces powerful images like the wind blowing in from the winter sea, the dead mother and her son Matthew who holds a prayer meeting with women of the village, and the ruin of the people the visitor had deeply loved in the past.

Nevertheless, the reader is left with the impression of their being redeemed, perhaps because the author expands the space of aesthetics to compensate for the limitations in physical space. For this reason, his works retain their beauty intact, despite the weathering of time. In the works of Song Young, aesthetics is a means of redemption. + 91

The Korea.Foundation Fellowship Programs FELLOWSHIP FOR KOREAN STUDIES

The Korea Foundation offers fellowships for Korean studies in the fields of humanities, social sciences and arts.

The program is intended to provide scholars and other qualified professionals overseas with an opportunity to carry out in-depth research in Korea for a period of three to twelve months.

Each successful applicant will be provided with round-trip airfare to Korea and a monthly stipend during the grant period.

Applicants should complete the Korea Foundation Fellowship for Korean Studies application form and submit their academic research proposals to the Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by August 31 of the same year.

Support for Korean Studies Programs Abroad The Korea Foundation offers financial assistance to universities, research institutes and libraries abroad in their efforts to promote the study and understanding of subjects related to Korea. Projects submitted for consideration must be in the fields of humanities, social sciences or arts and within the categories listed below: 1) Establishment and expansion of Korea-related courses and faculty positions, 2) Fellowships for graduate students or research grants for faculty members, and 3) Library acquisitions and cataloging.

Applications must be submitted to the Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by November 30 of the same year.

For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

FELLOWSHIP FOR KOREAN LANGUAGE TRAINING

Korean Studies Support Team The Korea Foundation

The Korea Foundation offers grants for Korean language training to graduate students, scholars and other qualified professionals overseas who wish to learn the Korean language at a Korean university language institute for a period of six to twelve months.

Each successful applicant will be assigned to a Korean language course at a major Korean university, and will be provided with tuition and a monthly allowance during the grant period.

Applicants should complete and submit the Korea Foundation Fellowship for Korean Language Training application form to the Korea Foundation by May 31. The results of the final selection will be announced by August 31 of the same year.

For application forms, program guidelines or further information, please write to:

Seocho P.O Box 227 SeouL Korea Tel 82-2-3463-5612 Fox 82-2-3463-6075. 6076

Personnel Exchange Team The Korea Foundation Seocho PO. Box 227 SeouL Korea Te l 82-2-3463-5613 Fox 82-2-3463-6075. 6076

KOREA FOCUS A BIMONillLY ON CURRENT KOREAN AFFAIRS

In addition to KOREANA, the Korea Foundation publishes KOREA FOCUS as part of its effort to inform the world community about Korea and to enhance international understanding in this era of globalization.

KOREA FOCUS offers a comprehensive view of contemporary Korea in a wide-ranging selection of informative articles on Korea's current affairs. In this bimonthly, you will find timely essays and commenFOCUS~ taries on Korea's politics, economy, society and culture, opinions on world affairs, and a chronology of recent events in Korea.

Its articles are selected from leading publications in Korea, including major daily newspapers, newsmagazines and academic journals.

HOAEA

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To succeed in global business today, you need to respect power, be flexible to change and stay ahead of the flow. These are principles that SK, previously known as Sunkyong, has been applying to all our business for nearly five decades.

Today, Korea's 5th largest conglomerate enjoys revenues exceeding $45 billion and trades more than 2000 products with over 130 countries across six continents.

Our SK Corporation(formerly Yukong Limited) is Korea's number one energy and chemical corporation. And Wall Street knows SK Telecom, the world's first telecommunications company to commercialize digital COMA cellular service.

Thanks to our partner companies, we strive to meet the changing needs in many locales

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and cultures. If you'd like to learn more about us and our global business opportunities, visit

SK

Come grow with us www.sk.com

our web site or e-mail us at qanda@ocmp.com

Energy & Chemicals. Telecommunications. Finance. Logistics & Services

The Science of Circle Q) Encounter between cutting edge technology and circle symbolizing tolerance, harmony and unity.

The philosophy of Hankook Tires lies in the 'Science ol Circle' which makes a beUer world with grea ter safety, happiness and comforl able driving for everyone.

Korea, Let's Run Faster

Step ahead again with the 'Science of Circle,' Stretch out again to the world with Hankook Tires It's tim e to go forward again. Sluggishness is a thing of the past.

It' s meaningless that li ving with di sappointments or vague expectations of a better tomorrow. Only one way to overcome the current crisis and revive the econom y: Ultimate ability prepares you to be competitive in today' s fierce environment- be it a nation, a corporation or an indi vidual.

Join us through the 'Science of Circle' to create a better world with Hankook' s state - of- the-art technology and superb quality unparalleled anywhere.

The Science of Circle

HAN<O)K TIRES