Abstract
It is commonly assumed that shamanism was the original religion of the inhabitants of the Korean peninsula before Buddhism and Confucianism were introduced from China, where ecstatic religion, usually referred to as shamanism, also is supposed to have been a most ancient form of religion. It cannot be doubted, however, that once Buddhism and Confucianism, with their treasury of scriptures, were accepted by the ruling elite the social position of the shamans, representatives of an oral tradition that relied on personal inspiration, gradually deteriorated and reliance on their services was reduced. This tendency became more pronounced when the rulers of Chosŏn and the elite accepted Confucianism as the dominant ideology. In spite of this, as mediators between the spirit world and the world of man who catered to the immediate needs of people, shamans continued to practice their rituals, and were particularly favoured by women of all classes and men of lower social status than the Confucian elite who tended to look down on the shamans. Consequently, the relationship between shamanism and Confucianism has been characterized as “co-existence within conflict.”
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- 1.
- 2.
For a warning against equaling shamanism too easily with the indigenous religion of ancient Korea, see McBride 2006.
- 3.
Xin Tangshu, “Dongyichuan: Gaoli”.
- 4.
An alternative way to write mudang with Chinese characters is 巫黨. In this case it refers to shamans in the plural.
- 5.
For a discussion about the possible distinction between shamans and mediums, see Jordan Paper 1995.
- 6.
Translation as in Walraven 2009, where there is also a more detailed discussion of Hamayon’s concept of the shaman.
- 7.
Cf. Ching 1993: 43. In the twentieth century scholars have classified Korean shamans as possessed shamans, kangshin mu 降神巫, (predominantly in the northern part of the country) and hereditary shamans, sesŭp mu 世襲巫 (mainly in the south). In the latter case, the mudang tend to be the persons who control mediums (often family members of the deceased). The distinction has been relativized in recent research and is difficult to attest in older sources. The sixteenth-century diary Mukchae ilgi 默齋日記, however, seems to contain instances of both types of possession (Yi Pokkyu 1999: 63–65).
- 8.
Chinese characters were sometimes used to write Korean, but this was quite cumbersome because of the very different nature of the Chinese and Korean languages and little was written in this way.
- 9.
E.g., Koryŏsa kw. 111, “Yŏlchŏn 24: Yu T’ak,” about a shaman who said she was the heavenly ruler Indra.
- 10.
The two horizontal lines joined by the vertical line of course constitute the character kong 工 (work, worker), but that meaning seems less apt for the explanation of the character. The term “supernatural” is used here for want of a better alternative. Actually heaven, too, generally was seen as part of the natural order.
- 11.
Yi Nŭnghwa’s study of shamanism, “Chosŏn musokko,” originally appeared in the periodical Kyemyŏng. The best modern edition, with translations of the original hanmun text, an introduction and copious annotations, has been prepared by Sŏ Yŏngdae (Yi Nŭnghwa 2008: 71–72, 509). Ch’oe Namsŏn, too, put forth the theory that Tan’gun was a shaman in his efforts to show that ancient Korea was the center of a North-East Asian cultural sphere.
- 12.
Samguk yusa kw. 1, “Namhae-wang”.
- 13.
Samguk yusa kw. 2, “Ch’ŏyong-nang Manghaesa”.
- 14.
Samguk sagi kw. 17, “Koguryŏ pon’gi” 5, 8th year, 9th month.
- 15.
- 16.
E.g. Samguk sagi kw. 5, Sŏndŏk yŏwang, 5th year, 3rd month.
- 17.
Samguk yusa kw. 1, “Kii 1.”
- 18.
T’aejong shillok 22:10b.
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非其所祭而祭之, 名曰淫祀. The Book of Rites cautioned that such rituals would not bring blessings: 淫祀无福.
- 20.
For this reason, the translation “licentious rituals” or “wanton rituals”, although justifiable because of the basic meaning of the character ŭm, seems less apt.
- 21.
Koryŏsa kw.16 “Sega 16; Injong 9, 8th month, pyŏngja.”
- 22.
Koryŏsa kw. 106, “Yŏlchŏn 19: Shim Yang”.
- 23.
Koryŏsa kw. 105, “Yŏlchŏn 18: Chŏng Kashin”; English translation in Peter H. Lee 1993: 446.
- 24.
Koryŏsa kw. 99, “Yŏlchŏn 12: Ham Yuil”.
- 25.
This may be the reason that the stories about Ham Yuil are also found in a later Chosŏn source that recorded local traditions, the Shinjŭng Tongguk yŏji sŭngnam (Revised and Augmented Gazetteer of Korea), kw. 42:24b and kw. 5:1a.
- 26.
Koryŏsa kw. 105, “Yŏlchŏn 18: An Hyang”; English translation in Peter Lee 1993: 445.
- 27.
Shinjŭng Tongguk yŏji sŭngnam, 14:19b.
- 28.
T’aejong shillok 22:10b (國家承前朝之謬); Han Ugŭn 1976.
- 29.
Evidence from recent periods suggests that shamans, too, made similar efforts to justify their rituals in Confucian terms.
- 30.
The “King’s City” was the term the Dutch shipwrecked sailor Hendrik Hamel used to refer to Seoul in his Journal and, like many descriptions in his report, hit the nail right on the head.
- 31.
E.g., Injo shillok 39:19b.
- 32.
On the basis of this “no deity could not be worshiped” 靡神不舉 (Ch’oe Chongsŏng 2002a: 250–52).
- 33.
The classic formulation of this, which makes some matters that we might consider to be private a matter of public concern, is found in the introduction of the Daxue: “The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the kingdom, first ordered well their own States. Wishing to order well their States, they first regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their families they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts.” (Daxue1892: 357)
- 34.
Examples of books compiled to this end are Naehun 內訓 (Instructions for Women) of 1475, and Yŏsasŏ ŏnhae 女四書諺解 (The Four Books for Women, explained in the vernacular) of 1736.
- 35.
These deities were to be venerated by every local magistrate, together with the spirit of Confucius.
- 36.
Shinjŭng Tongguk yŏji sŭngnam kw. 13:4a.
- 37.
A similar measure had already been taken during the reign of King Sejong in 1423 (Sejong shillok 19:21a).
- 38.
The kungmu (originally probably called nara mudang) and the government bureau they belonged to, and the debate they caused, are discussed in detail in Ch’oe Chongsŏng 2002a: 117–30.
- 39.
Sejong shillok 102:8b.
- 40.
Sejong shillok 76:15b–16a. Translation by Martina Deuchler, in Peter Lee 1993: vol. 1, 558.
- 41.
Ku Suhun 1983: 431. It is typical that we know about this case from an individual’s private record. There is no trace of it in the Shillok although the official who angered the queen was himself threatened by her with death.
- 42.
The male blind exorcists (p’ansu) performed rituals that in some ways were similar to those of the shamans, but slightly more acceptable to the yangban elite, because of their sex and the style of their rituals, which was more decorous according to Confucian standards.
- 43.
- 44.
Modern depictions of the mountain god commonly take the form of an old man accompanied by a tiger, but I have met an old lady who had made a sacrifice to the mountain god of Samgaksan in Seoul and claimed that the deity himself would appear in the shape of a tiger.
- 45.
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Walraven, B.C.A. (2019). A Meeting of Extremes: The Symbiosis of Confucians and Shamans. In: Ro, Yc. (eds) Dao Companion to Korean Confucian Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 11. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2933-1_14
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