I was walking out when I spotted a tempera painting on cardboard of an old man with a tiger and young boy; it was hanging by fabric strings from the back of one of the miss-matched dining room chairs. A lone
“Buddha!” said the proprietor, an oldish man in a worn golf jacket and a baseball cap, noticing my interest and figuring that I was an uninformed Caucasian woman.
“Ah, Buddha! Nice Buddha. Umm,” I replied, knowing full well, however, that it was not Buddha, but a taenghwa, shaman spirit icon, of Sanshin, Korean mountain spirit, rendered for a shaman’s shrine. The symbols were clear: an old, white bearded man attended by a boy and including a fierce tiger.
I retreated back into the shop as nonchalantly as I could, knowing that any interest that would inflate prices. I eventually found 10 other abandoned taenghwas rolled up together with their strings hanging out of the bundle jammed on a shelf. Even though I was unemployed and had no business buying art/ifacts, I made a commitment to this Sanshin that I would liberate him from this soul-less place, if only to make it possible for his true identity to be reinstated.
Accessibility of Collectable Materials
Most shaman materials are not readily available for sale. They are usually pressed into ritual service over and over again, accumulating “merit” when the gut, ritual, is successful, and thus they are carefully guarded by the mudang, female shamans who own them. In some cases the ritual ends with the burning of some of the items. Ritual burning is also a way of disposing some of materials deemed too worn out or otherwise irreparably damaged. There are items which are created anew for each gut, and the creation of such objects by the shamans or their support team is an important part of preparing the ritual itself.
So why were these taenghwas for sale in Koreatown? Some local mudang must have dismantled her shrine or relatives of a deceased mudang might have just thrown them into the resale pile with other domestic goods with no care about their former utility or knowledge of appropriate method of decommissioning. My guess it was the latter case; if the family was superstitiously anti-shaman, they would have simply thrown the entire group into the trash.
In any case, this sanshin is safe in my home, along with another taenghwas, that of Samshin Halmoni, three spirit grandmother. They aren’t necessarily well designed or rendered, but most welcome. I continue to wonder whether I should properly dispose of them myself. It’s a very hard decision; I know the passion of being a collector, but out of respect for my shaman friends, I know there is spiritual protocol to consider.
A Vital, Contemporary Practice
Shamanism is Korea’s indigenous religion and is very much alive in Korea and where Koreans live, despite the efforts of churches, official and quasi-official agencies and crafty antique dealers to -- at best -- ignore its existence in fast-paced, Western-focused contemporary Korean society. Like much of Korean culture, the material artifacts of traditional culture -- what we might call “folk art” -- are not necessarily well-appreciated, much less valued, among Koreans themselves today. Sadly, they do not regularly appear in museums and other exhibitions. Yet there is every reason to be attracted to the various forms, styles and utility of these hand-crafted functional objects that constitute a viable artistic genre that are still created and utilized in daily religious life.
Taenghwa and other special props are used at gut conducted by highly experienced mudang. They are as varied in content and style, but there are some commonalities related to the nature of the rituals.
There are any number of reasons why a ritual will be held: illness or to give thanks for good health, bad business or new prosperity, blessing a new house or business, searching for a mate or fixing a failing marriage, getting good grades in school, winning the lottery, etc. Shamans are selected for the strength of their spiritual integrity, unique capacities to resolve specific types of issues and the patron’s capacity to pay the fee that can run into the tens of thousands of dollars in cash. Rituals may run a few hours to a few days, with the patrons being accommodated overnight with the shamans, often out in the countryside at special shaman ritual facilities.
There are great national shamans, naramansin, as well as those who are newly minted local ones. Apprenticeship takes many years of personal exposure to senior ritualists learning by watching and helping while they gather spiritual strength and performance techniques. Their job is to keep the spirits – whether it be one’s ancestors, an unknown force from history or something out of the blue – happy and maintaining mortals’ harmonious existence. Few are capable of conducting major rituals; most are less skilled, making their living as fortune tellers and supporting their senior shaman.
Taenghwa in particular are used by and are the property of gangsinmu, female (usually) shamans of the spirit-possessed, ecstatic tradition. Their lineage is in that of the northern provinces of the peninsula (north of the Han River), including those which are now within North Korea borders.
Gangsinmu come to their calling through sinbyong, spiritual illness, recovering from which required ritual intervention by a shaman and her initiation as a new shaman. Shamans of the non-charismatic, hereditary type are in the lineages of traditions found south of the Han River, and do not utilize paintings of spirits as a rule.
A Rich Diversity of Iconography
A shaman usually commissions a taenghwa of a sin, spirit, (pronounced “shin”) from a local artist who specializes in such imagery, but who might also paint Buddhist images. The specific style of painting would be the mark of the artist, but the composition of the image may have come from a dream or to replicate one that exists already. While styles vary, the content of the same spirit image is usually symbolically consistent as was noted in the Sansin taenghwa.
Other popular images include Chilseong,the Seven Star / Bid Dipper deity, in which the constellation is present or represented by seven anthropomorphic figures. Yongwang, the spirit of the water, is usually portrayed by a dragon, waves and even sometimes a tortoise. Other anthropomorphic groups are generally easy to identify: Obangsinjang (military generals of the five directions), Sambul Jeseok (three figures that may be wearing Buddhist-type clothing), Samsin Halmani (three grandmothers), Siwang (10 kings governing hell), and many more. Single individuals may also be Tangun, the mythic founder of Korea, Jangung, the fierce knife-riding warrior, Seongsudaesin (great shaman ancestor), and many more.
A suite of images, perhaps composed in a single mural, may be created, but, in most sindang, spirit rooms, the taenghwa of each spirit are on single sheets which are then grouped together and hung on the wall behind the altar table. They may remain in place over time, but in the case of large scale rituals, are hung for the event in a special order; the order may change during the ritual. At the end, they are removed immediately and packed up.
Provenance
One of the challenges in collecting such objects is to know the provenance of an item. Little is currently known about the artisans / crafts people who design and create the work outside the world of the shamans themselves. One such man is the late An Sung Sam, who was an integral part of a group of shamans who are the preserving Korea’s Important Intangible Cultural property #82, the Seohean Pungeoje and Daedong Gut, Rituals for the Safety of the West Sea Fishing Boat Fleet, Fishmongers’ Prosperity and Community Harmony, of Hwanghae-do, a province now included within North Korea. In addition to his creating a variety of three dimensional objects including paper flowers that adorned the shaman’s altar and hanging lantern-like
enclosures bearing spirits images rendered in watercolor, he also participated in the ritual itself. Other ritual items for this rite have been crafted by the fishermen who are members of the group, as well as the shamans themselves. Provenance can also reflect the circumstances of the use of the materials.
Other Collectable Material
In addition to taenghwa, other tangible objects that may interest the collector include shaman fans (bearing icons as well but that seem mass produced) and ritual garments, especially those which are decorated by exquisite Korean embroidery. Shamans change costumes frequently to represent the spirit that is being invoked and will wear tunics, skirts, hats and have other ornaments that replicate the image on the taenghwa. Costumes are usually not accessible unless one receives it from a shaman. In addition, shamans use a variety of objects made of brass, including a “tree” of hand bells, swords and knives, and mirror disks, the latter bearing images of Ilwol Songsin, sun and moon spirits, and Chilseong. Statuary depicting Sansin and other popular spirits, are created but seem more mass produced than hand-made.
Going to Korea?
Koreans for the most part do not know if there are any shamans doing ritual in their neighborhood and are not likely to be very comfortable being asked. Thus, finding shaman materials even to look at is a bit difficult, but two places in downtown Seoul have good collections: The National Folk Museum of Korea (http://www.nfm.go.kr:8080/english/main.jsp) and nearby private Gahoe Museum, the latter specializing in shaman and folk arts. (www.gahoemuseum.org)
There are stores in Seoul that sell shaman paraphernalia, such as fans, bells, some costumes, swords, statuary and musical instruments, as well as candles, incense, offering trays and bowls. From the quality of the items sold, it would seem that they are frequented more by folk dance ensembles than the shamans themselves, but it does enable small-scale shamans to have access to necessities. (Shamanism is at the core of many of Korea’s drama and dance traditions.)
To truly understand the value of Korean shaman ritual materials, it is important to witness a gut. It is virtually impossible to do that outside of Korea due to the aforementioned bias against shamanism. The tourist in Seoul may come upon rituals in public places, such as Inwang-san (Inwang Mountain). Seeing red and white flags handing from a window or hearing the clashing of cymbals and intense beating of drums in an otherwise quiet neighborhood are signs of private shaman activity. With the official recognition of some shaman traditions (Korea has many!) as part of the country’s Intangible Cultural Heritage (thereby keeping UNESCO connections in good stead), it maybe possible to attend a public “performance” at a festival or other formal cultural gathering. The Korean Tourism Organization will have a list of this information or point you to a regional office.
This article originally was published in The Korean Art Society Newsletter #1, 2009. The author retains all rights to text and photographs. It also appears in https://www.academia.edu/3117094/DONT_BUY_THE_BUDDHA_An_Overview_of_Collecting_Korean_Shaman_Paraphernalia
Select Bibliography of References in English
- Koreana, a quarterly journal published by the Korea Foundation, is available in print and online (including back issues). https://issuu.com/the_korea_foundation/docs/1992_02_e_b_a
- Shamanist Painting of Korea, published by the Gahoe Museum, Seoul, www.gahoemuseum.org
- Folk Art and Magic: Shamanism in Korea, by Alan Carter Covell, Hollym, Seoul, 1986
- Spirit of the Mountains, by David Mason, Hollym, Seoul, 1999
- Kut: Korean Shamanist Rituals, by Halla Pai Huhm, Hollym, Seoul, 1980
