Mountains dominate Korean culture. Shawn shares tales hidden in the fog cloaked peaks. Remember these as you hike through Korea’s intoxicating fall foliage.
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NOTES
- Mountains are ubiquitous in Korea; long important to Korean livelihood, culture, and lore
- Koreans love hiking (new past time, not particularly traditional), especially in autumn
- Old traditions included deung-go, a picnic in the mountains to observe autumn leaves, poetry, and booze
- Korea’s founding myth features Dangun who is said to have founded Gojoseon over 4000 years ago
- His father was the son of the Lord of Heaven who descended to earth and built the City of God (shin-shi) on Baekdusan
- All of this eventually led to the legend of the founding of Korea’s first dynasty Gojoseon; I won’t describe it here – it’s very well known and can be found in dozens of books and websites
- His father was the son of the Lord of Heaven who descended to earth and built the City of God (shin-shi) on Baekdusan
- Baekdu Daegan is main mountain system running along the east coast of the peninsula, consisting of two mountain ranges, Taebaek and Sobaek; tallest mountain is Baekdu in North Korea, the northern terminus of Baekdu Daegan; tallest in South Korea (mainland) is Jiri, southern terminus of Baekdu Daegan; tallest mountain in South Korea is Halla, but it isn’t part of Baekdu Daegan
- Koreans love hiking (new past time, not particularly traditional), especially in autumn
- Central folkloric/religious figure in Korean mountain culture is sanshin, the mountain gods
- They are mostly depicted as old men but there are depictions of women as sanshin, sometimes referred to as yeo-sanshin
- An interesting female depiction (in a painting) is of Queen Min at a small shrine in Surak-san; the shrine was discovered by David Mason in the 80s; he took photos of it but never got around to going back
- With information from David, I went looking for the shrine last year – I asked local monks, but they were unsure
- I found the foundations of an small building long gone – from what I can gather, that’s where the shrine was
- What happened to the painting?
- An interesting female depiction (in a painting) is of Queen Min at a small shrine in Surak-san; the shrine was discovered by David Mason in the 80s; he took photos of it but never got around to going back
- Some traditions highlight the importance of communing with sanshin
- This is believed by shamans and Buddhists, a symbol of the harmony of belief between them and indication that Chinese Buddhism blended with Korean shamanism to create Korean Buddhism
- Gyerongsan is a focal mountain for communing with sanshin
- People have long visited there to commune with the sanshin, often with the goal of becoming a shaman
- I’ve come across tiny shelters in Gyerongsan where people stay for a few years attempting this communication
- Rituals to honour sanshin are called sanshinje; there is a large sanshinje at Gyerongsan every year
- Shamans perform gut; I’ve seen shamans at this ritual who claimed they were possessed by ghosts
- Inwangsan in Seoul is also a central mountain for mountain folklore and shamanic culture
- I witnessed an alleged exorcism here
- There are many rock formations, one of them looks just like a human skull
- Mason met an old monk in the early 2000s who claimed he communed with the sanshin of Jirisan at a remote hermitage high on one of the peaks; *share story
- Many mountains have altars on their summits that are still used for folkloric rituals to honour spirits, sometimes sanshin
- Chamseong-dan on Mani-san
- Said to have been originally built and used by Dangun to give offerings to Heaven (essentially to his grandfather Hwan’in, perhaps also his father Hwang-woong)
- Cheonje-dan on Taebaek-san
- Three altars around the summit used since at least Shilla, but there are suggestions that the area has been used for harvest rituals long before Shilla
- The central altar is Cheonwang-dan and is linked to Dangun
- It is listed as National Folklore Cultural Heritage #228
- Chamseong-dan on Mani-san
- San-shin.org for more info on sanshin
- They are mostly depicted as old men but there are depictions of women as sanshin, sometimes referred to as yeo-sanshin
- There are a lot of folktales from the mountains, many of them are ghostlore
- Seoraksan is on the east coast, famed for its autumn foliage
- One its folktales highlights the undying love a mother has for her child
- Share folktale of Daeseung, which led to the falls being named Daeseung Falls
- One its folktales highlights the undying love a mother has for her child
- Dalgyal (or Dalgyal gwishin) is a well known ghost said to haunt mountains
- It’s faceless and in some tales is also said to be limbless
- It’s hostile and often said that, if you see one, it’s the last thing you ever see
- Ghost encounters
- I’ve met people who claimed to have (maybe) encountered ghosts in the mountains (maybe because they are skeptical)
- One claimed that while camping he was roused from sleep by a ghost that kicked him
- He’s unsure what it was but says it was dawn, he wasn’t in a deep sleep, and certainly felt a kick like soldiers do to wake those in their company; a ghost from the war?
- I saw a strange shape in Bukhansan once; tell story – saw similar thing in the mountainous cemetery near my house a few months ago
- One claimed that while camping he was roused from sleep by a ghost that kicked him
- I’ve met people who claimed to have (maybe) encountered ghosts in the mountains (maybe because they are skeptical)
- Seoraksan is on the east coast, famed for its autumn foliage
- Mountains are often sites for murders and burial of victims
- We’ve discussed the Frog Boys in our missing persons episode
- I discussed the case of a 16 year old girl who was found dead on a mountain after mysterious circumstances a couple years ago
- April 2016: murder on Eodeungsan, Gwangju
- a man named Kim had been taking medication for a mental health condition for 30 years; in January 2016 he stopped taking his medication
- In April, he visited a psychiatric hospital with family; they wanted him admitted; he ran away
- He stole a military uniform and a 20cm knife
- He went into Eodeungsan where he came across an elderly man named Lee
- Kim attacked Lee with the knife, stabbing him nine times, killing him
- Kim then descended the mountain where he threatened other hikers
- Kim was apprehended quickly
- Kim said Lee was threatening and dangerous, and was especially going to have Kim sent to the psychiatric hospital; Kim said Lee had to be killed in self-defence
- He said the hikers he threatened were also dangerous and wanted to hill him, but didn’t say why he didn’t attack them
- The next comic will focus entirely on mountain-centric tales
