[50] See [Appendix B].
[51] See [Appendix C].
CHAPTER XXXIV
DÆMONISM OR SHAMANISM
Korean cities without priests or temples; houses without “god shelves”; village festivals without a mikoshi or idols carried in festive procession; marriage and burial without priestly blessing; an absence of religious ceremonials and sacred books to which real or assumed reverence is paid, and nothing to show that religion has any hold on the popular mind, constitute a singular Korean characteristic.
Putting aside Buddhism with its gross superstitions, practised chiefly in remote places, and the magisterial homage before the Confucian tablets to the memory of the Great Teacher, the popular cult—I dare not call it a religion—consists of a number of observances dictated by the dread of bodiless beings created by Korean fancy, and representing chiefly the mysterious forces of nature. It may be assumed, taking tradition for a guide, as certain of the litanies used in exorcism and invocation were introduced along with Buddhism from China, that Korean imagination has grafted its own fancies on those which are of foreign origin, and which are of by no means distant kinship to those of the Shamanism of northern Asia.
The external evidences of this cult are chiefly heaps of stones on the tops of passes, rude shrines here and there containing tawdry pictures of mythical beings, with the name in Chinese characters below, strings from which depend small bags of rice, worn-out straw shoes, strips of dirty rags, and, though rarely, rusty locks of black hair. Outside of many villages are high posts (not to be confounded with the distance posts) with their tops rudely carved into heads and faces half human, half dæmonic, from which straw ropes, with dependent straw tassels, recalling the Shintoism of Japan, are stretched across the road. There are large or distorted trees also, on which rags, rice-bags, and old shoes are hung, and under which are heaps of stones at which it is usual for travellers to bow and expectorate. On the ridge poles of royal buildings and city gates, there are rows of grotesque bronze or china figures for the purpose of driving away evil dæmons, and at crossroads a log of wood perforated like a mouse-trap, and with one hole bunged up, over which travellers step carefully, may sometimes be seen. In cities the beating of drums accompanied by the clashing of cymbals vies with the laundry sticks in breaking the otherwise profound stillness of night, and in travelling through the country, the mu-tang or sorceress is constantly to be seen going through various musical and dancing performances in the midst of a crowd in front of a house where there is sickness.
I have referred to these things in earlier chapters, but the subject is such an important one, and the influence on Korean life of the belief in dæmons is so strong and injurious, that I feel justified in laying before my readers at some length such details of Dæmonism as have hitherto been ascertained. There is an unwillingness to speak to foreigners on this topic, and inquirers may have been purposely misled, but enough has been gained to make it likely that further inquiry will be productive of very valuable results.[52] The superstitions already mentioned, however trivial in themselves, point to that which underlies all religion, the belief in something outside ourselves which is higher or more powerful than ourselves.
It is indeed asserted by many of the so-called educated class that the only cult in Korea is ancestor worship, and they profess to ridicule the rags, cairns, shrines, and the other paraphernalia of dæmon-worship, as the superstition of women and coolies, and it is probable that in Seoul, at least, few men of the upper class are believers, or patronize the rites otherwise than as unmeaning customs which it would be impolitic to discontinue, but it is safe to say that from the Palace to the hovel all women, and a majority of men, go through the forms which, influencing Buddhism, and possibly being modified by it, have existed in Korea for more than fifteen centuries.
Without claiming any degree of scientific accuracy for the term Shamanism, as applied to this cult in Korea, it is more convenient to use it, the word dæmon having come to bear a popular meaning which prohibits its use where good spirits as well as bad are indicated. So far as I know, Shamanism exists only in Asia, and flourishes specially among the tribes north of the Amur, the Samoyedes, Ostiaks, etc., as well as among hill tribes on the southwestern frontier of China. The term Shaman may be applied to all persons, male or female, whose profession it is to have direct dealings with dæmons, and to possess the power of securing their good-will and averting their malignant influences by various magical rites, charms, and incantations, to cure diseases by exorcisms, to predict future events, and to interpret dreams.
Korean Shamanism or Dæmonism differs from that of northern Asia in its mildness, possibly the result of early Buddhist influence. It is the cult of dæmons not necessarily evil, but usually the enemies of man, and addicted to revenge and caprice. Though the Shamans are neither an order, nor linked by a common organization, they are practically recognized as a priesthood, in so far as it is through their offices that the dæmons are approached and propitiated on behalf of the people. It is supposed that the Shaman or wizard was one of the figures in the dawn of Korean history, and that Dæmonism in its early stage was marked by human sacrifices. Shamans in the train of royalty, and as a part of the social organization of the Peninsula, figure in very early Korean story, and they appear to have been the chief, if not the only, “religious” instructors.