Funerary Figures Come to Life
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
In the Big Apple, Seoul's Ockrang Cultural Foundation and New York's Korea Foundation have joined hands to showcase forgotten Korean treasures ― kkoktu, or wooden figures that decorated mortuary biers for ordinary people during the late Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).
Brightly colored with humorous faces, kkoktu resemble children's dolls. Standing 20 to 30 centimeters tall, they represent people from all walks of Joseon life, from a woman carrying a water jug to warriors riding dragons. As the New York Times wrote, "unlike much sober and forbidding mortuary art, many are fun and friendly ― even kind of cute'' (Aug. 17, 2007).
Yet they are not playthings. They were adornments for ordinary people's funerary biers, used to carry coffins to ancestral graveyards in the mountains. Moreover, kkoktu embody the very essence of the Joseon spirit and culture, which rests upon Confucian values deeply infused with the Buddhist tradition. Their cheerful demeanor reflects the Joseon people's belief that the spirit does not die, and partakes in the festive passage to the other world.
"Kkoktu stand as visual symbols of how death affects society and the measures taken in dealing with the loss of an individual in that they represent and reinforce the emotional and moral relationships between the deceased and the community,'' writes Charlotte Horlyck, lecturer at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London, in a recently published book for the New York exhibition.
Each kkoktu has its own role to fulfill in the funerary procession: Armed "guards'' protected the soul from evil spirits at the front of the bier; female "caregivers'' attended to various needs; entertainers consoled the dead; and dragons and phoenixes perched here and there helped with the transition to the other world.
These figures are also interesting in that they were the one area in which ordinary citizens could freely and elaborately express themselves, when strict hierarchical rules dictated modes of dress and lifestyle.
"As a previously uninvestigated form of Korean folkloric art, the subject matter is worthy of full-scale investigation,'' reads the Japan Times (Oct. 11, 2007). Yet the Korean Ministry of Culture maintains that kkoktu are not an art form worthy of being designated a national cultural treasure, according to Ockrang Cultural Foundation.
Traditional funerary processions can still be observed today in the rural parts of Korea. Funerary figures are mementos of the past, but they spring back to life when we recognize their enduring cultural significance.
"Korean Funerary Figures: Companions for the Journey to the Other World'' will be on display until Nov. 20 at Korea Society in New York. Visit www.koreasociety.org for more information.
Ockrang Cultural Foundation houses more than 20,000 figures, according to its program coordinator Kim Young-kyoung. You can see about 30 of the friendly little objects displayed in the halls of Seoul's Dongsoong Art Center (floors 1 to B1). It is located near exit 1 of Hyehwa station on subway line 4.
The establishment of the Ockrang Wooden Figures Museum is currently underway, and in the meantime you can visit the virtual museum at
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