Exhibitions retraces pioneering folklorist

"Painting of General Guan Yu," a third-century Chinese military commander, is displayed at an exhibition titled "Korean Shamanism from A Vision of Folklorist Kim Tae-gon" at the National Folk Museum of Korea through June 22. In the painting, general Guan Yu, center, is flanked by warlord Liu Bei, right, and general Zhang Fei. The exhibition, which sheds light on Korea's shamanism, displays the late Kim's collections. / Courtesy of National Folk Museum of Korea

By Baek Byung-yeul

“Musok,” or traditional Korean shamanism, has long been inseparable from the life of Koreans, dating back to the Bronze Age about 3,500 years ago.

The spiritual culture is still valid to Koreans living in the present as many often request a “mudang,” or a shaman, to hold a “gut” or shamanistic ritual performance when things do not go well. Those ceremonies have shared the same purpose ― to welcome deities and to ward off evil spirits ― but performances vary in different regions and times.

The ongoing exhibition at the National Folk Museum of Korea enables people to see a collection of Korean shamanism, compiled by the country’s pioneering folklorist, Kim Tae-gon (1936-1996).

Kim, whose pseudonym was Namgang, was a master folklorist who devoted himself to studying Korea’s shamanism, which had been on the brink of extinction because of a government policy to wipe it out in the 1970s.

This undated file photo shows the late folklorist Kim Tae-gon. The former professor at Kyung Hee University is regarded as a pioneering folklorist for his contribution to exploring the country's shamanism. / Korea Times file

The exhibition, next to Gyeongbok Palace in downtown Seoul, is titled “Korean Shamanism from A Vision of Folklorist Kim Tae-gon.” It features 300 items from Kim’s collection, including shamanistic material and his written and voice records.

“In the exhibition, we are displaying only a part of Kim’s entire 31,742 collections,” Jang Jang-sik, a curator at the folk museum and one of Kim’s students, said at a press preview on Tuesday. “Those were donated by Kim’s wife in 2012.

“Kim developed an interest in folklore studies when he was a university student in 1960s and traveled all over the country in a bid to record different kinds of shamanistic rituals.

“While studying Korean shamanism, the late professor at the Kyung Hee University wrote 34 books, including ‘Paintings of the Spirits in Korea,’ and over 200 academic journals and articles.”

Jang said Kim expanded his study of folklore into the Northern Hemisphere, such as Mongolia and Siberia, in later life, but died in 1996 at the age of 61.

The exhibition is in four parts. The first two introduce Kim Tae-gon and what he recorded during his lifetime. The third part displays the materials used in shamanistic rituals and shamanistic paintings and the last part sheds light on Kim’s passion for studying shamanistic spirits in the Northern Hemisphere.

The most striking section is probably the third that displays paintings of third-century Chinese military commander Guan Yu, which were believed lost.

The exhibition runs through June 22. The museum is closed on Tuesdays. It is near Exit 1 of Anguk Station, Subway Line 3. Admission is free. For more information, call (02) 3704-3114 or visit nfm.go.kr.