The Traditional Culture of Gyeonggi-do 600 Years - Part 3

Toegyewon Sandae-nori is a mask play which used to be performed in the Toegyewon area of Namyangju. The mask play has been reconstructed based on records and witness accounts, in recent decades. In 2010, it was designated as Gyeonggi-do Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 52.

The Toegyewon area, an important center for trade in the mid-Hangang waterway network, used to provide passage from eastern Seoul to eastern Gyeonggi-do and Gangwon-do. Its location is therefore likely to have helped to ensure the transmission of this sandae mask routine to modern times.

Gyeonggi folk songs encompass folk songs originating in Gyeonggi-do and Seoul. In 1975, Gyeonggi folk songs were collectively designated as National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 57. Two main types of folk songs have survived in Gyeonggi-do Province: popular songs sung by professional singers and native folk songs performed during traditional rituals and festivities. Particular efforts for transmission are being made for popular folk songs like Noraet-garak, Changbu-taryeong, Banga-taryeong, Yangsando, Obongsan-taryeong, Sabalga, Gunbam-taryeong, Heung-taryeong – Cheonan Samgeori and Gangwondo Arirang.
Gyeonggi folk songs may be also classified into two groups depending on whether they are performed by a seated or a standing singer. Compared to folk songs from southern provinces, Gyeonggi folk songs are considered richer in melodic variation. They are also characteristically soft, rhythmic and lyrical. Gutgeori-jangdan, taryeong-jangdan and semachi-jangdan are the most popularly used rhythmic patterns.

Since the Intangible Heritage designation of Gyeonggi folk songs in 1975, efforts for their preservation and transmission have been led successively by An Bi-chwi (1926-1997), Muk Gye-wol (b. 1921), Lee Eun-ju (b. 1922) and Im Jeong-ran (Gyeonggi-do Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 31).

Namsadang
Nori (Itinerant Troupe Performance) of Anseong

During the Joseon period, Anseong was one of the main stages of activity by namsadang, the itinerant troupes of male performers. Drawing on this history, the City of Anseong launched a festival named the “Namsadang Baudeogi Festival” in 2001. The Namsadang Baudeogi Festival has grown today into one of the best-known regional festivals of Gyeonggi-do. As a matter of fact, Buldanggol, a village near Cheongnyong-ri, Seoun-myon in Anseong, is believed to have been the base for the Baudeogi troupe, an itinerant troupe of female performers as well as a troupe of male performers. Baudeogi was a talented and attractive young girl who garnered great popularity for her troupe. Of the many stories surrounding Baudeogi, one has it that she participated in the restoration project for Gyeongbokgung Palace and received from Prince Heungseon-daewongun jade headband buttons as a gift. Meanwhile, the namsadang troupe the male itinerant troupe, worked closely in cooperation with Cheongnyongsa, a Buddhist temple located nearby.

In around 1900, some forty namsadang troupes were active across the country. Their number, however, dropped rapidly thereafter. According to Sim U-seong, there were about ten bases for namsadang troupes, including Anseong and Jinwi in Gyeonggi-do, Dangjin and Hoedeok in Chungcheong-do, Gangjin and Gurye in Jeolla-do, Jinyang and Namhae in Gyeongsang-do and Songhwa and Eunyul in Hwanghae-do. Aside from namsadang, many other types of itinerant performing arts troupes existed, ranging from sadangpae to sotdaejaengipae, daegwangdaepae, choranipae, geollippae, jungmaegupae, gwangdaepae, gutjungpae, gakseoripae, yaegijangsa, punggakjangipae, kkokdunoreumpae, sandaenoripae and jaeingwangdaepae.

All performing arts troupes were essentially itinerant troupes. Even those troupes lucky enough to belong to government agencies and that were called upon to perform at special events in the royal palace or at local government headquarters, or in the celebratory processions for those who successfully passed the civil service examination, had to perform in various parts of the country the rest of the time, to make ends meet.

Troupes were usually made up of forty to fifty members and headed by a leader known as “kkokdusoe.” There were divisions dedicated to different categories of performance, each consisting of some fourteen members. The division head was known as “tteunsoe.” These troupes were highly disciplined and organized. In rigorous winter months, in times of famine or during the rainy season, they usually went on retreats to teach tricks to novices and apprentices. The royal government, apprehending that they may become a nuisance to society, encouraged them to settle for a sedentary life or integrate them into the peasantry. But, these attempts proved rather ineffective. Itinerant artists mostly disappeared since the early 20th century. The namsadang culture has currently survived only nominally through organizations like the Seoul Namsadang Conservation Society and the Anseong Association for the Preservation of Namsadang Nori. The Namsadang Baudeogi Festival of Anseong, however, earned a place among major regional festivals despite a relative short history.

Nongak (Farmers'
Performance):

Pyeongtaek Nongak and Anseong Nongak

Pyeongtaek nongak refers to the tradition of famers’ music originating in the Pyeongtaek area which is one of the most representative native traditions of the Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do regions. In 1985, Pyeongtaek nongak was designated as National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 11-Na. Rice farming had long thrived in Pyeongtaek, a town with wide plains and fertile soils in the river basin of the Jinwicheon. The town therefore offered conditions necessary for flourishing community performing arts including farmers’ music. New Year’s customs like jisin-bapgi (treading on the earth god) or farming community’s cooperative work-related activities like dure-nori were also popular in Pyeongtaek.
Farmers’ music in Pyeongtaek is characterized by the use of the rhythmic pattern known as “gilgunak chilchae.” It is also noted for the balanced use of slow and fast tunes like gutgeori, deongdeokkungi and jajeungarak. Among pangut routines, group formation sequences like ‘dangsanbeollim-daehyeong’ and ‘mudong-nori’ stand out. Another detail that distinguishes farmers’ music of Pyeongtaek is that the cannoneer character in the group of actors that follows the band during the procession is replaced by mudong (a child dancer), sami (a young boy dressed in a monk’s attire) and yangban (a nobleman). Tactical formation-inspired sequences such as ‘sagakhaengjin-nori’ and ‘dangsanbeollim’ are also noteworthy.

The Pyeongtaek variety of farmers’ music, meanwhile, was mainly shaped by professional itinerant troupes of performers based in Gyeonggi-do and Chungcheong-do, rather than by local farming communities. The current holder of this performing arts heritage is Kim Yong-rae who succeeded to Choe Eun-chang (1914-2002) and Yi Dol-cheon (1919-1994).
Farmers’ music of Anseong, generally similar to that of Pyeongtaek, is designated as Intangible Cultural Heritage at the provincial level. Efforts for the preservation and transmission of this heritage are made chiefly through the Anseong Municipal Namsadang Baudeogi Pungmuldan Troupe led by Kim Gi-bok. Both the Pyeongtaek and Anseong variants are two highly-accomplished examples representing Gyeonggi-do’s rich tradition of farmers’ music.

Handicrafts: Ceramics

Ceramics festivals are held in towns in Gyeonggi-do, having a long tradition of ceramics production, like Gwangju, Icheon and Yeoju.
Between September 28 and November 17, 2013, the Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale was also hosted in these three cities. The Ceramic Biennale was launched in 2001 with the goal of making the region’s rich ceramics tradition better known to the global community. In recent times, marrying practicality with artistic appeal has become the new paradigm for Gyeonggi-do’s local ceramics industry.

In Gwangju, a local festival named the “Royal Ceramic Festival” is hosted annually, with events taking place in the Gonjiam Ceramic Park and in the area near the Gwangju Ceramic Museum. The ceramics industry flourished since early on in this area thanks to the abundant availability of mineral resources needed for making ceramic glaze as well as firewood required to fuel the kilns. Thanks to its proximity to Seoul, a branch of Saongwon, the historical white porcelain kiln supplying to the royal palace was set up here.

A Ceramic Festival is held also in Yeoju, near the Yeoju Ceramic Museum, located at the entrance point of Silleuksa Temple. The ceramics exhibits at this festival are mostly everyday ware. Yeoju’s history in ceramics production goes back to early Goryeo, as evidenced by the site of a Goryeo white porcelain kiln discovered at Jungam-ri. In 1884 when the Gwangju branch of Saongwon was closed down, some of its potters moved to Yeoju. Currently, close to six hundred ceramics factories are in operation in the area, creatively re-inventing Yeoju’s traditional industry to suit today’s consumers’ tastes and needs.

In Icheon, a ceramic festival takes place annually at the World Ceramic Center inside Seolbong Park. The festival offers experiential programs coupling ceramic arts with calligraphy and painting. A plan to set up a ceramic art town is also in the making by the city.

Byeolsandae-nori of
Yangju and eleven other performing art forms and crafts of Gyeonggi-do Province
have been included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Gyeonggi-do’s
Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage list, meanwhile, comprises fifty-six
total items. 

Byeolsandae-nori of Yangju and eleven other performing art forms and crafts of Gyeonggi-do Province have been included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Gyeonggi-do’s Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage list, meanwhile, comprises fifty-six total items.
Among art forms and rituals included in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list are a mask play, a farmers’ music tradition, folk songs, a shamanistic rite and a shamanistic communal art form – namely, Byeolsandae-nori of Yangju, Pyeongtaek Nongak, Gyeonggi folk songs, Gyeonggi-do Dodang-gut (Tutelary Rite of Gyeonggi-do), and Yangju Sonori-gut (Shamanic Ox Performance of Yangju). As for handicrafts, Gyeonggi-do has National Intangible Cultural Heritage-designated master artisans in ornamental knife making, framing and mounting, mulberry paper-making, gold leaf imprinting and stone masonry. Otherwise, the local tradition of tightrope walking is continued by Kim Dae-gyun who performs in the Gwacheon area. The west-coast fishing rite is kept alive by Kim Geum-hwa and Kim Mae-mul, the two shamans who were originally experts in the Hwanghae-do variant of this rite, but were designated as heritage holders for the variant surviving in Mansindo Island of Incheon.