SHAMANISM AND MYTHICAL ZOÖLOGY.
Shamanism is the worship of a large number of primitive North Asiatic
tribes, having no idols except a few fetishes and some rude ancestral
images or representations of the spirits of the earth and air. It is a
gross mixture of sorcery and sacrificial ceremonies for the
propitiation of evil spirits. These malignant beings are supposed to
populate the earth, the clouds, and the air, and to be the cause of
most of the ills suffered by man. They take various forms, chiefly
those of animals whose structure and anatomy are more or less
imaginary, each imp or demon being a composite creature, compiled from
the various powers of locomotion, destruction, and defence possessed by
the real creatures that inhabit water, earth, and air. Some of them,
however, are gentle and of lovely form and mien. Their apparition on
earth is welcomed with delight as the harbinger of good things to come.
Confucius, the teacher, hailed by the Chinese as their holiest sage,
and to whom even divine honors are paid, believed firmly in these
portents and appearances. Chief among these mythic creatures are the
phœnix, the kirin, the dragon, besides a variety of demons of various
sizes, colors, habits, and character. Much of the mythology of Chō-sen
is that common to Chinese Asia. Instead of a gallery of beautiful
human, or partially human, presences like that of Greece, the mythology
of China deals largely with mythic animals, though legendary heroes,
sages, and supernatural beings in human form are not lacking. The four
chief ideal creatures are the dragon, phœnix, tortoise, and kirin.
There is another animal which, though a living reality, the Coreans
have idealized and gifted with powers supernatural and supra-animal,
almost as many in number as those with which the Japanese have endowed
the white fox. This is the tiger. They not only ascribe to him all the
mighty forces and characteristics of which he is actually possessed,
but popular superstition attributes to him the powers of flying, of
emitting fire and hurling lightning. He is the symbol of strength and
ubiquity, the standard of comparison with all dangers and dreadful
forces, and the paragon of human courage. On the war-flags this animal
is painted or embroidered in every posture, asleep, leaping, erect,
couchant, winged, and holding red fire in his fore-paw. On works of
art, cabinets, boxes, and weapons the tiger is most frequently
portrayed and is even associated as an equal with the four supernatural
beings. In ancient time he was worshipped.
The riong, or dragon, whose figure, as depicted in Corean art, is
perhaps nothing more than a highly idealized form of an extinct
geological species of saurian, is one of the four supernatural or
spiritually endowed creatures. He is an embodiment of all the forces of
motion, change, and power for offence and defence in animal life, fin,
wing, tusk, horn, claws, with the mysterious attributes of the serpent.
There are many varieties of the species dragon, which is the chief of
scaly monsters. It possesses the gift of transformation and of
rendering itself visible or invisible at will. In the spring it ascends
to the skies and in the autumn buries itself in the watery depths.
It is this terrific manifestation of movement and power which the
Corean artist loves to depict—always in connection with water, clouds,
or the sacred jewel of which it is the guardian, and for which it
battles, causing commotion in heaven and earth. The dragon is
synonymous in Chinese philosophy with the third of the four creative
influences and indicative of the East and Springtime, the blue dragon
being the guardian of the East.
Another cycle of popular notions and artistic ideas is suggested by its
change of bulk, for this omnipotent monster “becomes at will reduced to
the size of a silkworm or swollen till it fills the space of heaven and
earth. It desires to mount, and it rises until it affronts the clouds;
to sink, and it descends until hidden below the fountains of the deep.”
The dragon is the embodiment of the watery principle of the atmosphere,
and its Protean shapes are but the varied ideal expression of the many
forms and forces of water. Moisture in its fertilizing or destructive
aspects—from the silent dew to the roaring tempest, from the trickling
of a rill to the tidal wave that engulphs cities—blessed, terrible,
gentle, irresistible, is symbolized by the dragon. The functions of the
celestial dragon are to guard the mansions of the gods in heaven, so
that they do not fall; of the spiritual, to cause the wind to blow and
produce rain for the benefit of mankind; of the terrestrial, to mark
out the courses of rivers and streams, while another watches over the
hidden treasures concealed from mortals. This last is the dragon that
presides over mines and gems, and which mortals must propitiate or
overcome in order to gain the precious metals and minerals out of the
earth. Intense belief in the dragon is one of the chief reasons why the
mines in Chō-sen are so little worked, and the metals disturbed. The
dragon pursuing the invaders of their sanctuaries or fighting each
other to gain possession of the jewel balls or sacred crystals is a
favorite subject in all art of Chinese parentage. Rarely is the whole
figure of the writhing creature exposed. Partly hidden in clouds or
water, he seems ever in motion. There are also four dragon-kings, who
have their palaces in the world under the sea, one ruling in the
northern, one in the eastern, one in the southern, and one in the
western sea. The ministers and messengers of these four monarchs are
the terrible dragons whose battles in the air and in the deep are the
causes of the commotion of the elements. There is also a dragon without
horns, and another that never ascends to the skies. The yellow dragon
is reckoned the most honorable of his tribe. In common belief the
dragon carries on his forehead a pear-shaped pearl, supposed to possess
wondrous virtues of healing and power. Whoever possesses these jewels
will be invincible, and the power of his descendants endure.
From its divine origin and character the dragon is symbolical of all
that pertains to the emperor of Great China. Hence it is made use of
not only by him, but by his vassal, the king of Chō-sen, and by his
rival the mikado of Japan. Hence the significance of the trio of these
sacred jewels on ornaments and instruments belonging to the royal
family, whether embroidered on the robes of state worn by the king,
surmounting the large drum of his musicians, or glistening in golden
embroidery on the banners of his body-guard. The “dragon robe” and
“dragon’s bed,” “dragon standard,” refer to the mantle, throne, and
flag of the king. In the popular speech, whatever is most excellent is
compared to a dragon. A “dragon-child” is a paragon, a “dragon horse”
is one of extraordinary speed. When “the fish has been metamorphosed
into the dragon,” some happy change or promotion has taken place—the
student-competitor has received his degree of doctorate, or the
office-holder has been told by royal appointment to “come up higher.”
The kirin (kilin or lin) is another of the four supernatural creatures
of Chinese philosophy and mythology, believed in by the Coreans, and
depicted in Corean art especially as a symbol of peace and joy, and on
articles used on auspicious and happy occasions. This beast, which to
the Corean is a “living creature,” has the body of a deer and the tail
of an ox, usually highly curled and twisted in a manner to suggest the
work of a hair-dresser. On its forehead is a single soft horn. It is
said never to tread on or injure any living being. It is the emblem of
perfect rectitude, and the incarnate essence of the five primordial
elements of all things, viz.: water, fire, wood, metal, earth. It is
considered the noblest form of the animal creation. Its appearance on
the earth is ever regarded as a happy omen, as the harbinger of good
government and the birth of good rulers. Hence the wealth of
association to the Oriental mind in the kirin. The male beast is called
ki and the female rin or lin. The two words combined form the general
term kirin.
The tortoise is the centre of a great circle of pleasing superstitions,
and hence is one of the set of symbols oftenest employed in Corean art.
The practice of divination is mostly associated with tortoise-shell,
the figuring of a tortoise’s back having a mystic signification. In
Chinese legend a divine tortoise emerged from the Yellow River, on the
shell of which a sage discovered the system of numerals, and thus
obtained the foundation of mathematics and the rudiments of philosophy.
This tortoise was said to be the embodiment of the star in Ursa Major,
and the progenitor of all the tortoise tribe. It can transform itself
into other forms of life and lives to the age of ten thousand years.
Hence it is the symbol of long life. It is said to conceive by thought
alone. There are said to be ten kinds of tortoises, one of them being
half dragon, half tortoise, and with a tail like a fringe of silver.
This is the attendant of the god of waters, and hence is often used as
the top of a well. The tortoise is also the symbol of immortality and
strength, hence is often used over walls and places of entrance. Many
Corean gateways are surmounted with huge tortoises sculptured in stone.
The same idea is expressed in making the representations of this
creature, cut from a single rock, the base for monumental tablets set
into its back. The great seal of state, the regalia of sovereignty in
Chō-sen, has the form of a tortoise. The phœnix is also represented as
standing upon a tortoise. Closely connected with the Hindoo idea of the
world resting on an elephant which stands on a tortoise, is the Chinese
idea of “supporting the earth with the feet of a tortoise.” A common
idea in Chō-sen, as in China, is the huge tortoise which supports
mountains on its back, and having a shell which is one thousand leagues
in circumference.
The phœnix (fung-wang or hōwō), like the kirin, appears on the earth at
or near the birth of a good ruler, and hence is the emblem of peace and
good government. The male is called fung, or ho, and the female wang,
or wō, hence the generic name fung-wang or hōwō. In its marvellous
plumage the sheen of the five colors may be descried, each of which is
typical of the five cardinal virtues. In figure it seems to be an ideal
combination of the peacock and the golden pheasant, but with feathers
wondrously curled and made into ringlets. It is not only a symbol of
auspicious government, but of inseparable fellowship, and many stanzas
of poetry refer to it as typical of courtship and conjugal love. In its
voice are many intonations, to each of which a name is given. For this
reason it is a favorite element in the decoration of musical
instruments.
Another symbol often used is the Chinese lion, with marvellously curled
hair and mane. Every tuft is a mass of fanciful ringlets, and the beast
is so pictured as to make a masterpiece of ugliness and terror. The dog
of the breed called ngao, so named after the earth-supporting tortoise,
is also liberally furnished with tooth, nail, and hair. It usually cuts
the figure of guardian on the edge or lid of vessels in which are kept
treasures which, because they tempt the palate, tempt also the fingers
that lift to the mouth. The marvellous creature called the Dog of Fo,
or Buddha, usually associated with Chinese-Buddhist art, is believed to
be of Corean origin. Jacquemart calls it the “Dog of Corea.”
Other mythical creatures that have their existence in the Corean
imagination are in the form of fishes and serpents. The in-é (fish-man
or merman) is a sort of siren that is supposed to inhabit the Sea of
Japan and the Eastern Sea, but whether partly fabulous or entirely
real, we are unable to say. It is six or seven feet long, and in its
head and body resembles a human being, as its nose, mouth, ears, and
arms, or flippers, are covered with white skin without scales. It has a
long and slender tail, like that of a horse. It suckles its young, and
sheds tears when its offspring are captured. It is probable that this
creature, though called a fish-man by the Coreans, is the animal of
which we read, in several instances, being presented to the Manchiu
emperors in Peking. One of them inquired whether such a creature was
known in Europe, and the Jesuit friar, producing a book, showed an
engraving of one similar. Perhaps this “fish-man” is the same as a
reported “dog-fish or shark,” living in the seas around Quelpart, whose
tears produce pearls.
The i-sium, a colossal marine creature, is purely imaginary, like the
“earthquake-fish” of the Japanese, which causes the continent to shake.
The word is pure Corean, and may answer to our symbol of vastness and
uncertainty—the sea-serpent. Mr. Fergusson would doubtless find a new
chapter for his “Tree and Serpent Worship” in Chō-sen, for, in the
peninsula, not only are trees reverenced as the abode of spirits, but
the sa, or snakes, are rarely, if ever, harmed. The people feed,
venerate, and even worship them as the guardian genii of their
households. The epkuron-gi (a pure Corean word) is the name by which
they call the serpent which presides over their family Edens. Instead
of being looked upon as the embodiment of the principle of evil, as in
Semitic lore, their presence is hailed as an omen of blessing. They are
treated like pets. In their heads they are believed to carry a precious
jewel after they have lived long. A serpent often lives to be one
thousand years old, and then bears in his front a glistening gem,
called ya-kang-chiu, which name the people also apply to any glittering
stone, especially the diamond. The guardian serpent is represented as
double-winged, with forked tongue, long and darting, flying among the
clouds and protecting its worshippers by pursuing their enemies. The
illustration here given is copied from one of the war-flags carried by
the Corean mountaineers from their homes to the forts on the Han River,
in 1871. The staff is tipped with pheasant-feathers and horse-hair.
Their fear of the serpent is the basis of their worship, and the
average Corean does not fail to take due precaution to guard against
its sting. In addition to the ordinary osa or black snake, there is the
venomous viper, salmo, which “kills its mother at birth.” Its bite is
considered exceedingly dangerous. The tai-mang is a great serpent. The
flower called kiuk-sa-wa (snake-bane), or Eye of India, is believed by
Coreans to keep away the reptiles, and hence is highly valued.
Hamel and the French missionaries agree in picturing Corea as a land
well supplied with reptiles, serpents, and vermin of all sorts, and
testify to the veneration of them by the people. In the folk-lore of
the country, the beasts play a conspicuous part.
Another creature to whom wings rightfully belong is the gin-sai. This
fabulous bird is capable of diffusing so venomous an influence that
even its shadow poisons food.
Even the brief list of creatures which we have enumerated does not
exhaust the list of the beings which are real and active to the
imagination of the people. Science and Christianity are the remedies
for this delirium tremens of paganism.
The ancient and still lingering belief in the powers of the air and all
the creatures therein, visible and invisible, is reflected on their
triangular and streamer-shaped war-banners. They believe that all these
creatures and all the forces of nature are under the control of the
spirits, who will give or withhold sunshine or rain, send blasting
mildew and pestilence, or fertility, plenty and joy, according as they
are pleased or displeased.
It will be seen at once what a soil the demagogue has for sowing
dragons’ teeth, and what frightful popular commotion may be stirred up
by playing upon the fears of the populace. The most recent illustration
of this is seen in the frightful massacre of the ministers and the
Japanese, in July, 1882. The long drought having ruined the rice crop,
the leaders of the anti-foreign faction persuaded the common people
that the spirits were annoyed at the introduction of foreigners, and
therefore withheld the rain. In this belief they were strengthened from
the fact that it rained heavily for many hours after the Japanese had
been driven out of Seoul.