Chapter 9 Korea 349coming from the north and west—Buddhism and Confucianism. There has been
a kind of cross-pollination, in which Buddhist shrines and rituals gradually
incorporated the worship of local deities and mountain gods (sanshin), which
happened easily, since Buddhist monks liked to establish monasteries in remote
hills already inhabited by ancient spirits. These sanshin are often portrayed as old
men with long white beards and accompanied by a tiger. Some observers con-
tend that the shamanic rituals of Korea have in recent years become more valued
as Korean “cultural heritage” than as religious belief and practice. And yet indig-
enous shamanic practices are resorted to in all seriousness by modern Koreans
despite a long tradition of Confucian suspicion of shamans and their practices in
Korea. One account from the twelfth century reflects official contempt:Dangun, by Chae Yong-sin (1850–
1941). Dangun (Tangun) is the mytho-
logical figure whose legend has been
valuable as an origin story and political
symbol for the Korean people. In the
first half of the twentieth century,
Korean intellectuals faced Japanese
colonization and brutalization for
50 years, and reviving the Dangun
mythology became an act of national-
ist resistance. Celebrating the legacy of
Dangun inspired Korean nationalism
throughout the Japanese occupation
and after. The shadow of Dangun has
also loomed over the protracted con-
test between North and South Korea in
the second half of the twentieth cen-
tury. In the 1990s, Dangun’s tomb was
declared to have been discovered near
the North Korean capital of Pyong-
yang. Even while the historical claims
were met with skepticism in South
Korea and around the world, a
mighty mausoleum was constructed
on the North Korean site.