350 Part IV: East Asian Civilization
The official astrologer memorialized [King Injong (1122–1146)]: “Recently
as shamanism has been widely practiced, its indecent sacrifices have
increased daily. I request the king to instruct the offices concerned to expel
all the shamans.” The request was granted. Many shamans were grieved by
this. They collected their valuables and exchanged them for more than one
hundred silver vessels, using them to bribe powerful officials. The powerful
officials thereupon memorialized [the king]: “Spirits being formless, we
cannot know whether they are fake or real. To ban them completely is
never advantageous.” The king, agreeing with this argument, rescinded the
earlier prohibition. (Lee and de Bary, 1996:249–250)
The author mocks the Confucian officials who are happy to allow sha-
manic practices to continue once they have been duly bribed to not oppose
them. Yet Buddhism, Confucianism, and shamanic traditions coexist within
one individual’s cultural and religious practice, and from more recent times—
principally in the 20th century—we must add Christianity, with which 29 per-
cent of Koreans identify (Connor 2014).
Let us begin with a description of an actual shamanic performance
described in rich detail by John A. Grim (1984). Two Seoul merchants whose
import–export business was in decline desired to find the cause of their trou-
bles in hopes of driving bad luck away and turning their fortunes around. They
approached a well-known mansin (shamaness) who agreed to conduct a ritual
to address their problems. Her name was Woo Oek Ju. At age six she had been
taken to Japan and was raised by the family of a Japanese policeman until the
age of 16, when she began to have dizzy spells and loss of consciousness. She
managed to return to her homeland, reunited with her relatives, and became
healthy for a while, but two years later she fell into a coma. Consulting with
experts, the family concluded this was a “shamanic sickness” (sinbyong), a very
common way for shamans to receive their calling (for instance, see the Hmong
shaman in chapter 4). In her comatose state, it is said, she dug at the grave of a
deceased shaman, digging out bells that she used later in her own dances after
she recovered and began her career as a mansin.
Woo Oek Ju, the mansin, maintained a room in her house that is filled with
the paraphernalia of her business, including a large altar dedicated to her per-
sonal spirits. The objects in the altar and room reflect her personal practice of
shamanism (she does over 20 types of ceremonies), as well as local variation
among spirit objects and widespread Korean material culture. For instance,
there was a baby doll dressed in Buddhist monk’s robes representing the resent-
ful spirits of babies who died young before having a chance at a normal life and
are sometimes the cause of human illness. (This idea that spirits of persons
who die an untimely death can bring troubles to the living was also seen in
Hmong shamanism in chapter 4.) But notice the doll was wearing Buddhist
robes, suggesting the Buddhist role in death rites and achieving rebirth in the
Pure Land. There was also a statue of one of the mountain spirits we have
already encountered known as San sillyon nim in his white beard and red and