Chapter 9 Korea 363uals; there is room within various Korean traditions for diverse practices,
whether they be Christian, Confucian, Buddhist, or shamanic.
In the nineteenth century a new movement arose that rejected both Confu-
cianism and Western influence, reembracing elements of traditional shaman-
ism and Korean culture. The Tonghak (Donghak) movement and the ensuing
rebellion were driven by a desire to more fully realize a coherent indigenous
philosophical and religious tradition on the Korean peninsula. This movement
appealed strongly to the peasants who took up the cause and fought in the
Tonghak movement. While its impact in Korea today is not as large as Bud-
dhism, Confucianism, or Christianity, the religion it spawned, Cheondoism
(literally the “Heavenly Way religion”), with its egalitarian ethos and diverse
influences, still has hundreds of thousands of practitioners. Cheondoism com-
bines aspects of Confucianism like self-cultivation with Korean shamanistic
traditions that explain the human position within a larger natural order
through rituals. As the faith is practiced today, these actions are intended to
bring the practitioner into a closer communion with the divine, which has
bestowed equality on all people, in keeping with the egalitarian foundations of
the faith’s history.
Foreign powers including Western imperialists and the Japanese were
threatening Korea’s independence and perhaps its very existence. Tonghak,
meaning “Eastern Learning,” was intended to distinguish it from the Western
influences that seemed to be taking root in Japan and parts of Qing China. (In
China, the Opium Wars led to the forcible implementation of policies favorable
to Western imperialists, while in Japan, the Meiji Restoration brought about
adoption of political and military practices that drew on Western traditions.)
The Tonghak movement advocated radical egalitarianism, implemented
through violent land seizures from the wealthy, in some ways similar to the
Taiping rebels of Qing China. Unlike the Taiping rebels, whose leader believed
himself to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ, the Tonghak movement and
its founder, Choe Jeu (1824–1864), explicitly rejected Christianity. While there
were elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, and other beliefs woven through
the Tonghak movement, the importance of indigenous Korean shamanism was
central to its founding and its popularity.
Choe Jeu was captured and executed in 1864, but for the next three
decades the Tonghak movement continued to inspire rebellions, challenging
Choson rule and further destabilizing the government. This led indirectly to
the Sino-Japanese war of 1894–1895, which was ultimately a battle over
whether Qing China or Meiji Japan would pacify and stabilize Korea. The Jap-
anese victory was followed by the occupation and colonization of Korea,
which lasted until 1945. The Tonghak movement was obviously only one of
many factors that led to this chain of events. In the longer term, it also gave
birth to the movement of Cheondoism, which today has an estimated two to
three million adherents in North and South Korea combined.