NekuaEco

Mother-of-Pearl ( Inlay with unique design shell on crafts )

2004-08-31T11:52:00.000+09:00

Mother-of-Pearl
( Inlay with unique design shell on crafts )

The inlaid and lacquered mother-of-pearl on decorative objects and wooden furniture, called ‘na-cheon-chil-ki’, mother-of-pearl lacquer ware, is so delightful that mother-of-pearl furniture has been treasured in the living quarters of Korean house.
To render the mother-of-pearl usable, the rough outer layer of the shellfish is filed away on a grindstone or dissolved by exposure to acid to bring out the iridescence. This polished and flattened nacre is shaped with scissors, fret saw, knife, chisel or hammer, in accordance with the design the artisan has planned.
At now, almost Korea craftsman use the machine with diamond-line.
Each piece is superposed on a flat surface or inserted into grooves, tempered and smoothed to make the inlaid pieces even with the surface, and covered with natural lacquer.

The lacquer can be painted on objects of wood, metal, single-fired pottery, tile and leather. The lacquering methods vary by the base material and by the use of the objects.
The most popular material is definitely wood. Lacquer can be applied to diverse wooden objects, regardless of their size or use, because wood allows fast and fine absorption of lacquer.
The color of mother-of-pearl varies. The Koryo Dynasty’s ( 918 - 1392 ) mother-of-pearl, mostly taken from abalone, projects a subtle rainbow hue in which blue is dominant. It is not clear how the polishing process was carried out, but the shaping was done with scissors or fret saw.

Sometimes a twisted thin bronze wire was inserted together with the mother-of-pearl to render the vignette pattern, or polished and colored tortoise shell and
ox horn were intermixed with it.

The twisted bronze wire was replaced by sliced mother-of-pearl thread in the mid Choson Dynasty, and the use of tortoiseshell gradually died out.
From the Koryo-Dynasty to the mid Choson Dynasty, arabesque like variations of floral patterns were favored, including intricate symmetrical designs of vignette, peonies, chrysanthemums, lotuses, and varied plants. They were mostly small, which allowed easy inlaying without much risk of breaking the pieces of mother-of-pearl.

Traditional Dance - II

2004-08-27T22:25:00.000+09:00

Folk dances can be divided into religious dances led by monks and secular dances performed by the people. Religious dances include the shaman's ritual dance. The Buddhist dance by monks is performed at temples in major memorial services. Secular dances of the common people include both solo and group dances. In practice the group dances and the entertaining dances are so alike and so closely related that it is difficult to make a strict distinction between them.

Ilmu is performed in lines to the accompaniment of Confucian ritual music (aak). It is categorized according to the number of lines: eight, six, four, or two. The ilmu introduced from Song China in the 11th year (1116) of King Yejong's reign of the Goryeo Dynasty was a six-line dance performed by 36 dancers, which later evolved into diverse line dances.

In the Goryeo period, baekhui gamu court entertainments hundreds of kinds of including dance and acrobatic performances, were performed mainly at national ceremonies in the court. They included the Buddhist Festival of Eight Vows, or Palgwanhoe, the Lantern Festival, or Yeondeunghoe, and the New Year's Eve Festival, or Narye. These dances became further diversified in the Joseon period. The Goryeo-inherited dances in Joseon-native court productions, China-derived dances, line dances, and court acrobatic entertainments were all enriched to a higher level. For the accompaniment of native court dances, Botaepyeong and Jeongdaeeop court music productions were newly composed. They were chosen for the royal ancestral service at the Jongmyo Shrine in the 10th year (1464) of King Sejo's reign, and serve in this role to this day.

Types of baekhui gamu included sandae japgeuk, or stage variety shows by clowns, and goak japhui, or drumming variety shows. Performed at welcoming banquets for foreign emissaries, they included tumbling (geundu), boys dancing on men's shoulders (mudong), climbing a bamboo pole (jukgwangdae), tight-rope walking (jultagi), lion dances (sajamu), crane dances (hangmu), and puppet plays (kkokdugaksi noreum). Many other traditional dances have also come down to us. Various dances connected with shamanism survive throughout the country, as do folk dances infused with folk games, such as ganggang sullae, or female roundelay, and notdari balkki, or walking across human bridge.

In the 1930s and 1940s this transmitted tradition of dance influenced the original choreography of the internationally renowned Korean dancer Choe Seung-hui, and even today it is reflected in contemporary productions.

Traditional Dance - I

2004-08-27T22:24:00.000+09:00

Since the age of the tribal states, Koreans have offered songs and dances to heaven and the spirits in communal ceremonies connected with agriculture.According to Goguryeo murals and the History of the Three Kingdoms (Samguk Sagi, 1146), the dancers of the Goguryeo period wore colorful costumes and performed dances to the accompaniment of music. In the early 7th century a man from Baekje named Mimaji performed masked dances at various temples in Japan. The masks are still preserved today in the Todaiji Temple in Nara. Unified Silla inherited the dance traditions of the Three Kingdoms.
The crosscultural exchanges with Tang China spun off diverse dances. Dances with specific choreography began to appear in court pieces such as Muaemu, Cheoyongmu, and Sangyeommu. In the Goryeo were period other dances were imported from Song China and performed at various national ceremonies including banquets in honor of distinguished guests, the Buddhist Festival of Eight Vows (Palgwanhoe), and the Lantern Festival (Yeondeunghoe). As a result, a distinction began to be made between native dances, known as hyangak jeongjae, and those imported from China, dangak jeongjae.

Korean traditional dance can be broadly divided into court dance and folk dance. Court dance includes jeongjaemu, dances performed at banquets, and ilmu, the line dances performed in Confucian rituals. Banquet Dances are subdivided into native hyangak jeongjae and Tang-derived dangak jeongjae. Hyangak jeongjae and dangak jeongjae can be distinguished by the manner in which the dancers enter and exit, the calls that mark the beginning and end of a dance, the presence or absence of a spoken greeting, and the lyrics. In the Goryeo period these distinctions were rigidly maintained. Ilmu can be further categorized into civil dance, munmu, and military dance, mumu.

Traditional Music - II

2004-08-27T22:23:00.000+09:00

Korean music is rich in improvisation. This spontaneity is more evident in the passionate folk music than it is in the emotionally restrained court music. The instrumental solo music sanjo is a good example, as is the unique vocal art pansori. Another characteristic of Korean music is that it tends to be performed continuously, without a break between movements. Here again, the most appropriate example is pansori. In the Song of Chunhyang the singer performs alone for over eight hours without a break, taking on the roles of all the characters in turn. This would certainly never be seen anywhere else in the world.

Another characteristic of Korean music lies in its progresssion of tempos. Whereas Western music often exploits the contrast between slow and fast movements, Korean music begins with the slowest section and gradually accelerates as the performance continues. This process of acceleration reflects the shamanistic basis of Korean culture, gradually reaching a state of perfect self-effacement.

For a better appreciation of Korean music, one tip that should not be omitted is that in music that is used for rituals, the principles of the "five natural elements and of the yin and yang" play a prominent role. A good example is the use of the chuk (wooden box) and the eo (tiger-shaped scraper) in the piece entitled Botaepyeong that is played for the royal ancestral services at the Jongmyo Shrine. The chuk is played only at the beginning of the piece. Always placed at the eastern side of the traditional orchestra, it is painted blue, symbolizing the east. The eo is played only at the end of the piece. It is placed at the western side of the orchestra is painted white, and symbolizes the west. If you just listen to the sound without being aware of these symbols you cannot grasp the true nature of the music.

The tradition of Korean music is maintained today by samul nori percussion quartets and by such institutions as the National Traditional Music Orchestra and the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts.

Traditional Music - I

2004-08-27T22:22:00.000+09:00

Korea's traditional music is based on the voice. That voice is always a distinctively Korean voice, a voice that arises from the temperament and disposition of the Korean people. It is related to Korea's climate and natural environment and also to religion and ideology.

Korean traditional music can be broadly divided into jeongak, (court music), which has an intellectual emphasis, and minsogak, (folk music), which is full of emotional expression. The former is closely related to the culture of the royal family and the upperclass, the latter belonging more to the common people.

The first general characteristic of Korean music to note is its leisurely tempo. Most court music moves at a slow pace, sometimes so slow that a single beat can take up to three seconds. As a result, the mood of this music is static, meditative, and reposeful. The reason for this stately tempo is related to the Korean people's concept of the importance of the breath. Whereas Western music, based on the heartbeat, can be as lively, energetic, and dynamic as the pounding of the heart, Korean court music, founded on the rhythm of breathing, takes on the attributes of a long breath: tranquility, balance, and contemplation.

The tone quality of Korean music is generally soft and solemn, especially in court music. Because of this soft tone quality, even when one note or line clashes with another, one does not hear a discord. The tone results from the fact that most instruments are made of nonmetallic materials. String instruments have strings of silk thread rather than wire, and almost all wind instruments are made of bamboo.

Korean wind instruments include the cylindrical oboe (piri), the metal-bell woodwind (taepyeongso), the transverse flute (daegeum), the endblown flute (danso), the mouth organ (saenghwang), and the ocarina (hun). String instruments include the twelve-stringed zither (gayageum), the six-stringed zither (geomungo), the seven-stringed bowed zither (ajaeng), and the two-stringed fiddle (haegeum). Percussion instruments include the handheld gong (kkwaenggwari), the hanging gong (jing), the barrel drum (buk), the hourglass drum (janggu), the clapper (bak), teh bell chimes (pyeonjong), the stone chimes (pyeongyeong), teh tiger-shaped scraper (eo), and the wooden box (chuk).

Korean Confucianism

2004-08-27T22:20:00.000+09:00

Korea was always susceptible to influence from China, its big neighbor, and this includes the influence of Confucianism. Although Koreans were engaged in broad cultural exchange with China from an early stage, the practical application of the philosophy of Confucius is thought to date from the Three Kingdoms period.

In its emphasis on this world and the fundamental importance of humanity, Confucianism has a common denominator with the ancient Korea. When it came into contact with the fundamental Korean sentiment, Confucianism brought about profound changes and exerted considerable influence on the Korean people. It has been an indispensable component of the Korean moral system, way of life, and laws.

The Goguryeo Kingdom was much inspired by Chinese culture and Confucian philosophy while maintaining its own customs and traditions. The Baekje Kingdom adopted Confucian tenets in its government and administrative structure, grafting them onto its state system and culture of arts and sciences. Silla was the last of the Three Kingdoms to accept Confucianism, though the spirit of its Youth Elite Corps was in part a reflection of Confucian thinking. The Goryeo Dynasty based its national ethics on Buddhism, though its founder Wang Geon based his political ideology on Confucianism. As an example, his Ten Testamentary Articles of Instruction conforms to a Confucian framework. Wang Geon's Confucian principles of civil administration were further developed under the 4th king of Goryeo, Gwangjong, and the 6th, Seongjong. The latter, in particular, was a very Confucian-oriented ruler. In the capital he founded a kind of national university, the Gukjagam, whose curriculum centered on the Confucian classics, and this became a turning point in the intellectual advance of Confucian culture. Seongjong also built an altar Sajikdan to the gods of the harvest and national prosperity and a shrine to the royal ancestors. He renovated the education system, thus stabilizing the foundation for a Confucian state.

When Goryeo was succeeded by the Joseon Dynasty, Korean Confucianism entered a new era. The Joseon regime made Confucianism the ruling ideology for governing the people, formulating its practices in books such as the Joseon Gyeonggukjeon (Administrative Code of Joseon), and the Gyeongguk Daejeon (Code of State Administration).
In addition, Joseon established Seonggyungwan, the national Confucian academy, and the subordinate Hyanggyo, the Confucian schools attached to Confucian shrines, where Confucian education was practiced with a spiritual focus on the veneration of ancestors. By the time of King Sejong (r. 1418-1450), all branches of learning were rooted in the fertile soil of Confucian thought. In 1420 Sejong established Jiphyeonjeon, the Hall of Worthies, where the most brilliant scholars could pursue their studies and publish numerous books.

A further flowering of Korean Confucianism was in the mid-Joseon period. Seowon, private community schools, were founded with the objective of teaching Confucian thought to the younger generation. The first of these private schools was the Baegundong Seowon founded by Ju Se-bung in 1542, but it was only after Yi Hwang (pen name Toegye, 1501-1570) won state support for his views on the importance of the academies that they began to flourish. The Joseon period may be described as the heyday of Confucianism, and Joseon scholarship and philosophy came to be highly enriched by the emergence of celebrated scholars. Joseon Neo-Confucianism reached its peak in the 16th century with Yi Hwang and Yi Yi (pen name Yulgok, 1536-1584). Korean Confucianism brought in the study of decorum, and from the number of books written on the subject one would have to say that the mid-Joseon period was an age of decorum.

The most important Korean Confucian ceremonies were those that marked coming-of-age, marriage, death, and the anniversary of an ancestor's death, and among these, funerals had the greatest effect on people's lives. The funeral was a way of expressing one's innermost feelings, and its conduct and atmosphere depended on the degree of intimacy or formality in the relationship between the living and the deceased, so funerals were bound to be highly varied in form.

Developing continuously on the foundation of Confucianism, the scholarship of Joseon eventually gave rise to Silhak, or Practical Learning. Confucianism deeply permeates the consciousness of the Korean people and can be seen today in many forms, such as the ceremonies that continue to be held: Jongmyo Jerye, the royal ancestral service at the Jongmyo Shrine, and Seokjeon Daeje, the worship rites at the Seonggyungwan in honor of Confucius, his disciples, and other celebrated Chinese and Korean Confucian scholars.

Cultural Lore and Artistic Flair - II

2004-08-27T22:11:00.000+09:00

Korea enjoys a beautiful natural environment. From olden days Koreans referred to this landscape as geumsu gangsan or "a golden tapestry of rivers and mountains." The wonder of this terrain presents in each season a different prospect of picturesque scenery. In the Korean climate, spring, summer, autumn, and winter are all quite distinct, with the winter usually being rather long, summer somewhat shorter, and spring and autumn shortest of all. Rainfall is concentrated in the summer. The heavy rainy season usually comes in July in Seoul and the central regions and in August further north. In Seoul, for example, 60% of annual rainfall occurs between June and August, and 30% in July alone. This climate has had a direct influence on the lifestyle of Koreans in such aspects as location of settlements and economic activities. Although there is some regional variation, in general the production of food, clothing, and housing in Korea has been designed to defeat the cold of winter and the heat of summer.
The traditional dress of the Korean people is the hanbok. In its winter version the cloth is wadded with cotton and the trousers tied with bands at the ankles to better keep in the body heat, while the summer hanbok is made of starched hemp cloth or ramie that is freely permeable to air and maximizes the diffusion of body heat.

Korean food has also developed in response to the climate. In regions where the winter is long, special preservation techniques for vitamin-rich vegetable recipes have evolved. Kimchi is perhaps a typical example of fermented food. The fact that kimchi becomes saltier as one moves from the cold north to the warmer south is also closely related to the climate.

The influence of the climate is also seen in Korea's distinctive domestic architecture. Traditional Korean houses are equipped with ondol underfloor hypocaust heating for the winter, and in general the roofs are low, the rooms small, and the walls thick. Windows and external doors are few and small, and often made in two layers. This style of domestic architecture has clearly developed with a focus on conserving heat against the long winter. Traditional Korean houses have an open wooden-floored hall, where the family spends much of its time in the summer. While the living room is usually located at the center of the main building, the room for receiving guests is in a separate building. The kitchen is built separately and designed to serve for various kinds of work besides cooking. Traditional Korean houses can be classified according to the roofing material: thatch, tile, wood, or stone. The main framing material for houses is wood, while earth and stone are also important.

Although Korea developed an agrarian culture from an early stage in its history, the mountainous terrain gave a relatively small margin of arable land. The main crop has been rice, which requires a level field for flooding, but on gently sloped land and at the foot of mountains dry fields have also been created. For ages the staples of everyday meals have been the rice grown in paddies and the barley, other grains, and vegetables produced in dry fields. But today, alongside the traditional crops, Korean farmers raise a variety of products including livestock, flowers, fruits, and, near the sea, aquaculture products.

Indeed, in recent times Korea's economy has been considerably restructured. Since the 1960s, Korea has changed from an agriculture-dominated economy to one based on rapid industrialization. The country has gone through a revolutionary change, boosting electronics, shipbuilding, communications, and automobile industries, which has made it a model for national development worldwide. In the information and communications industry in particular, Korea today stands on the global forefront.Through their long history Koreans have created an outstanding culture, and their unique cultural heritage can be found throughout the peninsula. Koreans value learning and have won a high reputation for diligence and dedication. It was perhaps due to these traits that they were able to foster a vibrant culture thoroughly adapted to their natural surroundings.

Cultural Lore and Artistic Flair - I

2004-08-27T22:09:00.000+09:00

Korea is a peninsula stretching southward from the center of the northeast coast of Asia. It is a beautiful country with a glorious history. The Korean peninsula has a land area of approximately 220,000km2and a coastline dotted with some 3,400 islands, large and small.
Korea is now the only nation on the globe remaining ideologically divided. Seventy million people of South and North Korea fervently cherish reunification with one heart. Through the historic summit meeting held recently between the leaders of South and North Korea, significant steps have begun to be taken toward cooperation and reunification.

The word 'Korea' refers to both North and South Korea, but here in the South it usually means the Republic of Korea with its population of 47 million, of whom 10 million live in the capital, Seoul. The city of Seoul boasts a 600-year history, and in 1988 it became famous throughout the world as the host of the 24th Summer Olympics. Korea will once more become a focus of worldwide attention when it co-hosts, together with Japan, the 2002 FIFA World CupTM tournament.

The national flower of Korea is the Mugunghwa, the Rose of Sharon. As it does not shrivel quickly, its blossoms of a subtle beauty remaining in bloom for a long time, it is often used to describe the dauntless spirit of the Koreans, who have overcome many ups and downs.

The national flag of Korea is called the Taegeukgi or 'Yin-Yang Flag.' With its blue and red yin-yang symbol on a white background, and black trigrams in each corner, the Taegeukgi embodies the philosophy of the Korean people. The white background is a symbol of peace, and also stands for the purity and homogeneity of the Korean people and the white clothing traditionally worn by Korean common folk. The blue and red yin-yang symbol interlocked at the center of the flag stands for the eternal duality from which all life derives its existence. Trigrams at the corners represent heaven, earth, sun and moon, and their philosophical derivatives.