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Korean Culture
MUSIC
Throughout their long history, Koreans have nourished an ardent love of music and dance. In the distant past, villagers gathered to celebrate plantings and harvests. Such festivities were probably the origin of folk songs and dances that are still widely enjoyed. Korean traditional music can be divided into two major types: jeongak for the noble class, and sogak for the common people. Jeongak, performed at court, tended to be slow, solemn, and elaborately melodic. Sogak drew from a variety of influences, including Buddhist and shamanistic rituals. The songs are often dramatic, depicting love stories and folk tales. Performances are vibrant, full of strong emotion. Western music was introduced at the end of the 19th century and gained rapid acceptance. There are a number of Korean musicians performing and competing internationally today.
DANCE
Traditional Korean dance may be divided into court dance, folk dance, ritual dance, and the dance of professional entertainers. Court dances are slow, stately, and elegant, the movements balanced and restrained. Folk dance includes farmers¡¯ dances, mask dance-dramas, and various group dances meant to accompany work. Ritual dance appears in Confucian, shamanistic, and Buddhist ceremonies. Professional entertainers performed both court and folk dances, often combining features of the two. Many traditional dances were forgotten during the Japanese colonial period (1910-45) and the chaotic early years of the Republic, but in the 1980s, interest in these long-forgotten dances revived. Several were designated Intangible Cultural Properties by the Korean government, while their most notable performers were recognized as Human Cultural Treasures.
VISUAL ARTS
The earliest known Korean paintings were murals painted on the walls of tombs of the Three Kingdoms period (53 B.C. - A.D. 668). The paintings of Goguryeo were generally dynamic and rhythmic, those of Baekje elegant and refined, and those of Shilla somewhat speculative and meticulous. Little is known of the painting of the Unified Shilla period (668-935), as only one example survives, but it is believed that painting developed a great deal during this culturally rich and harmonious era. In the Goryeo period (918-1392), painting flourished in rich variety, with heavy Buddhist influences reflected in temple murals and scroll paintings. Many master painters produced works of the so-called "Four Gentlemen": the plum, the orchid, the chrysanthemum, and the bamboo. Early Joseon (1392-1910) painters seemed unable to free themselves from what had become conservative styles, but their descendents grew in creativity and originality, relaxing classical tropes and depicting scenes from everyday life. Understandably, traditional painting suffered under the policies of the Japanese colonial period. Meanwhile, Western styles were introduced and gained a degree of prevalence. After liberation in 1945, interest in both Korean and Western styles of painting grew rapidly. Today, Korean artists engage in both traditions, often fusing them in new and surprising ways.
Ceramics are by far the most famous Korean art objects among the world's art historians and connoisseurs. Neolithic ceramic pots had narrow, rounded bases and were decorated with parallel lines and dots. Early Shilla ceramics, free and original in style, varied in color from gray to black and sometimes held brown tones resulting from oxidation in the kiln. Ceramics in Korea reached an apex during the 12th century of the Goryeo Dynasty with the attainment of a mysterious bluish-green celadon glaze and the innovation of a decorative inlay technique. Sung Chinese influences diminished, replaced by features more distinctly Korean. Most of these techniques were lost during the Mongol invasions, so that modern potters can only approximate the glorious achievements of their Goryeo forebears. In the Joseon period, Korean ceramics tended toward austerity. Much favored among the Chinese and Korean aristocracies were plain porcelain vessels of a luminous white. At the same time, however, the lower classes were producing for their own use a colorful variety of cruder porcelain vessels, later prized by collectors for their artless charm.
LITERATURE
Early Korean literature was heavily influenced by shamanism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The early literature, which began as an oral tradition, depicted a love of nature and man and held that man was a part of nature. Good was rewarded and evil was punished, and values like loyalty to the King, filial piety, respect for one's elders, true friendship and chastity were emphasized. Some of the earliest extant Korean writings are poems, called hyangga, written during the Unified Shilla period (A.D. 668-935) using Chinese characters phonetically to represent the sounds of the Korean language, which as yet lacked a native alphabet. Only 25 remain. During the Goryeo period and the later Joseon period, Korean literature of the upper class, mostly written in classical Chinese, was characterized by an emphasis on philosophic expositions on the Chinese classics, an art that was essential for government service, the only respectable avenue to success outside of teaching. Scholarly essays and the diaries of scholars and court ladies compose one strain of the literature of this time. Also during this period, hansi, poems in Chinese characters, developed to maturity, and toward the end of the dynasty, a new form of poetry called sijo gained wide acceptance. The sijo, a short three line poem written in Hangeul (the Korean alphabet), remained popular throughout the Joseon Dynasty, as did the later gasa, a new vernacular verse genre which was more descriptive and expository. The Joseon period also saw a great outpouring of literature written in Hangeul which often centered on the concept that all men are equal and attacked social inequality, spurred by the introduction of Silhak (Practical Learning) in the 17th century. The predecessor of this genre was The Story of Hong Gildong, generally considered to be the first Korean novel, written in the early 17th century to criticize the inequalities of Joseon society. This trend was reinforced during the late 19th century by the introduction of Western influences, as writers were inspired by ideas of enlightenment, freedom and independence. Modern writers have also focused on social injustice, particularly under the authoritarian regimes, as well as the dehumanizing influence of industrialization and modernization.
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