The House of Sharing: Lost Hope, Harsh Reality

Of the 238 (among arguably 200,000) Korean euphemistically-called "comfort women" who revealed their pasts, only 42 remain alive, still wanting apologies from Japan. Like the earth that was plundered for its fruit, the women's bodies were owned, possessed, raped and stripped of their resources. Since 1992 every Wednesday in front of the Japanese embassy they have demanded an apology. 1231 times they have demanded apologies. Wednesday they will demand again ... Two more grandmothers passed away last week, waiting.

This statue of a young innocent girl "The Unblossomed Flower" adapted from a drawing made by Kim Soon-deok is the iconic symbol of the House of Sharing. The girl is based on one of the paintings of Kim Soon-deok (1921-2004), one of the grandmothers who painted to express herself. A complimentary and very sad poem "A Place of Requiem" has been written to pair with the statue.

In the back garden hidden between buildings is a statue of the harsh reality of the former 'comfort women'. The statue "Woman of Earth" is very symbolic of the reality of the women who served Japanese soldiers during World War II. According to yin-yang cosmology, men are yang and women are yin, and among the multiple dualities of yin and yang, men are sky and women are earth. As earth women represent fertility, nurturing, bearing of fruit, and so in this representative statue a woman is situated in earth.

Though this is the depiction of the harsh reality of the women who were plundered like the earth in colonialism, the statue also conveys that women are strong and they do still rise up. The grandmothers are trying to rise ... they are fighting back. 

However, this is a statue of harsh reality, a statue of what became but what should not have been. Under colonialism, when times were also patriarchal and women were less valued than men and could be sold much like possessions, animals and the land which they worked, the Japanese not only exploited the lands of the colonial society but the bodies of colonial women. Much like the land, young fertile, usually nubile virgins of the poorest socioeconomic peasants and therefore those less empowered to financially, intellectually or physically fight back were forcibly taken or tricked into working as sex machines for the Japanese soldiers. Both the land and the girls were plundered of their natural resources, their fertility was possessed, their nurturing futures were ravished.

Seen behind the "Woman of Earth" is a round rock balanced on another rock, and the duo symbolize the continuity of life in Buddhism. Buddhist monks donated this land to the grandmothers so they could move away from the city, and be surrounded by nature and a less censorious atmosphere. When the small grounds were built, just as in Buddhist temple grounds, a small strip of land is dedicated to the stupas of the great monks of the temple so that they can be forever remembered and venerated. The same applies here, the stupas of the former "comfort women" are lined up. While many do not have children or family to venerate them, other people will come to venerate them ... and by their stupas they will be remembered. Currently there are eight stupas and no more room for more. The patch of land is too small and a more spacious consecrated ground will soon be located in front of the greeting hall.

The story of the former 'comfort woman' Pak Ok-nyeon /Park Ok-ryeon (1919-2011) who lived her final years at the House of Sharing is a representative story of the large numbers of girls taken into the Japanese Military brothel system, exploited and who then 'disappeared' undocumented. Pak Ok-nyeon capsules her story in basic events. The pain of estrangement from her family and loss of friends and then the lost connection with her last friend and fellow survivor of shared experiences is felt in her abbreviated sentences. The girls lives were smashed before they had hardly begun.

Pak Ok-nyeon was taken to Japan first and fathered with about 35 other girls. All of them were taken on a ship heading for Papua New Guinea. According to Pak, after crossing the ocean, only half of them survived the journey (so about 17). She spent 3 to 4 years on Papua New Guinea in the city of Labaul working as a "comfort woman." Only half of these girls survived; some killed themselves and some died due to harsh working conditions (about 8 or 9 of them). Before the end of the war, Pak was put on a ship heading back to Japan with the 8 or 9 girls who had survived, but only 2 girls survived the trip. Pak spent her later years searching for this other girl, the only other one to have survived, but she never found her before she, Pak Ok-nyeon, passed away.

[Click to enlarge] Places where comfort stations were located. Don't be deceived by the map, however, as a single red dot doesn't mean there was only one military brothel but could in fact be several brothels densely packed.
Legend:
red circles - 'comfort station' locations confirmed by 'comfort women' themselves
blue circles - areas confirmed by testimony of Japanese soldiers via diaries or verbally
yellow squares - areas confirmed by official documents and military materials
green triangles - areas confirmed by witnesses, local people, etc (3rd party sources)

The House of Sharing Grandmothers Who Have Passed Away

Currently 10 grandmothers live at the House of Sharing and one was on trial to see if she could adapt; it was her first day and she was wandering like a lost spirit, not really understanding why the foreign crowd was there on "tour" and not really knowing why two grandmothers spoke and briefly sang songs of memory. Another grandmother was to arrive the next day. The grandmothers average age is 90, and one of the reasons they now come to the House of Sharing is because they can get physical and medical assistance there. Their bodies are old and badly damaged from what they suffered, and they need care. Of the 10 grandmothers, only two are mobile; the others are bedridden. Yi Ok-seon (born 1927) is one of the mobile ones and had just come back from speaking in the United States for three weeks (NY, Texas, and three other states). She was still very tired, but was quite the talker ... and proved to be quite the singer as well.

Five grandmothers amidst the "Unblossomed Flower" statue:
Back left to right: moon, Pil-gi; Park, Doo-ri
Front left to right: Kim Seon-deok; Kang Deok-kyung; Kim Hak-soon

All of the grandmothers who lived and died at the House of Sharing are commemorated also in a bust. Kim Hak-soon also has a bust commemorated to her although she never lived at the House of Sharing, but the House would not be in existence if Kim Hak-soon had not been the first former comfort woman to go public.

Yi Yong-Nyeo (1926-2013)

Born in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do. Forced to work as a sexual slave by the Japanese military in Taiwan, Singapore and Burma. After the end of WWII, she came back to Busan in 1946 through POW camp in Rangoon. She gave testimony at The Women's International War Crimes Tribunal in Tokyo, 2000.

Park, Ok-ryeon (1919-2011)

Born in Muju, Jeonbuk-do and taken to Rabaul, Papua New Guinea. She was especially serious about participating in the Wednesday Demonstration and was almost never absent from it after coming forward to the public as a former Japanese Military sexual slave.

Ji, Dol-ee (1923-2008)

Born in Kyoungju, Kyeongbuk-do and taken to "Seokmoonja comfort station" in the Jilin province of China. She never stopped missing her husband who had been forcibly conscripted into the Japanese military leaving word that she should wait for him as he would come back alive.

Kim Hwa-sun (1926-2012)

Born in Pyeongyang, North Pyeongan-do. She suffered from poverty and so, by the prospect of having tasty food, she was lured to work at a 'comfort station' in Singapore where she was cruelly raped by Japanese soldiers. After Singapore, she was taken to a 'comfort station' near Mudanjan, China. In 1947 she finally returned to Korea by a Korean ship. After living in Incheon or Seoul, she tried to make her way to Pyeongyang in the north but wasn't able to. During the Korean War, she moved around the country. She settled down in Jochiwon, Chungnam and helped poor students study. She also donated all of her property to bore wells in Cambodia and to help the building of the International Peace and Human Rights Center. She acted very passionately to solve the problems afflicting Japanese military 'comfort women' victims. Before moving to the House of Sharing in November 2008, she had been living along in Chungcheongnam-do.

Moon, Myoung-geum (1919-2000)

Born in Busan and taken to the Heilongjiang province in China. She donated her whole fortune, 43million won to the Truth Commission on the Slaughter of Civilians during the Vietnam War, saying, "I've heard there are many people who suffer war wounds in Vietnam."

Kim Hak-soon (1924-1997)

Born in Gilim-song, China. Victimized as a 'Sexual Slavery for the Japanese Military' in Beijing, China. Kim Hak-soon halmoni, who was the first to testify as a 'Sexual Slave for the Japanese Military' in 1991 said that, "We must record these things that were forced upon us."

Kang, Deok-Kyung (1929-1997)

Born in Jinju, Gyeongnam-do. Degraded from a member of the group of 'Japanese Female Labor Corps' into a 'Sexual Slave for the Japanese Military'. Well-known for her paintings drawn during her stay at the House of Sharing, such as "The Stolen Chastity", "Punish the Responsible" and others.

Some of these paintings were Kang Deok-kyung's.

Kim, Soon-deok (1921-2004)

Born in Ueeryung, Gyeongnam-do. Victimized as a 'Sexual Slave for the Japanese Military' in Shanghai, China. Drew the 'Unblossomed Flower', which now becomes symbolic of the 'Sexual Slavery for the Japanese Military'.

Moon, Pil-gi (1925-2008)

Born in Jinyang, Gyeongnam-do. Victimized as a 'Sexual Slave for the Japanese Military' in Jangchun, China. Received a Civil Rights Award from the International Covenants on Human Rights in 2000.

Park, Doo-ri (1924-2006)

Born in Milyang, Gyeongnam-do. Victimized as a 'Sexual Slave for the Japanese Military' in Taiwan. Requesting an official apology and reparation from the Japanese Government, Park Doo-ri halmoni was one of the plaintiffs in the court at the Shimonoseki courthouse, Yamaguchi, in 2000.

The Living (maybe) Grandmothers at the House of Sharon

Bae, Chun-hui (1923 - present)

Born in Seongju, Gyeongsanbuk-do. One day when she was 19, she went to her friend's house and heard of recruitment for the Women's Voluntary Labor Corps. Not knowing that it was really for 'comfort women' she volunteered with her friend because she was told she could earn money. She was taken to Manchuria and forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military. After liberation, she was unable to return directly to Korea and drifted from one area to another in China. She crossed to Japan in 1951 and finally returned to Korea around 1981. In 1997 she came to the House of Sharing. She sings like a professional, and the House of Sharing she is considered like an artist. She does not open her heart easily to others, but she falls quickly and deeply for animals and children.

Yi, Ok-seon (1927 - present)

Born in Busan to a poor family, she was unable to go to school. In 1940 someone offered her "an opportunity to gather money and go to school", and so she began working in an inn in Ulsan. In 1942 a Korean and a Japanese forcibly took her to Yanji, currently in the Jilin province of northwest China, where she was forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military for three years. After liberation, she married a Korean man and settled in Baodaozhen, China. However, they were separated because her husband enlisted in the military when war broke out in China. She remarried and live in Yanji with her son and daughter-in-law. Finally in 2000 she returned to Korea and moved to the House of Sharing. Her regret is that she didn't get a chance to go to school as a child and so she reads with great ardor anything she can get her hands on--particularly books and declarations from weekly Wednesday demonstrations in front of the Japanese embassy. She has become a fervent and fiery human rights activist. 

 

Yi, Yongnyeo (1926 - present)

Born in Yeoju, Gyeonggi-do, she had been working as a maid since the age of eight when in 1942 she was lured into a job offer by an owner of a tavern at the age of 16. From there she was forced into sexual slavery to the Japanese military in Taiwan, Singapore and Burma. When WWII was over, she returned to Busan in 1946 from a refugee camp in Yangon. In 1995 she moved to the House of Sharing but twice left to live with her sons. In 2010 she returned and says she will remain in the House until she dies. She is very energetic and bright and has a great relationship with the villagers. 

Pak, Ok-seon (1924 - present)

Born in Miryang, Gyeongsangnam-do, when she was 18 in 1941 a friend told her there was money to be made in factory work in China and proposed they go together to work at a textile manufacturing plant. Knowing her family wouldn't allow her to go, she sneaked out of the house at night and caught a train with her friend. She was taken with 20 other girls of her age to a 'comfort station' in the Muling area of Heilongjang, Manchuria and forced into sexual slavery to the Japanese military for four years. Her base was bombed and she was wandering in the mountains when the war ended. She married an ethnic Korean and settled in Heilongjang, and in 2001 finally returned to Korea. She currently lives at the House of Sharing. She is typically shy and quiet, except when it comes time to sing. Then she grabs a microphone and lets loose her pure, smooth voice while dancing and swaying to the music. [She now suffers from dementia but she came and sat with her foreign visitors, and after a little encouragement sang ... and quite well too.] 

Kim, Soon-ok (1922 - present)

Born in Pyeongyang, Pyeongannam-do, her family was very poor and so she worked as a maid from the age of seven as she had to earn money to support her hungry younger siblings. From these harsh conditions, she was forced into the Shimenzi 'comfort station' in Heilongjiang, China, for forced to work as a sexual slave to the Japanese military for five years. After liberation, she could not think about going back to her hometown, so she stayed in the area where the 'comfort station' had been. Kim Soon-ok returned to Korea in 2005 and is currently living at the House of Sharing. She is a very optimistic person, enjoys people and smiles a lot. 

Kim, Gun-ja (1926 - present)

Born in Pyeongchang, Gangwon-do, she was the first-born of three daughters. Her father died when she was nine and her mother left the world as well four years later. She and her little sisters were scattered among relatives. She lived as the foster daughter of a policeman. In 1942 at the age of 17, thinking she was running an errand for the policeman, she actually went to a 'comfort station' in Hunchun, Manchuria. There she was forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military until liberation, whereupon she returned to Korea and did hard work such as selling clothes and working as a domestic servant. She has lived in the House of Sharing since 1998. Because she is in constant pain because of pain in her leg and from other operations, she is still determined to take a walk for exercise everyday. 

Kang, Il-chul (1928 - present)

Born in Sangju, Gyeongsangnam-do, in 1943 when she was 16 a military police officer came to her house and abducted her, saying that she was being conscripted for the National Guard. She was taken to Manchuria, and after stopping in Shenyang, forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military at Changchun 'comfort station', and later at one in Mudanjiang. At the end of the war, she was stricken with severe typhoid fever. Thinking that she would die, military personnel transferred her outside of the military base to be cremated alive with corpses. However, she was rescued by the Korean army for national independence. After the Korean War she served as a military nurse to Korean communist liberation forces, and upon her discharge she moved to Jilin City, also in Northwestern China, and served as a nurse there. She married a Chinese man in Jilin and remained there. She finally returned to Korea in 2000 and is currently living at the House of Sharing. She is the youngest among the House of Sharing grandmothers and is always overflowing with energy. She works feverishly, whether it comes to farming, to the Wednesday demonstrations, or to giving testimony.

The places around South Korea where monuments and memorials have been built
to commemorate the former 'comfort women'.

Symbols of Failed Hopes and Harsh Reality

Two metalwork symbols face each other from opposite walls as the visitors come into the amphitheater, into the House of Sharing compound. The one on the left, by the exit to the museum, which I am sure symbolizes the hopes that have exited, is the metalwork of youthful hopes. The background is circular, a Buddhist symbol for completeness. The woman within the circle wears a wedding crown, the hope of getting married. The bridegroom riding on a horse is the approach of a husband who would come in formality to take his bride through tradition and ceremony to his home. Over the woman's left shoulder is a picture of a family, the hope of procreation and fulfilling one's ancestral duties as well as wifely duties, that of giving offspring and being a complete woman. Her womb is full of laughing water, gurgling with fullness, exploding with life. Her hands are opened and outstretched showing the welcome of life, and hope, and the fulfillment of her dreams.

On the opposite wall is the metalwork of harsh reality. The background is triangular, the bottom of the triangle radiates from the Japanese sun, which radiates aggression, bayonets on guns penetrating the hanbok and the girl, and their penetration is phallic-like, unwanted. The phallic aggression raises the perpetual tear which can never fall. Her right hand drops the national flower, the Rose of Sharon, which symbolizes the hope of her nation or being repatriated to her nation. Her left hand no longer cradles the dove. The dove, the symbol of national and even personal peace, has died and her hope cannot fly.

The 'time capsule' with its seven demands.

However, between these two images in the floor the grandmothers buried a 'time capsule', a statement with seven demands. And when these seven demands have been met, the women will exhume the time capsule an give it proper burial. The grandmothers see hope in getting an apology foremost. They want to be recognized for who they were before they were raped of their hopes, dreams, and lives. For more on issues and a clear look at the seven demands of the grandmothers, visit The War and Women's Human Rights Museum.

Final Words

The House of Sharing started 'tours' in 2009 to raise awareness of the issue since neither the current government nor the Japanese government are proactively trying to resolve the demands. In fact, both governments give little (South Korea) to no regard (Japan) to the perpetual demands of the grandmothers. The grandmothers live in the museum compound; the House of Sharon is a living museum. They allow their lives to be on display in order to activate public awareness, to cry out for justice, and to request that others cry out also so that these war atrocities are never, ever repeated again.

On average 1,000 international foreigners visit the House of Sharing each year. This number does not include Japanese who visit, and not for ethnocentric reasons. Among all the foreigners who visit Korea, it is the Japanese who seem to flock to the House. In fact, about 5,000 Japanese visit the House of Sharon each year. They do not come supported by their government but rather for personal reasons. 

Notes on Buddha's Birthday

Buddha's Birthday, or Vesak, (석가탄신일 or 부처님 오신 날 "the day when Buddha comes") traditionally is celebrated on the 8th day of the 4th month. This 2016 is the 2559th anniversary of the birth of Buddha (also "Sakyamuni", or when young "Prince Siddhartha") in his father's kingdom north of Benares in India. The exact year isn't really clear, but it was about 563 BC, making Buddha a contemporary of Confucius, Lao Tzu, Socrates, Plato, Zoroaster, and the great Jewish prophets. It was a good century for philosophers.

"Buddha" means "The Enlightened One". Prince Siddhartha spent his boyhood as a prince surrounded by luxury (represented by today's lanterns, which also signify "enlightenment"), but in his teens he learned that people all around him were suffering. Conscience-stricken, he gave up his privileged existence to look for ways to help people break out of the endless cycle of suffering, death, reincarnation, and more suffering. His answer came to him as intuition, and he taught it to his followers as doctrine, in sermons called sutras. The sutras and much commentary upon them were written up as scriptures known as the Tripitaka.

Under a rock overhang at Bomunsa Temple (Seoul), a tiny collection of Buddhas ...
All Buddha images on this page were taken from the many Buddhas worshipped on the Bomunsa Temple grounds.

Originally, anyone could aspire to be an "enlightened one". Following Buddha's example, anyone could try to exert the mental effort to reach the state of consciousness and understanding in which the self was completely lost in the vastness of the universe. This state was known as Nirvana, a state of liberation from mortal existence and entrapment in human suffering. Zen Buddhists cultivate their intuition through meditation in the quest for Nirvana.

Unfortunately, most people don't have the mental candlepower to transcend to Nirvana. Fortunately, Buddhism long ago evolved doctrines of salvation by Buddha's mercy instead. The merciful Buddha is what you see in temple statuary. People worship him and beg him for mercy, i.e. salvation and blessings.

Buddha, being infinite, has many aspects, making for a variety of Buddhas in temples. One of his most comforting aspects is as Amida, ruler of the Western Paradise, a kind of Buddhist Heaven, where the soul transcends when the body dies. The Western Paradise is peopled with angels (apsaras - flying figures without feet) and, since it is a realm, subsidiary figures called arhats (nahan in Korean, meaning "disciples"). Other aspects of the Buddha are Sakyamuni - the historical Buddha, Vairocana - the cosmic Buddha or Buddha of light and creation, and Maitreya - the Buddha who will rule the future. There is also a medicine Buddha who specializes in healing.

Buddha, center position, flanked by two bodhisattvas - Bomunsa Temple, Seoul

Have others besides Prince Siddhartha become a Buddha? Yes, but many others who have attained enlightenment choose to defer their formal induction into Buddhahood in order to stay behind and help the rest of us out of our suffering. These incredibly selfless people are called bodhisattvas. They often sit on either side of Buddha in temples. One of the most common bodhisattvas is the "Goddess of Mercy" (kwanum or kwanseum), an intercessory figure who can put in a good word for the ordinary sinner, cause sons to be born, etc.

Temples are compounds of buildings around a hall of worship, usually of the Buddha in one of his aspects. A typical temple has a main gate with images of the Four Heavenly Kings, a main worship hall, a pagoda or "stupa" which contains relics of holy men, and on the back hill, a unique Korean addition called a sanshin-gak or "mountain-spirit pavilion" which contains a painting of the mountain spirit in the form of an old man or tiger.

Most temples are richly decorated with paintings. The buildings are painted with motifs such as the lotus, in a style called Tanch'ong. Back walls of the buildings often have chilseong ("seven-star") paintings which depict such nature themes as forests and deer. They also can depict the eight classic scenes from the life of Buddha:

1. the magical conception via the spirit of a white elephant
2. his magical birth, whereupon he expounds
3. his discovery of human suffering
4. his escape from the palace
5. his attempt to find virtue as an ascetic
6. his enlightenment while meditating under a bodhi tree
7. preaching
8. his death

Inside, hell paintings portray the post-mortem agonies of evil-doers. Also indoors, "sweet dew" paintings combine scenes of heaven, angels, and the daily lives of ordinary people. And there can be portraits of historical figures such as leading monks from the past.

Nearly a quarter of all South Koreans are Buddhists today, and Buddhism is a long-established Korean religion, as witnessed by the elaborate Buddhist structures in the eighth-century capital of Kyongju.

However, certain things distinguish Korean Buddhism from Buddhism in China and Japan. Although Koreans also practice Mahayan Buddhism (as distinct from Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia), their Buddhism is a unique combination of the meditation (Zen, or in Korea "Seon") and salvationist. The major sect is the Chogye order of Seon (Zen); yet many members also devote themselves to pious recitations calling on the mercy of Amida, and their chanting of the formula "namu amit'abul" ("I call on the mercy of Amida Buddha") is a combination of Zen-style mind-clearing and salvationist prayer. Add to this the common reliance on the san-shin, or "mountain-spirit", for healing, children, and protection from evil -- a thoroughly shamanic belief unrelated to Buddhism anywhere else -- and you have a unique Korean religion.

Korean Buddhism has had its ups and downs. It was essentially the state religion of United Silla (668-918 AD) and Koryo (935-1392 AD), and by the late 1300s Buddhist interests wielded enormous political power. Temples were rich, and monks at times wielded Rasputin-like power at court.

But in 1392, a new regime took over and broke the old regime's center of power, including Buddhism. It moved the capital to Seoul, to escape the baleful influences of monks and temples, and decreed that no temples could be built in the city. Confucian orthodoxy became the state philosophy with its disdain for "superstitions" of Buddhism and the anti-social behavior of Buddhist adherents, and priests who neglected social harmony while concentrating on the un-knowable. For the 518 years of the Yi dynasty kingdom of Choson, Buddhism was officially discouraged even though many individuals, including some of the kings, continued as believers.

In 1910, when the Japanese colonized Korea, Buddhism started coming back. Japanese moving to Korea built their own temples, which were branches of temples in Japan, but they also accepted Korean co-religionists. After Liberation in 1945 there was considerable conflict between the older Korean sects and the newer Japanese-sponsored sects over such issues as property ownership and celibacy in the clergy.

By the 1970s, however, Buddhism was flourishing again. The state supported it as culture and leading politicians supported it as religion. Responding to the challenge of Christianity, Buddhist congregations established Buddhist after-hours schools and institutes. Buddhist customs were revived. One of these was the observance of Vesak, Buddha's birthday, which has been growing steadily more elaborate. The lantern festival which used to be confined to temple yards and nearby neighborhoods has spread all over the city. The parade on Vesak night is now so big that it has to happen on a day other than Vesak.

In 1975, Buddha's birthday became a national holiday, testifying to being an approved religion by the Korean state.

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The above collection of notes was compiled by Fred Jeremy Seligson, adjunct professor at Yonsei University. Jeremy Seligson has lived in Korea for decades and is passionate about literature. In 1983 he was awarded the Tan-gun Society Poetry Award for Foreigners. He also has two books published: Oriental Birth Dreams (1989) and Queen Min's Handbook on Pregnancy (2002), and is currently working on another volume of birth dreams.

Korean Yeongsan-jae, the "Vulture-Mountain Ceremony"

"The Korean Yeongsan-jae or literally “Vulture-Mountain Ceremony” is a religious performance-genre of its own, consisting of various arts such as music, dance, drama, literature and philosophy. It is rooted in classical Buddhism but has merged with diverse Korean traditions, becoming one of the most important and characteristic traditional Buddhist rituals in Korea. It was designated by the Korean government as Major Intangible Cultural Property #50, and since then Bongwon-sa, the "Phoenix-Origin Temple" and the main temple of the Taego Order (2nd-largest Buddhist sect), has taken the initiative to revive and maintain it; it was listed as one of the “Intangible Cultural Heritages of Humanity” by UNESCO in 1989.

Basically, this lengthy and colorful ritual is a re-enactment of a significant event in the career of Sakyamuni Buddha, called the Vulture Peak Assembly, in which he preached the famous Lotus Sutra. The main objective of this ceremony is to soothe the souls of the dead and lead them to be reborn in the Pure Land, but sometimes this ceremony is also held to invoke blessings for the security and development of the entire nation. In front of a large-scale scroll-painting of Buddha and an elaborate altar, offerings are made and various chanting, music and dances are also performed, including the well-known Cymbal Dance, Butterfly Dance and Dharma Drum Dance. In the past, the whole ceremony took three days and nights, but now it is usually finished in a single day. Through it, the deceased and the participants become one for the purpose of awakening the true dharma of Buddha and leading the way to free everyone from earthly suffering and delusion.

The ceremony takes place at Bongwon-sa, the beautiful "Phoenix-Origin Temple, which is isolated in the middle of the urban madness, tucked into a high steep valley on the southern face of Mt. Ansan." David Mason offers special insights on the ritual and its significance.

The following explanation makes the ritual clearer, especially as to why the leading monk for the ceremony asked everyone during the ceremony to remember the victims of the Sewol in their two-year anniversary since their harshly premature death; most of the deceased were children. 

"Yeongsanjae, literally meaning "Rites of Vulture Peak", is a Buddhist ritual performed on the 49th day after a person's death to comfort his or her spirit, and guide it to the Buddhist land of bliss. The ritual, known to have been performed since the Goryeo Period (918-1392), consists of solemn Buddhist music and dance, a sermon on the Buddha's teachings, and a prayer recitation. While it is an essential part of the Korean Buddhist tradition conducted to guide both the living and the dead to the realm of Buddhist truths and to help them liberate themselves from all defilement and suffering, it was sometimes performed for the peace and prosperity of both the state and the people." [Korea.net]

White Buddha of Okcheon-am Hermitage

In a modern-day temple-structured overhang and with its back to the north and a mighty rise of mountain wall is the rock-carved seated Buddha of Okcheon-am Hermitage. Commonly called "Buddhist rock" or the "white Buddha of Bodogak Pavilion", it has also been referred to as the "white-robed Avalokitesvara" since the end of the Joseon period. 

This is the famous Buddhist monument in Seoul to which King Taejo, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty, is said to have prayed to before he moved the capital to Seoul as well as the monument to which the wife of Heungsoon Daewongun prayed for her son, King Gojong. 

The 5-meter tall statue is sculptured in relief on the surface of a huge rock and protected by a wooden structure attached to a rock built to protect the statue from acid rain and weather exposure in general. Like other white Buddhas the white coloration has worn off over the years so now is touched up to depict the same greatness of spirituality a white Buddha, typically from the Goryeo period, is supposed to embody. In relief, the statue wears a high headdress with horn-like bands decorated with luxurious floral tassels, a trend that was popular post-Goryeo period. The image boasts an oval-shaped face with clear-cut features and benign expression, and the body of the statue projects strength and an overall powerful physique which reputes the statue as a representative masterpiece of the 12th and 13th century, Goryeo period.

Seoul Tangible Cultural Property No. 17 (location in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul)

Taepyeong Salt Flats and Sea Salt Production

Traditionally, Koreans made salt by boiling sea water creating what is called “parched salt”, “fire salt”, “boiled-down salt” or “flesh salt”. With the demand for larger quantities of salt a new method was implemented—the usage of tidal flat salterns. These were first widely used in Gyeonggi-do, Juan, and Soreapo in the city of Incheon, eventually spreading down the West Sea coastline to such areas like Gomsoman Bay in Jeollabuk-do and Sinan-gun and Yeonggwang-gun in Jeollanam-do, with the latter two adopting pure tidal flat salterns that incorporated large-scale production facilities still in operation today. 

Unlike other salt flats in Korea, Sinan-gun and Yeonggwang-gun are unique in their production of salt—they use reclaimed tidal mudflats. The process begins at high tide with the sluicing of seawater into reservoirs. Once the brine reaches a specific concentration, the water is moved to checkered salterns made of silt and clay for natural evaporation which can increase the salinity from 2-3 parts per thousand to 17-25 ppt. This can only be done in fair weather, but when the weather is bad, the salt farmer allows the water to sit in the haeju (brine tanks). Fine warm days produce “A” quality salt crystals which are large and flavorful, but cool to cold weather results in slower evaporation and smaller bitter-tasting crystals, thus “B” quality salt—less desirable and therefore less expensive.

On average salt crystallizes between 1-3 days, but the whole sea to harvest process takes about 25 days. Salt crystals are then stored in silos for 2-3 years in which time the bittern is reduced and the flavor improved.

Jeollanam-do is the central region for Korean salt production. Sinan-gun holds a dominant position in the consumer market, and Yeonggwang-gun products are essential for related industries. The salt from Sinan-gun typically reaches the market after the bittern has been removed, which takes about a year, while Yeonggwang-gun products are mostly used in the jeotgal (pickled seafood) and gulbi (dried croaker) industry after a 2-3 year-long process of removing the bittern.

The salterns in Sinan-gun and Yeonggwang-gun date back to the very late part of the Joseon Dynasty in the 19th century when Japan first introduced the salt-making process. Until that time, these two areas were key sites for the then prevalent “parched salt” making methods, the method of boiling down water from seawater stored in mudflats.

Korean salterns consist of three parts—reservoirs, evaporation ponds, and crystallization ponds. Production facilities like haeju (brine tanks), salt silos, and resident facilities for salt workers are next to the salterns. Reservoirs are used for storing seawater, and evaporation ponds increase the water's salinity with the help of the sun and the wind. On the fields for crystallization, the saline water turns into salt crystals, but it takes 1-3 years for the salt to be sold as a finished product because the bittern first needs to be extracted in long-term storage.

Supposedly the tidal flats along the western coast of the Korean peninsula are one of the world’s five most important tidal flats (an interesting statement posted in the UNESCO documents but one which lacks development and is not, as yet, logical to me). Korean tidal flats contain a high proportion of organic material, and the diverse species in these estuaries help to increase the mineral content such as calcium, potassium and magnesium needed for quality salt. The chloride in it helps maintain acid-base balance and plays a leading role in digestion while the sodium regulates nerve and muscle function, blood volume and electrolyte balance. As such and well recorded in history, salt is used as a seasoning and food preservative and is the key ingredient for controlling fermentation. Accordingly, sea salt accounts for the majority of salt used in Korea, a country with many food recipes requiring the food preserving fermentation process.

The Jeollanam-do Salterns as UNESCO Heritage?

The unique salterns of Sinan-gun and Yeonggwang-gun have been submitted for consideration as a UNESCO world heritage. South Korea claims that their salterns are unique in many ways.

• The haeju (brine tanks) are found only in Korea, where they have been built in preparation for the monsoon season.

• The salterns mark the boundary between tidal flat and human habitats, straddling the line between nature and culture. In nature, they are significant as a fish habitat and a resting spot for endangered migrant birds like plovers and black-faced spoonbills. As the salterns are located in tidal flats, they are part of an ecological treasury having great biodiversity. They rejuvenate surrounding ecosystems by releasing vegetative matter into rivers which in turn helps feed aquatic organisms in the waters as well as providing shelter and sustenance for migratory birds.

• In culture, they are a place for purification of pollutants (salt is traditionally symbolic of purification in Korean shamanism), and they are necessary for aesthetic appreciation and their more practical use—flood control. Culture came from rituals, traditions and beliefs that accompanied the salt production and harvest—farmers held shamanistic rituals called gosa to wish for abundant harvest along with making nodongyo (labor songs), distinctive songs to accompany salt production while working on their salt beds. Salt has also played a historical role for military purposes, architecture (soaking temple and palace foundation pillars in saltwater to prevent rot), and clothing.

In short, the continuance and preservation of the salterns ensures the continuance of the region’s ecological system, economy and local culture. Despite introducing some modern innovations like power equipment for transporting water, “the environment and natural salt production methods maintain the outstanding value of these saltworks as a living industrial heritage”.

Salterns Worldwide

Despite the majority of countries using refined salt from halite, a few regions worldwide still produce sea salt.

• Guerade in France is well-known for its ideal climate—abundant sunlight, dry weather, sufficient wind from the Atlantic—for sea salt production. The region was registered in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance in 1995. Compared to Korean sites where salt is produced on a daily basis, the French salt marshes harvest salt every 2-3 days. In terms of flooring, the Guerade sites continue to use soil panels, but Korean saltern panels have been changed to include a variety of forms—soil, pottery shards, tile and plastic mats (hm, this last material doesn’t sound like a positive innovation).

• In Savoy and Sicily, Italy salt is collected from fields only 1-2 times a year with machines several months after piling the salt crystals.

• In Dapier, Australia, salt produced in large fields is considered an ideal place for sea salt production thanks to hot, dry weather, convenient proxemics to a port, and broad infrastructure for resources—namely, machines are used for all operations.

• Japan, which introduced saltern production to Korea, started refined salt production in 1972. Since then, old salterns have all but disappeared, although it is said that solar salterns have recently been reopened in Kagawa, Okinawa. The Japanese extract sodium chloride from seawater by exchanging ions.

• In Vietnam, salt is harvested 1-2 times a year in Ho Chi Minh fields.

• Sea salt is also produced 1-2 times a year in Hainan Island, China.

• Hallstatt, Austria—the location of old salt mines—was designated as a World Heritage of an ancient city. (Not clear if the mines are still in production.)

• Wieliczka Salt Mines in Poland, another registered World Heritage, has a long history of salt mining dating back to the 13th century (again not clear if salt is still extracted).

• Lakes, valleys, and wells in various locations around the world also produce salt. Representative sites include the Dead Sea salt lakes, the Great Salt Lake in the United States, Shenhai brine wells in China, and Yanjin salt valley on the Tibetan Tea Road.

With its distinct seasonal divisions and high rates of evaporation, excepting the winter and the summer monsoon season, Korea's multi-step evaporation method results in a quantifiable brine concentration for producing sea salt. “The Sinan-gun and Yeonggwang-gun tidal flat salterns in particular are among the most creative and advanced of the world's saltern heritage.”

Sea Salt—A Decline in Consumption

Many countries make sea salt—France, Vietnam, China, Portugal, Mexico. Though 250 million tons of salt are annually produced worldwide, only 700,000 tons are actually sea salt, and only 400,000 tons of that is salt created from tidal flats. Sinan-gun, Jeollanam-do accounts for two-thirds of South Korea’s sea salt production, and 850 salt farms are tidal salt flat producers in the dozens of islands within the county.

Industrialization has affected sea salt production while cheap salt imports from China and Australia have resulted in Korean sea salt production declining to a bare minimum. In 2006 China became the world’s largest salt producer steaming ahead of the United States, Germany and India. Prices for Korean sea salt since that time dropped from W12,000 a 30-kilogram bag to just W4,000. However, bay salt once considered a mineral is now marketed as a food and is therefore protected by legislation in the Salt Management Act—a law for taking care of the old traditions of Korea.

While it seems that China may be under-selling Korean producers of salt, another drawback to slow Korean sea salt consumption and therefore production was that “Sea salt couldn’t be used in Korean restaurants for the last 10 years because the government considered it a health risk. It wasn’t pure enough,” said of Jeon, one salt farmer. “Call it the case of the unknown percentage. Sea salt is 80-84% sodium chloride. It’s the other 16-20% that worries Korean health authorities, which lead to the ban of salt in the last 10 years.”

Korean food revolves around six key ingredients—soybean paste, soy sauce, red pepper paste, kimchi, salted seafood and salt. Of them, salt is the foundation of the other five. Salt—namely, solar salt or sea salt according to many Korean foodies—takes center stage for most Korean food. Solar or tidal flat sea salt is unprocessed, moisture-rich and contains diverse minerals like calcium, magnesium, zinc, kalium and iron from the evaporated mineral-rich sea water which was stirred by winds and kissed by sunrays. With its minerals which expedite fermentation, solar sea salt and good Korean cooking are arguably inseparable.

The many islands of Sinan-gun. The pinpointed mark is the location of Taepyeong Salt Flats,
the largest solar evaporation salt farm in Korea.

A closer look at the small island where Taepyeong Salt Farm is located.

Taepyeong Salt Farm

Taepyeong Salt Farm, in operation since 1953, is the largest sun-dried aka solar salt producer in Korea, although it only produces about 15,000 tons of sea salt from its spread of 67 salt pans. The number of salt pans is quite vast compared to the number on other salt farms, and its salt storage buildings are similarly impressive—60 salt storage buildings in a 3-kilometer linear placement.

The information signboard states that the Taepyeong Salt Farm was created for the relief of refugees and to boost domestic salt production after the Korean War. Taepyeong as Korea's largest saltern was created by connecting Jeonjung-do and Hujeung-do with a bank to create a tideland. 

The Stone Salt Silo now used as a Salt Museum at the,Taepyeong Salterns, the largest saltern in Korea (in Jeung-do, Sinan-gun) has been designated as a Registered Cultural Heritage of Korea along with Daedong Saltern (in Bigeum-do, Sinan-gun). Jeung-do, Sinan-gun is designated as a Tidal Flats Provincial Park in Korea, and is also a member of Cittaslow, the first town in Asia to gain membership.

The salt shed itself was made from stones mined from a mountain nearby. With the construction of a wooden shed in the 1980s, it was turned into a warehouse, and in renovated to its present function as salt museum in 2007.

Taepyeong Salt Farms has 60 such storage sheds that are in a 3-kilometer long linear line-up.

One of the original stone-built salt storages from 1945 was renovated in 2007 into the present Salt Museum. The inside gallery houses exhibits on the different types of salt, a brief look at the history of salt, cultural influences, and physical aspects like mineral content. Also are historical artifacts and dioramas of the 60+ year history and development of salt production according to the methods of salt production via evaporation. Of particular interest to me was a cultural tidbit on ancient health in a display focused on the beliefs surrounding the marsh plant that thrives in salt flats—the powerfully mineral enriched plant hamcho (Salicornia herbacea).

Recently to encourage tourism, a wooden plank walkway was installed around the farm to give visitors a chance to follow the walkway and learn about salt production as well as see some of the plants—including hamcho—that thrive in the mud flats. From March to November, visitors are invited to participate in the hands-on experience of raking salt in the salt flats. For W10,000 people can visit the salt museum, walk the mud flat trail, harvest salt with large wooden rakes edged with squeegees, and after participating in hands-on salt production, visit the storehouse and get a 1kg bag of Taepyeong processed sea salt. And the icing on the cake isn’t cake but a dish of salt ice cream topped with a choice of powdered flavors—green tea, mango, grape, or cinnamon. Delicious!

To keep the salt as "pure" from contaminates as possible, putting on purpose-specific boots
in a "clean" area are required of all participants.

Then we filed out on boardwalks between salt pans to the designated pans that we were to harvest salt in.

Grab a homemade rake with a squeegee on the end and let's get started!

Various participants gathered around each salt pan.

Ready, begin! The water and salt needs to be pushed toward toward the center of the pan and piled in a heap. It's best if there is teamwork and everyone piles the salt-water at the same time ... but we learned that as we went along.

Everyone can participate. If you can walk on the slippery pan, then you're qualified to push. Even an eight-month pregnant lady was pushing and doing her very fair share.

This little girl was our most active participant!

After we got a decent pile of course we had to play a bit. Traditionally salt carriers used the baskets to bring salt in from the field. Now people use shovels and trolleys on rails (pictured later).

Then it became a competition who could pick up the heaviest baskets!

And then photo-shoot time! Several salt pans disappearing in the distance and hard to see in this picture (the very low building to the right) are a couple of haeju (brine tanks).

Water was traditionally pumped into the salt pans via a pedal water-wheel. Very hard work. Our group took turns filling the pan with water after we harvested the salt from it. In another three warm days the pan will be ready for harvesting again.

Some modern renovations to make carrying the salt to the storage buildings easier—wheeled trolleys on tracks.  

Shovels were "traditionally" used but it'd be really hard to rake everything into baskets. Shovels certainly make the movement of heavy salt a whole tons easier!

Of course registering a few days prior to the activity is essential in order to be sure that a flat would have salt ready for the harvesting.

Taepyeong Salt Farm, registered as a Modern Cultural Heritage in 1997, and Sinan mudflat have been designated as Biosphere Reserves by UNESCO. And in 2010 they were collectively submitted to the tentative list as a World Heritage site.

Miscellaneous Info Related to the Salt Flats

For those interested in reading more on the historical insight of the salt flats in Korea, read the book Confucian Statecraft and Korean Institutions: Yu Hyongwon and the Late Choson Dynasty.

In Sinan-gun, the island Sinui-do, which was featured in a 2008 episode of the KBS2 channel's travel program, "1 night 2 days", is the largest producer of sea salt in South Korea. It is also the area where a man held as a slave to work the salt fields escaped from just last year (early 2015). In fact, there are five reports in the last decade of slaves escaping from the hard labor of the salt fields. In this time of “human rights” and rampant social media, the Kim Seong-baek story went wild and stirred up a lot of people’s sentiment.

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Sources used:

Salt farm, full of history and life
Salterns (UNESCO)Taepyung Salt Farm (official site)
South Korean Salt Farming
Taepyeong Salt Farm (태평염전)
The Healing Power of Traditional Korean Foods 
The islands of abuse: Inside South Korea's slave farms for the disabled: Kim Seong-baek worked without pay as a slave in a salt mine

Making Green Tea at Boseong

Seoul Hiking Group advertised going to the Boseong tea plantation and making green tea. While I've been to the plantation a couple of times and leisurely walked around, making green tea there would be a novelty. Green tea is made from the Camellia Sinensis, a plant that grows 2-4 feet high. It is also the plant that makes white tea, black tea and oolong tea, depending on the processes.

Green tea is wilted through heat-curing and has a denser composition than white tea, although for both teas, the youngest tea leaves are used. Green tea is neither fermented nor oxidized in its preparation process, and so its unoxidized leaves retain their color; hence, the name of the tea is derived from the green water coloration. Its caffeine level is about 20mg per serving.

White tea undergoes the least processing among the teas made from the Camellia Sinensis leaf. The young buds and leaves are plucked, washed and then steamed or fired to inactivate oxidation. They are then dried. The presence of buds lessens the grassy flavor and gives the tea a fragile light flavor. Some sites state that the white tea processing retains the highest antioxidants and lowest caffeine count (15mg per serving) while another states that the presence of young buds and leaves gives a high concentration of caffeine.

Black tea is made from tea leaves which are oxidized in the drying process, causing their leaves to darken and release tannins. The drying process is a full fermentation process, giving the tea a darker and stronger flavor, which also boosts the caffeine count to roughly half that of coffee. Of course the caffeine level depends on the preparation process (40mg per serving). 

Oolong tea is made from partially fermented leaves before curing, which releases the tannins and makes the tea darker and richer and very complex in flavor. Oolong tea is partially fermented and partially oxidized before it undergoes the drying process and is curled into dried cake-like pieces or cakes.

Oxidation and Fermentation in Tea Manufacture

Early in May the Boseong tea plantation hosts the Boseong Tea Festival, and during the festival, because we were such a large group, the green tea making process was free. [I don't understand the logic. I guess as guest we would be making a lot of purchases and buying locally made products, but the typical fee for the green tea making experience is currently W15,000. That would be a lot of revenue for the plantation if they were to collect!]

Green Tea Making Experience

A long building is set-up as the tea-making experience room. About six people can gather around one rustic table and make a batch of green tea together. A large basket of freshly picked green tea leaves is dumped on a thick linen on the table and all people in the group set about plucking bad leaves and thick stems from the collection.

The sorted leaves are then transferred to a very large aluminum cauldron for wilting the leaves. The leaves are then Pressed for 3-4 seconds against the bottom of the cauldron and then fluffed away from the cauldron to both keep them from burning but to also cool them to prevent them heating too quickly. Press and fluff. Press and fluff. The leaves are very fragile and must not be burned. This process is for 4-5 minutes. 

Remove the leaves and transfer them back to the linen. Everyone then grabs a large handful of leaves and rolls and massages them into a wad. The idea is to press moisture out and to soften the stems and lightly bruise the leaves for the next roasting.

The leaves are again transferred into the cauldron and the same steps are followed: roast for a few seconds and fluff.

The leaves are transferred back to the table, allowed to cool and then again rolled. The rolling shouldn't be as rough as before. The leaves are becoming fragile and must not be overly torn.

 Back and forth we went. Into the cauldron to lightly roast for 4-5 minutes but avoiding any kind of burning. Back to the table to cool. The massaging was only done the first three times, but that probably depends on how quickly the roasting process is coming along.

The leaves are still green but darkening in their depth of green. This means the leaves are not being oxidized and will retain high amounts of antioxidants.

Once the leaves have darkened and have become quite fine and lost their moisture, they are ready for tasting and, after they cool, packaging. The whole process took about an hour. Of course it would have taken a lot longer if we had actually gone to the field and picked our own.

Each team member got his or her small bag of green tea to take home and enjoy at leisure!