Art & Places: Jangseung, South Korea
When my husband and I visited Korean Folk Village on our last day in South Korea, these totem poles greeted us. Lucky for me, I visited National Folk Museum of Korea a day before that and knew that it is called Jangseung.
Jangseung totem poles, Korean Folk Village.
Couple Jangseung looking down at me. National Folk Museum of Korea.
Jangseung is regarded as one of the earliest examples of non-figurative art, in which a human face is carved on a wooden pole (tree trunk). Jangseung has the face of traditional Korean military officer with angry eyes, snaggle teeth and a hat on top of the pole with an inscription down at the middle. The inscription bears the meaning of ‘Great General Under Heaven’ for males, and females ‘Female General Under Earth’. These wooden totem poles, erected in groups or pairs at the entrance of Buddhist temples or villages, were worshipped as village guardians or deities with magical powers that drive out demons. Jangseung is also indicated as the border between neighbouring villages.
The history of Jangseung is dated back more than 2000 years ago. Once considered a deity, it is mostly a decorative piece now and commonly placed at the gates of large places to indicate entrances.
Jangseung is considered an organic work of art and is generally expected to last about a hundred years due to nature’s harsh elements.
I found one interesting blog post about Jangseung by Nick Elwood in his blog: A Korean Compendium. His blog post: Fascinating Physogs – A Tour of Some Korean Totem Poles explores the many types of Jangseung. Go read it.
32 Comments
Hartina Arssid
Kind of unique art and wooden carved. Korea as always never fail to make the whole world impress about their uniqueness.
emila
Yes it is. But Korean ones are a bit simple. Would love to see totem poles around the world.
Syuq
Manalah k.Em dapat semua info ni ye. Bila saya tengok ukiran tu, saya tak tau apa nak cerita dan kongsi dengan orang lain. Pandai k.em cari maklumat 🙂
emila
Alamak! Kak Emi nak letak bibliography tapi lupa pulak hehe. Kena search dan banyak membaca. Di Folk Museum ada baca infonya, Kak Emi snap gambar dan simpan untuk reference juga.
soulie
totem looks scary. even main game yg ada byk totem pon dah feeling2 penakot hahaha
soulie
BUT i admit totem is one of unique art!
azah
unik sangat!
Insyirah
woods all over!
azah
kak emi boleh jadi historian gak ni. kami diajar
menulis fakta sejarah berdasarkan sumber.
jadi mesti letak bibliografi. 🙂
azah
tapi ni kalau letak kat umah malam-malam boleh seriau nih. 😛
azah
kalau letak depan umah, mesti pencuri takut. hehehe
azah
kalau perasan ukiran wajah kat kayu tu, ramai artis-artis lukis karakter dengan rupa camtu kan.
azah
sebenarnya kebanyakan art diinspirasi dari objek sejarah. 🙂
azah
gambar kedua tu siap ada rambut pacak kan. manusia purba pun suka rambut pacak ye. hehe
Insyirah
Unik! 😉
emila
Yes! 🙂
emila
Haah kan? hehehe
emila
Betul tu.
emila
Terus pengsan hahaha
emila
Ya la kan? Similar.
mazny
Mana lagi ada, Kak? Hawaii?
mazny
Hmm, New Zealand? – Mauri people, kan?
mazny
Wah, Male General is under heaven!
mazny
Female General is under Earth!
mazny
Heaven and Earth! Jauhnya bezaaaaaaa! lol
mazny
Cantik!
mazny
But a bit simple compare to those from Hawaii. I rasa lah!
Lya
Agree!
Lya
It’s kind of weird but pretty unique art. Love to know more about art. Peace.
ainur roslan
umm..best nye ble la bleh pergi..nak jugak 🙁
Lya
Best kan?
fae
interesting trip!