[KS] Re: KSR 2000-10: _Spirit of the Mountains: Korea's SAN-SHIN

[Henny Savenije]

REPLY sends your message to the whole list
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At 03:39 PM 9/22/00, you wrote:
>REPLY sends your message to the whole list
>I would like to offer another view of David Mason's long anticipated book 
>"Spirit of the Mountains: Korea's SAN-SHIN and Traditions of Mountain 
>Worship." I am intrigued as to why Korea, as a small country with so many 
>mountains, has found it compelling to paint so many pictures of a spirit 
>when one could just turn in almost any direction and find a "real" one. 
>But I know that it's a lot more convenient to offer prayers and other 
>nourishment to the image in the next room than to everyday hike up to the 
>top of the peak.
>To hold "Spirit of the Mountains" is to have in hand  a well-researched, 
>luxuriously illustrated book on Korea's traditional life -- one which will 
>be put in broad circulation. It joins the research of Dr. Zo Zayong who 
>said that by studying the traditional art of Korea one can gain insight 
>into its sophisticated spiritual foundation. I concur with Mason's sense 
>that Sanshin will figure prominently in Korea's environmental, social and 
>political future, much as he/she has in its past. So, it's time we get to 
>know just how that can be.
>
>I wish to applaud Mason's efforts to walk his talk, literally, by actually 
>go up the mountains and into the rural villages, crossing cold streams and 
>heated religious biases, to find the deity's many diverse faces. The 
>narrative's anecdotal tales of mountain dwelling monks as well as 
>information gleaned from collectors and scholars, as well as literary and 
>historical sources, are equally welcome.
>
>Of great use to me has been the book's running definitions of many Korean 
>terms (nouns both proper and not) which are spread throughout the text and 
>compiled into a glossary with romanized transliteration, Chinese and 
>Hangol references. I was thrilled to find his translation of prayer to 
>Sanshin and a lengthy discussion of comparative religious cults with 
>Sanshin as its object of worship.
>
>Surely one can critique the book's production which, by Hollym's standards 
>for its other shamanism books, is exceptional, particularly in its 
>well-printed slip jacket and binding. And the book deserved a good index.



Well, what can I say, obviously we have different standards ;-)


Henny (Lee Hae Kang)
-----------------------------

Feel free to discover Korea with Hendrick Hamel (1653-1666)
http://www.henny-savenije.demon.nl (in English)
In Korean
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In Dutch
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Frits Vos Article about Witsen and Eibokken and his first Korean-Dutch 
dictionary
http://www.henny-savenije.demon.nl/FritsVos
Korea through Western Cartographic eyes
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Hwasong the fortress in Suwon
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