[KS] Sun-imgum

[Gari Keith Ledyard]

It looks like for the second time in a week an element of Korean folkways 
may have a Chinese link.  Robert Sayers asks about Sun Img^um, or "King 
Sun." He probably has looked over the lists of Korean kings and come up 
empty, and I don't know of any Korean king of that name.  But there is the 
Chinese "Emperor" Shun (Korean, Sun--but NOT Seun as Mr. Sayers writes, at 
least as that spelling is conventionally used in Korean romanizations; 
we're talking about the 7th of the Korean alphabetic vowel letters, not 
the 9th).  Shun was the 2nd of the so-called "Five Emperors" who preceded 
the classical Chinese dynasties.  They are mythical figures in the true 
sense, and although the Chinese give them various dates, the dates are not 
the significant things about them.
 	"Emperor" Shun (he would have lived millennia before the syllable 
<ti>, K. <che), came to mean "emperor"; for his time the syllable should 
properly be translated "god") succeeded the sage emperor Yao when the 
latter found his own son unworthy. After many failed candidates were 
rejected, Yao heard about Shun, a humble commoner, who made his living by 
farming, fishing, and pottery making. He is said in Sima Qian's <Shiji>, 
first chapter, to have made his dishes in sets of ten, but apart from that 
there seems to be no other ceramic specifics in the records.  Ceramics do 
not seem to find mention in the <Shundian>, the section devoted to Shun in 
the so-called "Book of Histor."  But there is sufficient information to 
corroborate those of Mr. Sayers's informants who represented Sun img^um as 
a Chinese king.  Korean <img^um>, originally <nimg^um>, can refer to any 
level of monarchical ruler.
 	His suggestion that information can be found in Mencius also 
resonates.  In Mencius (Maengja) Book 2, Part 1, chapter 8, we read (in 
Legge's translation, Chinese Classics, vol. 2, pp. 205-206):
 	"The great Shun had a still greater delight in what was good.  He 
regarded virtue as the common property of himself and others, giving up 
his own way to follow that of others, and delighting to learn from others 
to practice what was good.  From the time when he plowed and sowed, 
exercised the potter's art, and was a fisherman, to the time when he 
became emperor, he was continually learning from others..."
 	If this is indeed the explanation for "Sun Img^um," it is very 
interesting as an example of lore being transmitted from the Confucianists 
of the ruling class to the commoners.  Such interaction was the social 
reality in traditional Korea, even though nowadays it is more common to 
see such such relationships as oppressive-- a too simple reduction of the 
fundamental interconnectedness of traditional Korean society.

Gari Ledyard


On Fri, 19 Nov 2004, Sayers, Robert wrote:

> Inspired by the discussion of Mangbusok, I thought that I'd put a
> similar query before the forum.  Does anyone know anything about
> Sun-imgum, or King Sun (Seun)?  When I was interviewing traditional
> onggi potters in Cholla-namdo in the 1980s, the latter occasionally
> referred to a story about an ancient king who, during a period of exile,
> had to take up pottery-making for a living.  When he went out to the
> market to sell his jars, his command "tok sara, tok sara" (or onggi
> sara) elicited no takers.  Only when the queen gently suggested that he
> call out "tok saseyo, tok saseyo" was he able to sell his ware.  My
> informants took away from this story two lessons:  First, that their
> station in society couldn't be so low if King Sun himself made onggi.
> And, second, that even the king couldn't get away with talking down to
> his subjects.  (I might mention that there are some cynical variations
> on the story; but this is the one I heard most often.)
>
> I thought, perhaps, that this story might have a Chinese antecedent
> (e.g., Mencius), especially since Sun-imgum was sometimes represented as
> a Chinese king.  So far, though, I haven't been able to find a
> connection.  I'm trying to finish a long-term book project on the
> history of the onggi industry which in some areas has a connection with
> the history of Catholicism in Korea and in other areas does not.  This
> story figures in my discussion of the non-Catholic potter community.
>
> Thanks in advance for any insights anyone can offer.
>
> Robert H. Sayers
> Arlington, VA
>