Author Archives: eungihon

Red Mask

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: March 20th 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Context

The “Red Mask” refers to the most prominent variation of an urban legend that was widely circulated in South Korea around the year 2004. As an urban legend originating from Japan’s story of the Kuchisake-onna (slit-mouthed woman; popular urban legend during 1990s Japan), the story itself was in circulation in Japan as early as the late 1970s, and first circulated around South Korea circa 1993 before re-emerging a decade later.

Informant Information

The informant is a South Korean native born in 1997, being seven years old during 2004 – the peak of the urban legend’s circulation. He recalls his classmates talking about the Red Mask, some with worry and others with possibly feigned bravery. Transcript of my conversation with him is as follows:

“So the Red Mask thing… it went like this, I think. A woman wearing a red mask asks a person if she looks pretty. In some stories, the person replies yes, and the woman makes her ‘look the same as her’ – she rips open both ends of the mouth until the mouth extends from ear to ear like the Joker from Batman, just with a bigger laceration! But if you say ‘I don’t know’, she only rips one side of your mouth. Some dudes also used to say that they saw different masks: For example, the Blue Mask is the Red Masks’s girlfriend. I’ve even heard stories where the Red Mask is goddamn five stories tall!”

Analysis

The “Red Mask” urban legend is pertinent for a number of reasons: Firstly, it is an example of urban legends going across borders and experiencing changes in the process of doing so; as a nationally famous and well-documented example, the urban legend gives anthropologists opportunities to better understand how different national identities can affect representation of that culture. Secondly, the changes made in the iteration that circulated in South Korea in the 2000s were very different from the original urban legend – although the stories both told of a mysterious woman wearing a mask, the woman is quiet, mysterious and unsettling in the Japanese version, whereas in South Korea the woman is depicted as wearing a red mask and possesses inhuman strength and size. Many suspect the initial circulation of the legend to be from parents’ scaring stories meant to keep their child away from strangers. Therefore, the embellished description of a fearful figure may be just as significant in describing the Korean psyche of fear and not just transformations in folklore across borders.

Variations in the Treatment of the Nine-tailed Fox in Eastern Asia

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 27th 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin, Japanese

Context

While the nine-tailed fox (also known as a fox spirit) is a staple of eastern Asian folktales and myths, its imagining and treatment varies between countries. Some similarities are shared in the number of tails and possession of magical powers – especially the powers of transformation, which is typically used to take on a female human form. However, the portrayal of these mythical foxes varies across countries. Understanding the reasons for this difference may help in better understanding the historical and cultural contexts of the eastern Asian region as a whole.

Informant Information

The informant is a Chinese national with a strong interest in Japanese and Korean culture. With this background across cultural works of three countries, he pointed out to me how each of the three countries portray the nine-tailed fox very differently:
“In China, the nine-tailed fox is emphasized as a creature of… umm… yin, the side of the universe associated with the feminine, and passive elements. It is also considered a manipulator of men under human form. Japan’s nine-tailed fox is a long-lived villain who caused tyranny in many countries, eventually settling in Japan as a powerful yokai, before being slain by an entire army. They reference this kind of nine-tailed fox in popular culture a lot, like the one from Naruto. Finally in Korea, they are seen as hunters of human essence by eating the livers of charmed men to become more powerful… you probably see them a lot over summer break*.”

*Major Korean broadcasting channels have summer programming slots for traditional horror stories.

Analysis

This variation of the nine-tailed fox between the three countries can be explained when considering the Confucian school of thought and its treatment of women. The nine-tailed fox as a feminine figure could have been demonized over time, as the concept of powerful, dangerous women is at odds with Confucian ideals of obedient women: In areas with strong Confucian tradition – such as China and Korea – the nine-tailed fox is associated with actions of trickery, seduction and betrayal. However, in less Confucian areas like Japan, the nine-tailed fox is far less sexualized: it is seen more as an evil monster than as a seductress.

Variations in Chopstick Lengths in China, Korea and Japan

Nationality: American
Age: 45
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Orange County, California
Performance Date: February 16th 2016
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Context

Although it is often assumed by outsiders that the three neighboring countries – China, Korea and Japan – share a common culture of some sort, their cultures are clearly different upon close observation. One such example comes from the chopstick. Unforgettable when mentioning Asian culinary culture, the chopstick seems like a simple tool for a simple job, being ‘just two sticks put together’. However, the differences between the chopsticks are very deliberate and practical, as per the excerpt from a conversation with the informant shown below.

Informant Information

The informant is my roommate’s mother. She is a naturalized American citizen of Chinese descent. Having lived her early life in Guangzhou, China, and having married a Korean-American, she is familiar with both Mainland Chinese and Korean culture. While eating a Korean-style dinner together, she taught me the differences between the chopsticks of the three countries of the Far East:

“We [Chinese] use longer chopsticks because we share our dishes across large tables – longer chopsticks give us ‘more range’ [laughs]. In Korea, a lot of people use flat, metal chopsticks because they are very durable and easy to grab tricky things like beans. Japan uses shorter chopsticks than either country. Since Japanese people traditionally ate a lot of fish and mixed grain rice, there was a need for a pair of short, pointy chopsticks for taking the bones out of fish and scooping grains out of the bowl.”

Analysis

The informant’s statement on the uniqueness of types of chopsticks used in the three neighboring countries show that despite the rapid technological development, some traditions stay in practice due to their continued practicality. Although all three types of chopsticks are shaped in unique ways to serve completely different functions, they share a commonality in that they have evolved to best suit the traditional and current cuisines of their respective countries.

Magpies and Baby Teeth

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 51
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Shanghai, China
Performance Date: April 14th, 2016
Primary Language: Korean

Context

Instead of giving them to the tooth fairy, Korean children that shed their baby teeth used to toss them on top of roofs, hoping for a magpie to take it and bring back a new, permanent tooth. But as South Korea rapidly developed itself, the surge of high buildings inevitably modified the context in which the tradition was performed, creating difficulties in its practice.

Informant Information

The informant is my mother, who first learned of this custom during her childhood from her maternal grandmother.

Informant: “…so when I showed grandma my tooth, she scolded me, telling me that I should throw it [onto the roof] so that I can ‘get my new tooth from the magpie’. The idea of not having my tooth grow back scared me – I didn’t want to be toothless like an old person! I ran off to the yard and threw my tooth as far up the roof as I could.”

Collector: “Is this still a thing? I think I read that story from an old book, but I don’t remember any of my friends doing it.”

Informant: “Probably not, since traditional tiled rooftops are only in expensive traditional housing – all we get are apartments nowadays…”

Collector: “Fair enough. Why the magpie though? Why not some other bird?”

Informant: “Because magpies symbolize the coming of spring and good luck.”

Analysis

The ubiquitous nature of folklore pertaining to baby teeth in contemporary societies can be explained by the necessity of certain rites of passage in traditional societies. Since the eruption of baby teeth begins around the age of 6, the first loss of teeth marks the physiological change to adolescence. But also, by giving away one’s own baby teeth (one’s former juvenile self) for good luck, the child ritualistically readies oneself for an adolescent life with greater responsibilities such as helping out with family work or starting school.

Nowadays this superstition is seldom practiced in urban Korea. Formerly practiced on Korea’s once common one-story homes, contemporary Korea and its forest of buildings over ten stories high forces the tradition to contextualize itself to the world of tall buildings or be left with an “expiration date” of sorts.

Folk Speech of the Gangwon Province

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 51
Occupation: Homemaker
Residence: Shanghai, China
Performance Date: April 14th 2016
Primary Language: Korean

Context

South Korea is home to multiple provinces/regions and rich in their respective dialects. Outside of the country, there are dialects formed by Korean populations in central Asia, China, Japan and the United States. Standard Korean, a ‘modern Seoul dialect used by educated people’ (a definition that remains controversial), is used throughout official capacities and broadcast television. Sometimes children will take on the dialects of their parents, or be influenced by their area of residence or language of study to speak a unique idiolect. This entry focuses on the dialect of the Gangwon province as the informant has first-hand experience with the dialect.

Informant Information

The informant is my mother. She lived in Gangwon province all her early life and is familiar with the dialect as well as its differences to standard Korean. When asked about the dialect of the province as a whole, I was told that “most people [there] don’t speak dialects anymore”, and that the province had to be treated as “two separate regions” because of that; the “western region” Yeongseo (영서) and the “eastern region” Yeongdong (영동). The western region historically had a lot of interaction with the capital, so the dialect mostly resembles the Seoul dialect “although some words are spoken with a different intonation”, as seen from the difference between the words for older brother in the two dialects (형/성, hyung/sung). Speakers from the Yeongdong area tend to sound “more different” than their Yeongseo counterparts made evident by the difference in the standard/dialect words for tail (꼬리/꼬랭이, ggori/ggoraengi).

Analysis

As a form of folk speech, the dialect of Gangwon province is in a tenuous spot, since non-Seoul dialects tend to be looked down upon and lack the official support to maintain its folk group: the speakers. Another factor in the decrease of folk speech across Korea (and not just the province) is that “increased movement between the province and the capital” and the government’s lack of support for dialects results in a decrease in Gangwon’s youth populations speaking the local dialect. The informant’s dialect is a significant example for its uncertainty: with its identity becoming less clear as its speakers adjust to life in the capital, will it survive or die out? While the answer is currently unclear, more disdain towards Korean dialects may result in these forms of folk speech being gone for good.