An island sailing with the wind
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An island sailing with the wind
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'Jeju Gihaeng' Part 1: Wind culture, an analysis by JNU Korean Studies scholar Joo Kang Hyun

The following are translated excerpts from Jeju National University Professor Joo’s latest book “Jeju Gihaeng,” which highlight Jeju travel and culture. — Ed.

The Path of the Winds, the Road of Civilization

When you arrive at Jeju International Airport, what’s usually there waiting for you? It’s the wind. Even sometimes a rainy or snowy wind. Indeed, it’s always windy on Jeju Island. It feels strange if there is a day without it. If not, it’s only the case of “there is no rule without exceptions.” Do not worry if it is severely windy. Windy and rainy weather is just a transit. Soon after, the sun will show its shiny face to the island. It is always good to count on the capriciousness of the island’s weather.

The wind has helped form the history of Jeju. Where else in the maritime space of Korea could be found a similar tale — the way that Jeju has staked its fate on the path of the wind? Without it, there would be no sailing routes to and from the mainland. Islands have by far the most diverse influx of migrants and visitors, brought by the wind. Naming Jeju the Empire of Wind, the Civilization of Wind, and the History of Wind, should be more than justified.


A Stepping-Stone of Ancient Times and a Network of the Winds

Guided by gales, many things were brought to and taken out of Jeju. Ships often encountered an unfavorable wind and ended up drifting to the Philippines, Okinawa, Taiwan, even to Vietnam. Foreign owned castaway ships constantly drifted ashore on Jeju Island. The famous Hamel’s shipwreck was one of many incidents occurring around the island in those seafaring days.

Xu Fu’s expedition to the East was one of the examples. Xu Fu was born in Qi, a vassal state of the Zhou Dynasty in ancient China, and served as a court sorcerer for the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, in the first sovereign China, Qin Dynasty. The aging emperor sent out his servants in all directions to look for the elixir of life, but they all failed. Knowing that his turn was coming, Xu Fu volunteered for the expedition to the eastern seas, twice from 219 B.C. to 210 B.C.

According to Chinese history books, Xu Fu stopped at a place called Danzhou (亶洲) during his expeditionary journey. Scholars, who believe that Xu Fu stopped at Seogwipo, in the southern part of Jeju, insist that Danzhou refers to Jeju. They adduce the Chinese writing on the cliff wall of Jeongbang Falls in Seogwipo, Xu Fu Gua Zhi (徐福過之), means “Xu Fu passed this place.”

The trajectory of Xu Fu's travels took him to Japan through Korea. Jeju people believe that Xu Fu did stop in Seogwipo. The Tamna Kingdom was the ancient kingdom that ruled on Jeju at that time. It was an outstanding maritime kingdom as witnessed in an ancient map of Jeju Island. The Hallajangchok (漢拏壯矚, 1720) of the Tamnasullyeokdo (Governor's Official Tours in Tamna), covers beyond the territory of Jeju and the southern coastal area of Korea marking the areas and the names like Ningbo, Suzhou, Yangzhou, and Shandong in China. Also Japan, Yuku (Okinawa), Vietnam, Malay Peninsula, and Thailand are displayed. The path of the winds blown from Jeju Island, powerfully extends as far as the limit of the wind’s power.


Jeju Culture Is a Product of Wind as a Whole

As the island sails with the wind, trees on Jeju also know how to surf the waves of the wind. Trees that form a peculiar shape to adapt to a strong wind, are called Punghyangmok (風向木). The nettle tree is one of the typical trees that adapts cleverly to the wind. Poknang, the local name of the tree in the Jeju dialect, is seen everywhere on the island and is also a symbol of the tenacious spirit of Jeju Island.

The tree is highly tolerant to salinity and, moreover, its resistance to the wind is notable. If a Poknang tree is broken from a strong wind, a new growth soon takes place on the spot, proudly displaying their vitality. In some cases, trees that almost lay on the ground somehow find the balance to stand. Jeju’s nettle trees mostly lean from the seaside towards Mt. Halla. The power pushed by the wind from the sea, creates a centrifugal force towards the mountain, to which the trees have adapted and sustained. Poknang trees on Jeju have an aesthetic beauty. The wind caused their suffering but in return, compensated them with such a stylish figure.

The winds on Jeju Island can be terrifying. The maximum wind speed measured in Gosan-ri, Hangyeong-myeon at the westernmost point of the island, is 60 meters per second. The power is so dreadful that a tree measuring more than the stretch of one's arms is uprooted easily. Wind is felt more strongly in the oreums, volcanic mountains and hills. Where there is nowhere to hide the body, the wind always feels cold. I strongly believe that Jeju culture is a product of wind. Wind is, indeed, the symbol of Jeju culture because the root of Jeju culture became stronger and has settled deeper and firmer, while trying to overcome tormenting harassment from the wind.

As powerful as it is, the wind has influenced the customs and livelihood on Jeju. The thatched roof of traditional Jeju houses implies the influence of wind. Every house had a wind barrier attached to the eaves. It blocks the snowy wind in the winter and the rainy wind in the summer from blowing into the house. The roof was made in a round and arch shape tying thatches with straw-woven ropes. It was designed to make the houses more resistant to wind, streamlining the passage of gales and alleviating the impact to the houses. The curvy stone walls are piled up enclosing the houses along the narrow village trails, called Olle in the Jeju dialect. It is to lessen the straight impact of a head wind to the houses. Our ancestors had the wisdom of how to maneuver the wind and live with it.


Jeju’s Yeongdeung versus China’s Mazu

East Asia has two rival wind goddesses, China’s Mazu and Jeju’s Yeongdung. Mazu originated from the south of the Yangtze River in China, was widely worshipped in the south-eastern coastal areas of China and Taiwan. The zealots believed that nothing works without Mazu.

Yeongdeung-gut shaman ritual, which disappeared in mainland Korea, has succeeded stubbornly on Jeju Island. The famous Yeongdeung-gut annual ritual is held in the Chilmeoridang shrine in Jeju City. The welcoming and farewell rituals are paid on a first day and the 14th day respectively of the second month following the lunar calendar.

The Yeongdeung goddess comes to Jeju on the first day of the second month to view the scenery of mountains and waters. She enters the island through the Bokdeoggae Pogu (port) in Gwideok-ri, Hallim-eup, located in the northwest of Jeju. The goddess goes around the island enjoying the scenery of peach and camellia flowers. She sows five grains on the fields and turban shells, abalones, brown and red seaweeds and all kinds of sea products flourish in the sea. Without the kindness of the Yeongdeung goddess, neither farming nor fishing would survive, according to shaman beliefs.

There is no other power matching hers. If this omniscient and omnipotent Yeongdeung goddess arrives on a warm day, people say that she came without wearing clothes. If she comes on a cold day, people say that the goddess is wearing nice clothes. It is an expression implying the change of a season. When the time comes, the mighty goddess of wind has to leave, too. The Yeongdeung goddess stops over at Udo Island, an island off Jeju, on her journey of departure.

In the old days, fishermen would not go out fishing until the Yeongdeung farewell ritual is finished. It is correct to pay respect to the persisting tenacity of Jeju people to keep the Yeongdeung goddess and their efforts to pass down the culture to the latest generation. As long as the wind does not stop, the goddess Yeongdeung will continue her annual visit to Jeju.

How could anyone be able to live on Jeju if Yeongdeung goddess does not exist, and if it becomes a windless island? A lot of people come to Jeju today, to feel the Jeju winds. A lot more will come again tomorrow for the same purpose.

(Translation by Suh Eun Sook)   <Jeju Weekly>

<Joo Kang Hyun  editor@jejuweekly.comJeju Weekly All rights reserved>


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