Mid term: Project Proposal
I was able to find two inspirations in the Manpasikjeok folktale, so I used two scenes for ideation.
Idea_1&2 from “Mt. Gwisu 귀수산(龜首山) in Manpasikjeok”
It was the reign of King Sinmoon, the 31st King of Silla dynasty.
“Your Majesty. A small mount has drifted into the East Sea one day, and it has been drifting about Temple Gameun ever since.” Park Sookcheon came and reported this to the King.
Temple Gameun had been built by King Sinmoon for his late father, King Moonmoo. King Sinmoon called in Kim Choonjil, a highly respected wise man of the nation, and asked him if he could explain what was happening with the strange mount.
Kim Choonjil told the King,
“It appears the spirits of King Moonmoo and General Kim Yoosin have sent it to bring us a treasure that will keep Silla in ever-lasting peace.”
King Sinmoon decided to send a few people to the mount by boat, and have them observe it carefully for several days.
When they returned, the subjects reported,
“On top of the mount, which is in the shape of a turtle, there is a bamboo tree.”
“What is strange about it is that during the day, the bamboo splits into two trees, and during the night, they merge to become one, again.”
Full Story <Man-pa-sik-jeok: A Flute That Calms Down Ten Thousand>
Manpasikjeok: A Flute That Calms Down Ten Thousand Wild Tides
만파식적
It was the reign of King Sinmoon, the 31st King of Silla dynasty.
“Your Majesty. A small mount has drifted into the East Sea one day, and it has been drifting about Temple Gameun ever since.” Park Sookcheon came and reported this to the King.
Temple Gameun had been built by King Sinmoon for his late father, King Moonmoo. King Sinmoon called in Kim Choonjil, a highly respected wise man of the nation, and asked him if he could explain what was happening with the strange mount.
Kim Choonjil told the King,
“It appears the spirits of King Moonmoo and General Kim Yoosin have sent it to bring us a treasure that will keep Silla in ever-lasting peace.”
King Sinmoon decided to send a few people to the mount by boat, and have them observe it carefully for several days.
When they returned, the subjects reported,
“On top of the mount, which is in the shape of a turtle, there is a bamboo tree.”
“What is strange about it is that during the day, the bamboo splits into two trees, and during the night, they merge to become one, again.”
King Sinmoon decided to inspect it himself.
He went to Temple Gameun and stayed there overnight, waiting for day to break. When the King arrived at the temple around noon next day, the bamboo started to merge into one, indeed. Just at that moment, there came an ear-splitting clap of thunder and lightening, and before long, a heavy rain began to fall. Once it started, the thunderstorm went on for seven days.
Finally, on the 8th day, the wind calmed down and so did the waves in the Sea. The King got on a boat and sailed to the mount. As soon as the King set foot on the land, a dragon appeared out of nowhere, and presented him with a black royal belt.
The black royal belt was an important treasure from the spirits of King Moonmoo and General Kim Yusin, who became dragons in the ocean after they died.
The King asked the dragon,
“Tell me, why is the bamboo on top of the mount sometimes split, and sometimes one?”
The dragon answered,
“Just as you need two hands to clap, you need two pieces of bamboo to make a sound. This bamboo makes sound by splitting and joining together. If you make a flute out of it and play, it will help your world to become peaceful.”
Following the dragon’s advice, the King cut down the bamboo, and brought it back on his boat to the temple.
The King stayed one more night at Temple Gameun. The next day, he set off on the road back to the palace with his men.
When he arrived at the West side of the stream that ran around the Temple, the King decided to stop and have lunch. While his subjects were preparing the meal, he saw his son, Prince Yigong, who had remained back at the palace, running fast towards him.
“Father, I’ve heard that you were given two treasures at Temple Gameun. I was so excited to hear the news, I just couldn’t sit and wait for you.”
Prince Yigong asked his father if he could take a peek at the Royal Belt the dragon gave him.
“Sure you can. Here, this is the Belt.”
The King handed the Belt to Prince Yigong.
Holding the Belt carefully with both hands, Prince Yigong studied it closely.
After admiring it for a while, Prince Yigong told the King,
Legend has it that Manpasikjeok helped Silla to grow in peace for a thousand years.
< Original story source: Samguk Yusa(삼국유사) >
It comes from the Samguk Yusa(삼국유사, 三國遺事), or Stories of the Three Kingdoms, written in Chinese by a monk named Il Yeon during the later part of the Goryo Dynasty, sometime between 1281-1283.
His collection predates the creation of the Korean writing system, Hangul, invented by King Sejong in the fifteenth century.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13362151-manpasikjeok
https://books.google.com/books?id=Ns23Q7rguGcC&pg=PA1&source=kp_read_button&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Idea sketch
“Your Majesty. A small mount has drifted into the East Sea one day, and it has been drifting about Temple Gameun ever since.”
Idea 1: (left side) The waves move, the turtle mountain’s limbs move, and its body moves up and down.
- Mechanisms would be: cranks and cams
“On top of the mount, which is in the shape of a turtle, there is a bamboo tree.”
“What is strange about it is that during the day, the bamboo splits into two trees, and during the night, they merge to become one, again.”
Idea 2: (right side) The bamboo at the top of Turtle Mountain merges and splits in two every time the sun and moon change.
- Mechanisms would be: cranks and gears
+Moodboard
Idea_3 from “Ship-jang-saeng-do 십장생도(十長生圖)”
Ship-jangsaeng
the Twelve “Ten Symbols of Longevity”
widely used in Korea’s traditional PaintingsOne motif from Korea’s religious traditions that is still most commonly employed and considered meaningful is the Ship-jangsaeng 十長生 십장생 [Ten Symbols of Longevity]. This set forms a very important part of the Korean decorative arts tradition, and was used on everything from folk paintings and folding screens to embroidered decorations on fabrics for all kinds of uses in daily aristocratic life. These days it is still frequently used, including on modern metal gateways, doors and the fences around residential or institutional lots.
To enjoy a robustly healthy life in wise harmony with nature, in the beautiful actual places of this planet for as long as possible, even for hundreds of years if one attains the highest forms of enlightenment according to legends, is a key ideal throughout Korean culture. This is one of the supreme values of Chinese and Korean Daoism, standing in contrast to the otherworldly or afterlife obsessions of the religions that originated in the Middle East and South Asia. It is the main goal of Korea’s indigenous Shinseon-sasang [Spirit-Immortal Ideology] that permeates and colors its Buddhism, Shamanism, Confucianism, folk-culture and other tradition
https://www.san-shin.org/Ship-jangsaeng_Longevity-1.html
https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/308314?
Idea sketch
- Mechanisms would be: cranks and cam
Original Image
