Busan is good

Ritual for Korean diplomatic mission to be reenacted after 195 years

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A ritual staged for Korean diplomatic delegations leaving for Japan in the 17th and 18th centuries will be reenacted in Busan next month, about 195 years after the last ceremony was held, the organizer of the event said Monday (July 31).

The Joseon Tongsinsa Cultural Exchange Association said the ritual will be held at this port city on Sept. 22 in its original form, based on information gleaned from existing documents.

The ritual, known as "Hae sin jae," was held in order to pray to the sea god for the safe voyage and success of the diplomatic mission prior to their departure to the island country.

According to the association, the reenacted ritual will be based on two books from the collection of a Korean sea traveler's journals, made in the 12th century. The collection is known in Korean as "Hae haeng chong jae."

The association has been reenacting the event of the Joseon Tongsinsa procession since 2003, however the reenactment in the Confucian style was quite different from the original ritual, the organizer said.

"This will be the first time the ritual is carried out as it was written in the old documents"" an organizer said. Unlike previous events, the ritual will be held outside Younggadae, a ritual pavilion. An altar will be set up outside.

The three-story altar will measure 1.2 meters in height and 1.8 meters in width and depth. It will be covered with green turf.

The clothes worn by delegates, the ritual food, and the order of the ceremony will also follow what is written in the book, she added.

The association said that the ritual will start from 7 p.m., rather than between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. as written in the book.

Kim Kyoung-hwa, secretary-general of the association, said that thorough preparations will be made as the ritual has an important meaning in Korean-Japanese history. "We will work hard to restore the ritual in a perfectly traditional way," Kim said.

During the Joseon Dynasty, many Korean envoys were sent to Japan. These diplomats played an important role in maintaining peaceful relations between Korea and Japan and bridging the gap between the two neighbors with cultural exchanges.

After the first Tongsinsa was sent to Japan in 1607, during the Edo period, a further 11 Korean diplomatic delegations were sent to Japan up until 1811.

The source of news : Korea.net  August 02, 2006