Women Through A Historical View

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Religions have been significant and have influenced people past and present. Shamanism and Buddhism have remained well-known religions among Korean people because of their history. Women were more socially permitted than restricted by those religious beliefs, the Silla bone rank system rigidly focused on the inborn rank more than gender.

Females were eminent in such shamanistic views as totemism and spiritualism. Animals have often been metaphorized and have played roles in Korean myths. Some shamanistic factors, which are animals and heaven, were revealed in the myth of Tan’gun, who was the founder of ancient Chosŏn. According to the myth from Samguk Yusa, a bear and a tiger wished to become human. Heaven ordered them to stay in their caves for a hundred days without sunshine and to eat only some herbs. The bear finally became a woman married the son of heaven and gave birth to Tan’gun (Kim 13). The bear-woman and the son of heaven are metaphors for the different clans that worship heaven and bears, and their marriage is meant to symbolize unification of those groups (Kim 13).

Female shamans were also significant in ancient Korea even though the ruler was a male ruler. Female shamans first occurred during the Silla dynasty, and the number of female shamans surpassed the number male shamans (Kim 14). The female shamans had three main roles: priestess, divination, and healing. “As priestesses, they presided in national ceremonies such as those in which prayers were offered for rain and blessing” (Kim 14). The female shamans performed ceremonies wishing for the good harvests because agriculture was the main industry. They played roles as mystics and foretellers. “The shamans were also diviners who foretold the future of the nati...

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...e class more than genders through Queen Sŏndŏk; however, according to Wŏnhyo’s interpretation, Buddhism equalizes the right between men and women. Shamanistic beliefs also allow females to participate in society.

Throughout Korea’s ancient history, women were social participants. They were priestesses, diviners, and foretellers and supported by the Buddhist faith. Women were socially empowered and became more prestigious than men if born as the high social class.

Works Cited

Hwang, Kyung Moon. A History of Korea: An Episodic Narrative. Palgrave Macmillan. eBook.

Kim, Yung-Chung. WOMEN OF KOREA: A History from Ancient Times to 1945. Trans. Yung- Chung Kim Ewha Womans University Press: Seoul. eBook.

Lee, Peter H., Wm. Theodore de Bary, Yongho Cho’oe, and Hugh H. W. Kang. Sources of Korean Tradition. 1. From Early Times Through the Sixteenth Century. eBook.

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