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They First Saw a Mirror: A Korean Folktale as a Form of Social Criticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2006

James Huntley Grayson
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Extract

One of the most popular modern Korean folktales is Choi Tale Type 500, ‘The People Who Saw a Mirror for the First Time’. This tale however is neither a uniquely Korean nor East Asian tale, but an example of a general class of folktales found throughout the world. In the Aarne-Thompson Index it is classified as tale type 1336A, ‘Man does not Recognize his own Reflection in the Water (Mirror)’. The origins of the modern Korean tale may be traced back to the early years of the transmission and establishment of Buddhism in East Asia. The initial use of this tale in a Buddhist context, as a means to illustrate the illusionary nature of all things, had by the beginning of the twentieth century in Korea changed into providing a strong critique of certain features of contemporary society.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , November 2006 , pp. 261 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2006

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