King Taejong's Rain
Saturday (12 June, 2010) not only marked the date of Korea's first match in the 2010 World Cup but also the transition between the fourth and fifth months of the East Asian lunisolar calendar (태음력 in Korea, 太陰曆 in Chinese characters). While the fifth solar month is packed full of special days covering a variety of occasions the same cannot be said of its agriculturally-based counterpart. However, what the fifth lunar month lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in quality -- with the festivities of Dano (단오) occupying a special place in the traditional calendar.
Dano takes place on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month (16 June this year) and is a subject I've written about in the past ( here and here). Another event that is coming up falls on the tenth day of the fifth lunar month (21 June) -- King Taejong's Rain. (As an aside, 21 June is also noteworthy for marking the summer solstice within the system of lunisolar seasonal divisions.) Continuing with a description of King Taejong's Rain, from Choe Sang-su's Annual Customs of Korea:
(태종 비) If it rained on the 10th day of the 5th moon, the farmers were glad as it was a sign of a good crop year and the rain was called King Taejong's rain. This day is the death anniversary of Taejong, the third king of the Yi [Joseon] Dynasty. As he lay dying there was a drought. He was sorry about it and said, "If I die may I go to the Emperor of Heaven and ask him for rain for our people", and when the king died it suddenly started raining. After that the people called any rain on this day Taejong's rain.
Meanwhile, David E. Shaffer's Seasonal Customs of Korea has this to say about the event:
Following Dano, the 10th day of the fifth month was an important date during Joseon times. This was the date of King Taejong's (1367-1422) death, and therefore the date when his memorial rite was observed. Rainfall on this day has been called Taejong's rain and is indicative of a plentiful harvest for that year. On his deathbed, it is said that Taejong told his son, King Sejong, that no matter how severe a drought there might be, when he died, and if he had a soul, his soul would assure that it rained on his memorial day. Soon after his last breath, rain began to fall. Thereafter, for the longest time, on every anniversary of Taejong's death, it was said to have rained. Accordingly, barley, wheat, rice, and other grains would be faithfully presented as offerings at the Royal Ancestral Shrine, as part of his annual memorial rite.
Prior to starting this entry I decided to do a quick web search to see if there might be other information worth including and came across a somewhat surprising result. According to this page from the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) there is a site near Busan named Taejongdae (태종대) which is "famous for the ritual of praying for rain, performed when there are droughts, and rain on the 10th of lunar May is called the 'Taejong Rain'." All well and good except for the fact that this site gets its name from the Silla Dynasty ruler King Taejong Mu-Yeol (604~661; 태종 무열왕) and not the similarly-named Joseon ruler mentioned in the above passages!
Photo of Taejongdae from Naver 포토갤러리
According to tradition, the park was named for King Taejong Muyul (654-661) of the Silla Dynasty who practiced archery here after unifying the Three Kingdoms. During the Joseon period, King Taejong (1400-1418) is reputed to have visited here for recreation and pleasure. The magistrate of Dongnae also came here during a major drought to offer prayers for rain.
- Life in Korea
While the citation from Life in Korea does suggest that King Taejong of the Joseon Dynasty visited Taejongdae it doesn't clearly answer the question of whether the offerings or prayers were incorporated before or after his reign. Given the other syncretic associations found within Korea it's possible that the site takes its name from the Silla ruler while the ceremony was later incorporated after the Joseon king's death. This may end up as a question I ask our academy's vice-director to see if she can find some conclusive facts online. Not surprisingly her Korean is much better than mine and it doesn't take her anywhere near as long to come up with relevant results.
Unrelated to the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, the area near Taejongdae also includes "a monument to the five neutral nations that contributed medical support during the Korean War", Suicide Cliff, Mangbuseok ("named after the story of a woman who waited for her husband who had been taken to Japan"), Youngdo Lighthouse, Sinseon rock ("named after the myth that gods and goddesses came down here to relax"), dinosaur footprints, and an observatory that offers a view of Tsushima Island in Japan -- also known as Daema Island in Korea. Quite a bit to see!
King Taejong Mu-yeol is buried in a tumulus within the Silla capital of Gyeongju while the tomb of King Taejong is located in southern Seoul. Perhaps of interest, the Cultural Heritage Administration reports that Taejong's descendants - from the Jeonju Lee clan - hosted a memorial service for him on 8 June of this year. For those interested I found a series of photos depicting an October 2008 ceremony here.
Finally, the transition between lunisolar months on Saturday was also heralded with a thunder and lightning storm in my current home of Uijeongbu. The city itself has a connection to King Taejo and his son Taejong but I'll save that for another update. In the meantime, here's a video I took of our local weather. A couple of flashes there that highlight the construction work going on at Uijeongbu Station, plus a decent strike at 40" in.
Click to view
Funny, it just started down pouring rain outside ...