Ancient Koreans liked to get it on

The Chosun Ilbo ran a piece on Korea’s long tradition of erotic art, from the Bronze Age to the Joseon dynasty. Pretty interesting stuff, of course.

And to do my part to educate the public at large, I link to the Dado Museum’s downloadable collection of erotic art from around the world, including a very nice collection of Joseon-era chunhwa paintings, many done by some of the period’s best-known artists. Share them with someone you love.

This entry was written by Robert Koehler, posted on February 11, 2006 at 4:05 pm, filed under Korean Culture, Korean Tabloid Crap. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

6 Comments

  1. Sperwer your flag
    Posted February 11, 2006 at 5:20 pm | Permalink

    Is that tobacco, opium or, like their sisters in the States, crack that all those girls are smoking?

  2. Mark your flag
    Posted February 11, 2006 at 9:20 pm | Permalink

    I think some are smoking pole and some are smoking pot.

  3. R. Elgin your flag
    Posted February 11, 2006 at 11:42 pm | Permalink

    It is amusing but I had come across this anecdote when researching the “san-shin” legend through David Mason’s website on such:

    It is said that Samgak-san [Three Crags Mountain, a.k.a. Bugak-san or Northern Crags Mountain], the northern guardian of Seoul, is so picturesque that its valleys became recreational sites from early in Joseon. During the ‘Golden Age’ of the 16th Century, a lot of secret cottages were built near a cave called Mil-deok on the northeastern slope, and men and women of loose morals gathered there to have illicit affairs (fore-runners to today’s ‘Love Motels’!). Even women of the Yangban [noble] class came to have their fun.

    A young Neo-Confucian scholar named Yi Hang-bok heard of these notorious cottages, and disapproved. On the First Full Moon he disguised himself as a San-shin by wearing a false long white beard and wig, and a royal red gown. In the moon-lit evening he seated himself with a dignified air on a high rock near the cottages. Women passed below him on their way to the cottages, having pretended to be going to offer customary worship to the Bugak-San-shin. Yi Hang-bok called out to them: “I’m the San-shin here! I was so deeply moved the sincerity of your offerings that I’ve appeared here to forgive your misconduct. Those who confess their sins shall be forgiven. But those who conceal their misconduct shall be punished severely!” So the startled, frightened women all confessed their illicit affairs in detail. The next few days, Yi Hang-bok had a great time spreading the hot gossip all over Seoul, causing uproars in many noble and plain houses. The corruption of morals became a matter of grave concern, and ultimately the king had the secret cottages and cave destroyed.

    David Mason also has an excellent book entitled “Spirit of the Mountains” which is about the San-shin Gut — the Korean mountain god (http:san-shin.org). I’m sorry but I should really plug this great book.

  4. judge judy your flag
    Posted February 12, 2006 at 2:39 am | Permalink

    can anyone say “splinter?”

  5. michael your flag
    Posted February 12, 2006 at 10:00 am | Permalink

    “a pinewood penis from the Unified Shilla Era”

    Neo-Confucian woody.

  6. Mizar5 your flag
    Posted February 13, 2006 at 8:25 am | Permalink

    Most likely it was just the males who liked to get it on. According to Eli Lilly’s new survey,less than one in three Korean wives said they were even “slightly happy” about sex with their husbands compared to half of Korean men who were happy about sex with their wives. Not exactly a sharing experience.

    http://abcnews.go.com/Health/S.....id=1601817

    On a positive note, releasing this survey just before Valentine’s Day was probably a good public service.

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