Korean troupe performs on the razor's edge

By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Staff Writer

South Korea's National Shaman Kim Keum-Hwa Manshin will lead her dance troupe in a traditional lunar new year ritual at the Andrews Outdoor Theater Sunday. Ch'ol Muri Kut with South Korean National Shaman Kim Keum-Hwa Manshin 4 p.m. Sunday Andrews Outdoor Theater, University of Hawai'i-Manoa $15 general, $10 students, UH-Manoa faculty and staff 956-6878

It happens at the conclusion of the Ch'ol Muri Kut, a ritual welcoming the lunar new year that begs of the spiritual world a safe and prosperous year for the human one. Hoping to exorcise evil spirits residing in the immediate vicinity, the mudang (or shaman) allows herself to be inhabited by the spirit of a military general.

On a tower topped by a sharpened double-edged knife called the chaktu, the mudang first runs its razor sharp blades across her arms and legs and on her tongue and cheeks. Next, she climbs barefoot on the blades and dances, while communicating the wishes of the gods to the audience.

If it all works well, the mudang walks away without a single drop of blood spilled.

South Korea's National Shaman Kim Keum-Hwa Manshin and her troupe of 15 master shamans, musicians and assorted assistants will perform a condensed 10-scene version of the Ch'ol Muri Kut Sunday afternoon at Andrews Outdoor Theater. And, yes, it will include the final knife ritual, also known as the "Pisu Kori."

Believed to be mediators of the relationship between the spiritual and human worlds since the dawn of religion, shamans, even today, are expected to keep track of the ever-changing moods of the spirits. One of their jobs is to then pass along to us humans the information we need to keep the spirits appeased. In old Korea, shamans were once summoned to assure spiritual blessings for everything from births and deaths to harvests and marriages.

Traditionally a village ritual, the Ch'ol Muri Kut is a 12-part ceremony during which the mudang peers into the year ahead by, among other things, invoking spirits, reading whatever signs appear during the ceremony, and purifying ritual participants. Mixing music, song and dance, the Kut's "scenes" include the "Shinchong Ollim," or summoning of the Gods, and the "Ikun T'asal," a preparation of offerings for the Gods.

After the blade dancing of the "Pisu Kori," the mudang invites the audience to participate in the "Heung Puri," a dance believed to rid participants of anything and everything bad for the next 365 days.

Born and raised in what is now North Korea, the 71-year-old Kim Keum-Hwa was ushered into the mudang profession at age 17 by her grandmother, also a shaman. A resident of Seoul, South Korea since 1965, she was designated Boyuja #82 (an intangible cultural asset and "living national treasure" artist) in 1984, in part for her preservation and presentation of the Bae Shin Kut ritual.

Broadcast annually to millions of viewers on Korean television, the Bae Shin Kut is a large coastal ritual petitioning the gods for a safe journey and large catch for fishing boats plying the country's West Seas.