Newsletter

The Wrestlers in Gakjeochong Murals

  On the walls of tomb chambers for corpses in the Gakjeochong Tomb, there still remain the oldest folk wrestling scenes in our country. For this reason, North Koreans call this tomb the wrestling tomb, using the word ‘wrestling’ instead of the term ‘Gakjeo’, which refers to martial arts like wrestling. The murals vividly depict two wrestlers exerting all their strength to topple each other in a fierce battle, Korean wrestling.

  One of the wrestlers, fully engrossed in the wrestling match, is a person from the countries bordering Western China, recognizable by his hooked nose and big eyes, while the other is an ordinary Goguryeo man. The two strong men place their heads against each other’s left shoulders and push their right shoulders into the opponent’s left chest. They stretched both hands to grab the thigh band around the waistband of the opponent’s pants on his back and push one leg into the other’s thigh near his groin, striving to lift or push their opponent with all their might. The mural effectively conveys their intense struggle, with their mouths wide open, and their breath visible in the depiction, as if their beards were blowing in the wind. Their bodies probably were beaded with sweat.

  The old man standing beside the two strong men, who were engrossed in the wrestling match, must be in the role of a referee. This man, holding a cane in one hand, wears a wind-shear without a feather on his head. His hair beneath it is sparse, and his mustache and beard, covering his eyes, nose, and mouth, are also sparse. The artist tried to reveal that this man, holding a cane, is very elderly, with depictions of sparse mustache and hair.

  If we ask an ordinary citizen or teenager, ‘What do you think this scene is?’ without telling them the fact that this is a Goguryeo tomb mural created in the early 5th century, what do you think their answer will be? Most likely, they will answer that it's a folk wrestling. The short pants and thigh band worn by the two strong men in the mural are typical features of folk wrestling. The stance of the two wrestlers in the mural shows that they are engaged in left thigh band-based wrestling, which was common in Honam region until recently, with the sole difference that the mainstream of recent folk wrestling is right thigh band-based wrestling. We can see that the folk wrestling itself was one of the popular folk games, at the latest during the Goguryeo era of the Three Kingdoms period, through this one scene in the mural.

Wrestling, a Game at the Gateway to the Afterlife

One of the striking features in the scene of the Wrestlers in Gakjeochong Murals is the bear and tiger at the base of the large purple tree on the left side of the mural. Black birds perch on the branches of the tree, while the bear and tiger each sit leaning against the trunk of the tree like humans. Above the heads of the wrestlers and the elderly referee, a pattern of cirrus clouds is depicted. What do these figures, along with the two wrestlers and the referee, signify?

  The bear and tiger are part of the main characters in the myth of Dangun. They are the two animals what begged Hwanwoong, the son of Hwanin, the king of heaven, to transform them human. The bear followed Hwanwoong’s instructions, spending 21 days in a dark cave, eating only mugwort and wild chive. After that, the bear was transformed into a human, but the tiger failed to do so. The transformed bear, now a woman, later married Hwanwoong and gave birth to Dangun Wanggeom.

  All these events began beneath a large sacred tree that connects heaven and earth, where the bear and tiger prayed to Hwanwoong. It was an event where the life of the land prayed to heavens. The large tree in the mural of the wrestling scene is not different one from this sacred tree in the myth of Dangun. The fact that the bear and tiger sit at the base of this tree is the evidence. So, in reverse interpretation, the wrestling is taking place in front of this sacred tree, which connects heaven and earth. Given that the wrestling is taking place in front of a large tree that serves as the boundary and ladder between two different worlds, the sport of wrestling, in which two strong men compete for power, may be a momentous ceremony that determines whether they will cross over to another world or stay in their own world.

  In Japan’s ancient record 『Nihon Shoki』, which had close ties to Baekje, there is an interesting article. It is the event in which the Japanese emperor had his people engage in wrestling matches at a banquet to welcome the Baekje envoys and the content of the article is as follows.

(The first day of the seventh month of the Year of Tiger, July 22, 642) in the Year of the Swine, a banquet was held for the Baekje envoys, including Colonel Jijeok and others. The Japanese emperor ordered robust young men to have wrestling matches in front of Gyoki. After the banquet, Jijeok and the other envoys came out and bowed to the gate of Gyoki.

  Meanwhile, Japanese folklore scholars, who noted the fact that this article follows the death notice of the Baekje envoy's party, have interpreted these wrestling events as a part of the funeral ceremony. Folklore scholars regard wrestling among the people of inland Asia as a part of games during funerals and note the fact that it is associated with rituals for the repose of souls.

  There is a noteworthy question here: whether wrestling as part of a funeral ritual might have a different meaning and function compared to folk games such as Yutnori. It’s necessary to note the fact that one of the two wrestlers depicted in the mural is from the countries bordering Western China. The wrestling scene of the Goguryeo people can also be seen not only in the Gakjeochong Tomb but also in the mural of Tomb No. 1 in Jangchuan, and one of the two wrestlers is also from the countries bordering Western China. In East Asia during the Three Kingdoms period and the North-South States period of Korea, people from the countries bordering Western China and Central Asia often played the roles of merchants and mercenaries. The presence of this man from the countries bordering Western China in the Goguryeo mural wrestling scene most likely symbolizing the strength and abilities of mercenaries. What is the reason for such a character appearing in mural wrestling scenes? Isn’t he a gatekeeper guarding the gateway to the afterlife, a new world where the souls of the dead enter and live? Could it be that one must win in this wrestling match with the gatekeeper in order for the gateway to open, allowing passage into the realm of the afterlife? Isn’t the Goguryeo man in the mural a representative who has wrestling matches for the souls of the dead with this gatekeeper from the countries bordering Western China? Of course, in a wrestling match as part of the funeral ceremony, it is customary for the wrestler representing the gatekeeper from the countries bordering Western China to lose to the wrestler representing the soul of the deceased’s spirit. In any event, it is clear that this event was considered essential.

Wrestling, a Game Connecting Life and Death

In traditional Japanese sumo wrestling, the wrestlers must raise both of their hands up and down and then sprinkle salt around the field before starting. This act of sprinkling salt is a ritual that also remains in our own folklore to purify the surroundings. It is a gesture to ward off negative energy and prevent it from lingering in the surroundings. Sprinkling salt before sumo wrestling is also a cleansing activity for the environment. While sumo has already become a popular sport, its original roots are said to lie in a part of sacred rituals that pay homage to the heavens, which suggests that it may have been performed as a profound ceremony of funerals that cross the threshold between life and death.

  Given these facts, it is most likely that Goguryeo’s wrestling was also originally a sacred and dignified folkloric event. The presence of the sacred tree, the bear and tiger, and the black bird beside the wrestling scenes in the mural of the Gakjeochong Tomb

serves to confirm the profound meaning inherent in wrestling. While Korean wrestling is now a popularized sport as traditional folk wrestling, its original purpose was a struggle of strength to pass through the gateway between the side of life here and the other side of the afterlife there. It was often performed as another festival event held under the cheers of mourners who cheered on the wrestlers representing the deceased.