Eunyul Talchum (Mask Dance Drama of Eunyul)

Talchum refers to a form of drama in which one or several performers cover their face or entire head with a mask, disguising themselves as another person, an animal, or a supernatural being, and act out a play through dance and dialogue set to music. Until the early Joseon period, talchum was a mask play performed in various regions. By the mid-17th century it took the form of sandae-domyeongeuk, a play performed under court supervision on a stage called a 'sandae'; when court performances were abolished in the 12th year of King Injo (1634), the tradition passed to the common people and spread throughout the country. Eunyul Talchum is performed over two to three days at Dano, and it is also performed on the Buddha's Birthday and during the Baekjung festival in the seventh lunar month. It is said to have originated some 200 to 300 years ago, when people who had fled to an island to escape a disturbance felt too ashamed to show their faces on returning to their hometown, and so wore masks. Eunyul Talchum consists of six scenes: the first (the lion dance), the second (the sangjwa dance), the third (the dance of the eight mokjung), the fourth (the yangban dance), the fifth (the old monk's dance), and the sixth (the dance of Miyal Halmi and Yeonggam). Before the performance begins, the performers gather in a forest to hold a rite for the masks, and then process to the performance site fully dressed in masks and costumes, in a procession called gillori. Twenty-four characters appear, including Sangjwa, Mokjung, Malttugi, the Eldest Yangban, the Second Yangban, Saemaeksi, the Third Yangban, a monkey, the Old Monk, Choegwari, Yeonggam, Halmi, a shaman, a lion, and Choegwari's son, and the play depicts satire of corrupt monks, insults directed at the yangban, the love triangle of a husband with a wife and a concubine, and scenes from the lives of ordinary people. Compared with other talchum, it contains stronger lewd expressions and places greater emphasis on the passages that insult the yangban than on those satirising corrupt monks. Eunyul Talchum and Gangnyeong Talchum are the only mask dances in which the yangban dance follows directly after the dance of the eight mokjung. Eunyul Talchum clearly demonstrates the mutual exchange and influence between Bongsan Talchum and Haeju Talchum, both of which branched off from the mask dances of Hwanghae Province.

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Where it is

Region

Michuhol-gu, Incheon

Designation

National Intangible Heritage · 국가무형유산