Artifacts of Peddlers

These are artifacts, designated in 1992, of the Wonhongju Yuggun Sangmusa, among the items used by bobusang, itinerant peddlers, from the late Joseon period onward. The Wonhongju Yuggun Sangmusa, which oversaw a trading area centred on the six counties of Hongseong, Gwangcheon, Boryeong, Cheongyang, Daeheung and Gyeolseong along the west coast, was made up of imso, local offices that ran the markets, and a bonso, a head office overseeing the imso. Five stone monuments, including the Wonhongju-deung Yuggun Sangmusa Danjebi (元洪州等六郡商務社壇祭碑, Altar Memorial Stele of the Wonhongju Six-county Sangmusa), give a glimpse into the ancestral rites practised by the peddlers. Among these, the Danjebi is the stele at which rites were performed first during the Hansik, or Cold Food Day, ancestral ceremony held at Hongdowon, the peddlers' communal burial ground; it is said to be an altar honouring dedicated peddlers whose graves had been lost. In their Hansik rites, a ceremony was held the day before at the grave of Im In-son, the first guild head of the Sangmusa, and on the day itself, starting from the Danjebi, they visited six graves including that of Heo Ban-su before finally going to the joint memorial monument. The communal graveyard at Hongdowon served as a resting place after death for peddlers who wandered without particular family ties, and as something that bound them together. The Sangnigukseo (商理局序), written in 1887, records the preface, royal instructions and reports of the time when the Hyesanggongguk was reorganised as the Sangniguk, and is important material for understanding the changes in the peddler organisation. There are also materials relating to the Dong-a Gaejin Gyoyukhoe (東亞開進敎育會, East Asia Progressive Education Association), created as Japan made its plans for the colonisation of the Korean peninsula increasingly overt, along with related material showing how the Japanese authorities sought to penetrate the local economy by establishing a commercial joint-stock company in South Chungcheong Province, based in Gongju-eup. These artifacts and documents are a valuable piece of folk heritage that provides clues to the function and activities of the Sangmusa in the closing years of the Korean Empire.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Cheongyang, Chungnam

Designation

National Folklore Heritage · 국가민속문화유산