Jesintap in Cheongma-ri, Okcheon

This is a shrine site where people prayed for a bountiful harvest and peace in the village, also known as Jesindang or Tapsinjedang. It is located in Cheongma-ri, Dongi-myeon, Okcheon-gun, and consists of a tower built by piling rough stones into a rounded shape, together with Jangseung Guardian Posts, Sotdae Poles, and a mountain-spirit shrine. Unlike the stone pagodas commonly seen at Buddhist temples, the tower is formed of stones of irregular size piled so that it narrows towards the top, with a single long stone rising from its summit. Beside it stands a sotdae pole about 5 metres high, with a wooden carving of a bird fixed to the top of a long pole. The jangseung are carved from logs with a human face drawn on in ink, and serve as guardians watching over the village. The mountain-spirit shrine venerates a pine tree on the hill behind the village, regarded as a tree inhabited by a spirit. Each year, on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the village holds rites before the tower, the sotdae and the jangseung, in that order; once the rites are finished, a farmers' music band goes around performing a ritual at each site, praying for a good harvest and peace in the village. The shrine is said to date back to the period of the tribal states and to serve the role of protecting the village. A distinctive feature is that the sotdae and jangseung are taken down and newly re-erected once every four years, in years with an intercalary month, distinguishing between the spirit being sent off and the spirit being welcomed.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Okcheon, Chungbuk

Designation

Provincial Folklore Heritage · 시도민속문화유산