Chapter 1. A Historical Verification of the Birthplace Site of Jeungsan Kang Il-sun — Park In-gyu

I. Introduction

Jeungsan Kang Il-sun (甑山 姜一淳, 1871–1909) is well known as a major religious leader among Korea’s new religions. The various religious organizations that revere Jeungsan each hold him as an object of faith and carry out his teachings, and within academia—centered on religious studies—a great deal of research has been conducted on his thought, religious activities, and doctrines. In short, the perception and evaluation of Jeungsan in Korean society can be broadly divided into the Jeungsan seen by believers and the Jeungsan studied by scholars.

After Jeungsan passed away in 1909, his direct disciples (從徒), together with various figures who—though not disciples—had received revelations or religious inspiration from him, each organized religious bodies centered on faith in Jeungsan. Murayama Chijun’s (村山智順) Joseon-ui Yusa Jonggyo (朝鮮の類似宗教, Pseudo-Religions of Korea) counted a total of eleven organizations as belonging to the Humchi (Jeungsan) lineage; the Survey Report on Korea’s Emerging and Pseudo-Religions published in 1970 examined ten; the Outline of Jeungsan Religious Orders (Jeungsan Jongdan Gaeron) published in 1971 listed thirty-three orders; and the 1985 Survey Report on Korea’s New Religions identified forty-seven organizations as Jeungsan-lineage new religions—the largest number among the 155 new religious bodies surveyed. The 1993 Yearbook of Korean Religions estimated the Jeungsan-lineage orders at up to some seventy, citing them as a typical case of post-founder schism among ethnic-religion orders. Thus, after Jeungsan’s death, numerous founders (創教主) established religious organizations that took him as their progenitor (教祖), building upon the fresh and original religious ideas he had bequeathed, and developed faith movements centered on him. Given Jeungsan’s influence, any account of Korean religious history—particularly of its development and character since the Japanese colonial period—that omits consideration of the Jeungsan faith movement cannot be regarded as a complete understanding of that history.

The favorable scholarly appraisal of the Jeungsan faith movement can be summarized along two main lines. One view holds that, because the movement centered on the roots of the Korean people and professed a self-determined identity, it may—together with other new religions—be placed in the category of “ethnic religion” (minjok jonggyo); the other regards it as a “people’s religion” (minjung jonggyo), a reformist and innovative religious movement arising from the Korean populace. In other words, Jeungsan’s teachings—epitomized by haewon-sangsaeng (the resolution of grievances for mutual beneficence)—can be examined both for their nationalist dimension, in offering ethnic pride and the hope of salvation to a Korean populace stripped of national sovereignty under Japanese rule, and for their character of popular liberation. Jeungsan may thus be seen as a pioneer who, in an age of national suffering brought on by foreign invasion, offered a logic of religious hope to a people mired in loss and gloom, and who further cherished the ideal of saving all living beings and rescuing the world.

When speaking of the historical reality in which Jeungsan’s teachings and thought unfolded, an indispensable part is Bocheongyo, developed by his direct disciple Wolgok (月谷) Cha Gyeong-seok (車京石, 1880–1936). During the colonial period, Cha Gyeong-seok launched a proselytizing movement after Jeungsan’s death and organized a religious order, and by the 1920s its following even surpassed that of Cheondogyo. After the failure of the March First Movement, a populace frustrated in its yearning for national liberation entered Bocheongyo one after another, forming its organization and contributing funds, and Bocheongyo grew into a colossal Korean order with formidable financial power and membership. Yet Bocheongyo’s following plummeted owing to internal strife between old and new factions, Japanese suppression, press denunciation, and popular disaffection over pro-Japanese controversies; and with the death of its leader Cha Gyeong-seok it nearly perished. Thereafter Bocheongyo was maligned—by the Japanese authorities as a subversive heretical cult, and by the nationalist movement camp as a premodern, anti-national superstitious body—and until recent times it remained confined within a frame of negative stereotype and neglected even by the historical academy.

Recently, however, as various materials showing Bocheongyo’s direct and indirect involvement in the Korean independence movement have become known to scholars and related research has progressed, a new appraisal of Cha Gyeong-seok and Bocheongyo is being attempted. New academic presentations and research are likewise under way on Mugeukdo (无極道), founded by Jeongsan (鼎山) Jo Cheol-je (趙哲濟, 1895–1958), which was the second-largest Jeungsan-lineage order after Bocheongyo during the colonial period.

On the basis of such scholarship, the previously narrow interest—viewing Jeungsan as an object of believers’ religious faith and as a religionist who overcame national hardship and the pains of his age to unfold an ideal of humanity’s salvation—is now broadening even into the field of history. Along this expanding line of interest, an academic conference was held in 2018 with the aim of re-illuminating Jeungsan’s life and thought and of renovating and historically-culturally re-examining his birthplace site and its surroundings in Jeongeup. The papers presented there set forth, in particular, the necessity, significance, expected effects, and implementation plans for the renovation of Jeungsan’s birthplace site.

The aim of this paper is, in connection with the renovation of the birthplace site of Jeungsan—the major Korean religious figure and thinker described above—to verify the site’s precise location and to examine its religious-cultural significance and value. Chapter II first seeks to verify and infer the location of Jeungsan’s birthplace site. In this regard, the Religious Affairs Department (Gyomubu) of Daesoon Jinrihoe and the Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture have for many years produced and collected recorded interview materials from residents of the vicinity and accumulated related documents, and have recognized lot no. 436, Sinwol-ri, as Jeungsan’s birthplace (site of his descent into the world, gangse-ji). The interview materials were provided entirely by the Religious Affairs Department, while land-register documents and the like were shared by the Daesoon Institute of Religion and Culture, greatly aiding the improvement of this paper. Building upon that foundation of research, the author will also analyze the other candidate sites logically and, adding several materials, argue that this lot is Jeungsan’s birthplace site. Chapter III then examines the religious-cultural significance such a birthplace site can hold and, clarifying its value, raises the need for the site’s renovation and utilization.

II. Historical Verification of the Birthplace Site

1. Candidate Sites for Jeungsan’s Birthplace

In order to confirm the clear and empirical location of Jeungsan’s birthplace site, this section first examines records of Jeungsan’s place of descent (birth) as set down in the scriptures of the Jeungsan orders, in religious-studies works, and in official documents of the Japanese colonial government. The table below organizes the title, author, publication year, and recorded birthplace address of the various sources: it lists in chronological order the five sources recording Seosan-ri (西山里)—Jeungsan’s maternal home—the three sources that specify an address while giving Sinwol-ri, Deokcheon-myeon, and the twenty-eight sources that record simply Sinwol-ri, Deokcheon-myeon, without a lot number.

Table 1. Candidate Sites for Jeungsan’s Birthplace

Several sources give Jeungsan’s place of descent as Seosan-ri, Ipyeong-myeon—his maternal home. In Yi Sang-ho’s Jeungsan Cheonsa Gongsagi (Records of the Heavenly Master Jeungsan’s Works) it is recorded as follows:

The father’s taboo name was Heungju, and the mother was Lady Gwon. One night in the ninth month of the gyeong-o year, Lady Gwon had a dream in which the heavens split apart to the north and south and a great crimson mass appeared, descending lower and lower until it covered her body, its light shining over all under heaven. From then she conceived, and after thirteen months, at the hour of ja on the nineteenth day of the ninth month of the sinmi year, the Heavenly Master descended [was born] at Seosan-ri, Gobu-gun (now merged into Jeongeup-gun), Jeollabuk-do.

That is, the mother, Gwon Yang-deok, in the ninth lunar month of 1870 dreamed that the heavens split to north and south and a great ball of fire covered her body, whereupon she conceived; and after thirteen months, in the ninth lunar month of 1871, she gave birth at Seosan-ri. Yi Sang-ho, however, recorded the matter differently in the Daesun Jeon-gyeong he compiled in 1929:

The teacher’s surname was Kang and his given name Il-sun; Jeungsan was his sobriquet. Fifty-eight years ago, on the nineteenth day of the ninth month of the sinmi year in the reign of King Gojong of the Yi dynasty, he descended [was born] at Gaengmang-ri, Udeok-myeon, Gobu-gun, Jeolla-do, Joseon (now Sinwol-ri, Deokcheon-myeon, Jeongeup-gun). The father’s name was Heungju, and the mother was Lady Gwon. While Lady Gwon was visiting her own family home at Seosan-ri, Mahang-myeon, Gobu-gun, one day she dreamed that the heavens split to north and south and a great ball of fire came down and covered her body, so that all under heaven grew radiant; from then she was with child. At the time of his descent, a strange fragrance filled the birthing room, and a bright light encircled the house and rose to the heavens.

In this record, when the mother, Lady Gwon, had gone to visit her family at Seosan-ri she had the conception dream and became pregnant, and after thirteen months Jeungsan descended at Sinwol-ri, Deokcheon-myeon. That is, Seosan-ri is the place where Jeungsan’s mother had her conception dream, while his place of descent is Sinwol-ri. It appears that Yi Sang-ho, recognizing that what he had written in the 1926 Jeungsan Cheonsa Gongsagi was in error, changed the content as above. Since most sources likewise record Sinwol-ri, the likelihood that Seosan-ri is Jeungsan’s birthplace is slight.

If Jeungsan’s birthplace is Sinwol-ri, the problem is precisely which present-day lot number in Sinwol-ri it is. Taking as candidates the lot numbers proposed in the sources above and the lot currently known as Jeungsan’s place of descent, I shall verify and examine them one by one.

The first lot to examine is no. 540-2, Sinwol-ri, claimed in the Jeungsan Jongdan Hwabo (Pictorial of the Jeungsan Orders), published in 1977 by Park Jong-seol of the Korea Institute for Religious Studies. This place is presumed to be where the annexed building of the religious body named the “Gaengmang-ri faction of Jeungsangyo” stood, according to the 1985 Survey Report on Korea’s New Religions. On lot no. 542 just above this site stands a crumbling shrine (祠堂) bearing the plaque “Mugeukdaedo” (無極大道). This shrine was built by Chae Gyeong-dae (蔡京大), who had been one of Bocheongyo’s sixty bangju (district heads) before withdrawing from Bocheongyo in 1923. Having left Bocheongyo with his comrades, Chae Gyeong-dae held a ridge-raising ceremony for the construction of a sanctuary in the third lunar month of 1924, and at the winter solstice of 1930 enshrined Jeungsan-sinseong (甑山神聖), the Great Master Jinmuk, and Zhu Xi as the “Three Sages” (三聖). Because his order enshrined the Three Sages, it was called “Samseonggyo” (三聖教, the Religion of the Three Sages). Chae Gyeong-dae carried on independent religious activity centered here until 1936, when, as Japanese oppression of new religions intensified, he emigrated with his followers to Manchuria.

Thereafter, following liberation, this shrine was used by Shin Eon-mok (申彦穆, 1903–1984), a native of Daegu. Shin Eon-mok occupied the shrine and conducted memorial rites (享祀) to Jeungsan. His followers came to number several dozen, coming and going in spring and autumn to offer devotional rites (chiseong) or to conduct cultivation practice centered on chanting incantations. A 1985 survey record states that the property was being managed by the wife of the late Son Yang-ho, but at present only a collapsing house and rampant weeds can be seen.

The land register for lot no. 540-2 reads: Kang Baek-hoe (姜百會) in 1924 → Park Gyeong-dae (朴京大) in 1925 → Yi Sang-hak (李相鶴) in 1925 → Kang Yeong-jun (姜永俊) in 1927 … Shin Eon-mok (申彦穆) in 1962. Kang Baek-hoe was of the twenty-second generation of the Baksa-gong branch of the Jinju Kang clan (晉州姜氏 博士公派); though of the same generational rank as Jeungsan’s father, he was a distant relative sharing a common ancestor sixteen generations back. It is therefore hard to regard this lot as Jeungsan’s birthplace site on the basis of the land register. In sum, a distant relative of Jeungsan lived on this lot, which lies just below “Samseonggyo,” was used as an auxiliary building of Samseonggyo during the colonial period, and after liberation was used by Shin Eon-mok.

The second lot examined is no. 504, Sinwol-ri, which currently bears the plaque “Kang Jeungsan Sangje Gangse-ji” (姜甑山 上帝 降世地, the Site of the Descent of the Supreme Lord Kang Jeungsan). Although this lot is not mentioned in the source survey above, because it enshrines Jeungsan’s portrait and now bears a sign proclaiming it his gangse-ji, it is generally known as Jeungsan’s birthplace site. Lot no. 504 has now been merged with the adjacent lot no. 412-1 to become 32 Sinsong-gil, belonging to a single household. In 2012, Yu Jeong-ja was living on lot no. 412-1; Yu Jeong-ja is the wife of Kang Seok-hwan, Jeungsan’s adopted heir. According to Yu Jeong-ja’s testimony, before the portrait was enshrined, Kang Seok-hwan’s paternal uncle Kang Cheon-sik lived in the house on lot no. 504. It was here that Kang Seok-hwan enshrined Jeungsan’s portrait and hung the plaque “Kang Jeungsan Sangje Gangse-ji.” On what grounds did Kang Seok-hwan enshrine Jeungsan’s portrait here, hang the plaque, and proclaim it the gangse-ji? Curiously, however, a text he wrote in 1978, the “Muo Dongji Chiseong Simgomun” (戊午冬至 致誠心告文, Solstice Devotional Petition of the Muo Year), shows that Kang Seok-hwan in fact recognized that this lot no. 504 was not Jeungsan’s place of descent, and mentions a different lot number:

That the Supreme Lord, descending from the Ninth Heaven into the human world upon the earth, was born (descended) into our Kang clan is a glory to the house of Kang. I, your unworthy son, being of little ability, have failed for some seventy years since his ascension to render such filial devotion as I ought. The sacred ground that is the Supreme Lord’s birthplace—located at 435-1 Sinwol-ri, Deokcheon-myeon, Jeongeup-gun—has until now been held by another; and so, after this day’s winter solstice, I resolve to secure it in my own name and, to the utmost of my strength, to make my Father’s place of descent into holy ground. This I reverently report.

As the passage shows, Kang Seok-hwan specified Jeungsan’s birthplace as the “sacred ground located at 435-1” in Sinwol-ri, and mentioned the circumstance that another person held it. That is, Kang Seok-hwan knew that lot no. 435-1 was Jeungsan’s birthplace, but being unable under the circumstances to secure it, he enshrined Jeungsan’s portrait in his uncle’s house at lot no. 504 across the alley and there erected the plaque “Gangse-ji.”

Apart from Kang Seok-hwan’s statement, the land register too makes it hard to regard lot no. 504 as Jeungsan’s birthplace. Its owners read: Kang U-ssang (姜牛双) in 1927 → Yi Byeong-gyu (李秉奎) in 1930 → Ryu Sun-yeol (柳順烈) in 1933 → Kamishima Cheonseok (神島千石) in 1944 → Kang Hui-yong in 2005 (the rest omitted). Kang Hui-yong was Kang Seok-hwan’s eldest son, but since his name appears only in 2005 he is unrelated to Jeungsan’s birthplace; and the figures other than Kang U-ssang have no connection to Jeungsan’s lineage.

The third lots examined are no. 435-1, Sinwol-ri—mentioned in the “Muo Dongji Chiseong Simgomun” above—and the immediately adjacent lot no. 436. As of 15 July 2013 these belonged to the house lot of the villager Jeon Dae-sik. Jeon Dae-sik’s dwelling is on lot no. 437, while lots 435-1 and 436 correspond to the yard of the dwelling. Lot no. 435-1 contains a warehouse and a vinyl greenhouse and includes part of the yard, while lot no. 436 is used as the household’s kitchen garden. In two interviews with Jeon Dae-sik, important testimony concerning Jeungsan’s birthplace could be obtained.

Q: Have you ever heard that this present house was formerly the birthplace of Master Jeungsan?

Jeon Dae-sik: I am not sure whether it is the place where the Supreme Lord (Sangje) was born, but I heard from my late father (Jeon Tae-sik, b. 1906) that the Supreme Lord’s family lived here. Kang Seok-hwan kept asking us to sell this house. The exact location is lot no. 436. When I came here it was a field of about 27 pyeong. The present house combines the three lots—437, 436, and 435-1. About 6 pyeong juts out onto the road outside the house; that 6-pyeong plot is registered in the name of Yu Chi-sun.

Q: What were the structure and area of the old house? Do you happen to have a photograph?

Jeon Dae-sik: I have no photograph. Lot no. 437 was originally our house, lot no. 435 had a single house, and lot no. 436 had a 27-pyeong field; we bought the three lots and combined them. There was a well in front of lot no. 436. The Supreme Lord’s family lived in a small thatched cottage on the 27-pyeong lot no. 436—I heard the house was so small that one had to crawl out and crawl back in.

Q: Is it correct that the place where Master Jeungsan’s family lived is lot no. 436?

Jeon Dae-sik: Looking at the house from outside the front gate, the left side is where the Supreme Lord lived. At that time it was about 27 pyeong. Kang Seok-hwan once came to ask us to sell this 27-pyeong place. There used to be a narrow road in front of this house, but during the Saemaul (New Village) Movement under President Park it was widened. In the process about 6 pyeong was taken into the road.

Q: At the first interview I drew a sketch based on your description of the house structure—please confirm it.

Jeon Dae-sik: Our house was not as neat as in this map; it jutted out. The road is as in the map, and the well has been there since long ago. Each of the three houses had its own gate, and the house our family lived in (lot no. 437) was the last one. There was a ditch running along the road, the gate was at the road’s end, and beside the gate was an ash-shed. Back then, had Kang Seok-hwan paid even a little for the plot, my father would have given him this land. But because he offered so little and asked us to sell, my father would not. That is why Kang Seok-hwan could not erect the monument he had wanted here.

Q: The place where Kang Seok-hwan said he wished to erect a monument—was it lot no. 435-1 or lot no. 436?

Jeon Dae-sik: It was lot no. 436. I know because I saw and heard Kang Seok-hwan come to my father to talk. Had he offered a fair sum of money, my father might have let him at least erect a monument; but since Kang Seok-hwan asked without doing so, my father refused.

In the above, Jeon Dae-sik states that he heard from his father Jeon Tae-sik (b. 1906) that Jeungsan’s birthplace was lot no. 436, and he maintains that lot no. 436 is the birthplace. As for the appearance of the birthplace where Jeungsan and his family lived, he said he had heard it was a small, shabby thatched cottage, so small that one had to crawl in and out.

He also said that in the past there were dwellings on lots 437 and 435-1, that lot 436 was a field originally of about 27 pyeong, and that during the Saemaul Movement, as the road was widened, about 6 pyeong was taken into the road. Concerning how the two lots came to be purchased, Jeon Dae-sik said: “The person on lot 436 (of the Gyeongju Yi clan) sold to the person on lot 435-1 and moved to a better place; then the one on lot 435-1, after buying lot 436, sold both to us when moving away.”

Jeon Dae-sik further relates that Kang Seok-hwan tried to buy the land of lot no. 436 from his father Jeon Tae-sik and wished to erect there a monument (marking it as Jeungsan’s birthplace). He also said that the main reason his father Jeon Tae-sik did not sell the land to Kang Seok-hwan was a matter of price.

If Jeon Dae-sik’s testimony is true, then among the several places lot no. 436 would seem the most likely candidate for Jeungsan’s birthplace. Given that Jeon Dae-sik’s father Jeon Tae-sik, born in 1906, was a contemporary of Jeungsan’s father Kang Mun-hoe; that Jeungsan’s adopted heir Kang Seok-hwan sought to purchase lot no. 436 and to erect a monument there; and given the testimony of others and the scriptural records, lot no. 436 is the most probable.

The last lot to consider is no. 433. No scripture of the Jeungsan orders or religious-studies work designates this lot as Jeungsan’s birthplace, but in the land register drawn up by the Japanese authorities in 1914 the owner of this lot is recorded as Jeungsan’s father, Kang Mun-hoe (姜文會). It is also the only lot in the entire village of Sinwol-ri that Kang Mun-hoe owned. The land register reads: Kang Mun-hoe (姜文會) on 10 October 1914 → Gwon Yang-deok (權良德) on 18 October 1918 → Kim Seong-yeon (金成淵) on 18 October 1918 → Jang Yeong-ju (張榮柱) in 1953 (the rest omitted). That lot no. 433 is registered to Kang Mun-hoe can be interpreted in two ways. First, it is possible that Jeungsan’s father continued to live here and was registered as owner when the Japanese carried out their land survey; if this were the birthplace, it would mean Kang Mun-hoe had lived here from before Jeungsan’s birth in 1871 and registered it in 1914. Second, it is possible that Kang Mun-hoe had lived elsewhere (for example, lot no. 436) and moved here, registering it in 1914.

According to the relevant scriptural record, “He sold some of His household goods and some of His farmland, took the money to Jeonju (Perfected Territory) Government Capital, and gave it out to the beggars passing by,” indicating that around the seventh lunar month of 1904 Jeungsan sold the household goods of the family home and a little of its farmland. Here, “the family home” refers to the house of Jeungsan’s father. That is, Jeungsan sold the household goods of the family home for the sake of the Cheonji-gongsa (Reordering Works of Heaven and Earth), and thereafter the family’s fortunes greatly declined. Another record states, “a disciple, who felt sorry that Sangje’s father’s house was so small and narrow, bought a better house for him,” indicating that a disciple, aware of the family’s poverty, bought a house for Jeungsan’s father. The time when the disciple bought the house is not precisely known, but it is highly likely that lot no. 433, registered in Kang Mun-hoe’s name, is that very house the disciple bought. Reconstructing the course of registration: Kang Mun-hoe passed away in 1916, and it is presumed that in the process of inheritance the lot was transferred in 1918 to his wife Gwon Yang-deok, who on the same day re-registered it to Kim Seong-yeon (金成淵). In the Dojeon compiled by Jeungsando a figure named Kim Seong-yeon appears as a disciple of Jeungsan, and the Kim Seong-yeon of the land register is surmised to be that very disciple. If this surmise is correct, one may infer that the disciple Kim Seong-yeon bought the house for Kang Mun-hoe and, after Kang Mun-hoe’s death, received it back.

To sum up: considering the record that a disciple of Jeungsan bought a house because the family home was cramped, and the strong possibility that the Kim Seong-yeon of the land register was Jeungsan’s disciple, lot no. 433 is hard to regard as Jeungsan’s birthplace, and is surmised rather to be a place to which Kang Mun-hoe later moved and lived. Moreover, no record or testimony mentions this place as Jeungsan’s birthplace.

2. The Presumed Site of Jeungsan’s Birthplace

Among the lots examined above—540-2, 504, 435-1, 436, and 433—the author argues that lot no. 436 is the most likely to be Jeungsan’s birthplace. The grounds for this claim are the testimony of persons besides Jeon Dae-sik and the records of various scriptures.

First, as for testimony, besides Jeon Dae-sik, Yu Jeong-ja—Kang Seok-hwan’s wife—stated that lot no. 436 was Jeungsan’s birthplace. Born in 1928, Yu Jeong-ja married Kang Seok-hwan, then 25, in 1944, and began married life at the house of Kang Seok-hwan’s father Kang Yeong-tak (lot no. 438-1). Later, as that house was cramped and there was an empty plot at lot no. 412-1, they built a house on this lot and lived there. I quote Yu Jeong-ja’s testimony, in which she says lot no. 436 was Jeungsan’s birthplace:

The Supreme Lord was born in a small hut beside the well. I am not sure whether the site still remains today. It was such a small house, and since people have built new houses and roads have been laid, I really cannot tell.

I heard from my husband that the well was a small spring, and that beside it there was a tiny hut. But whether that spot was taken into the road when they did the Saemaul project, I do not know. … I know little except that they lived in poverty.

There was a hut above the well, and I heard that was the gangse-ji (birthplace). During the Saemaul Movement the road was widened, and they say there had been a house there. … Jeon Dae-sik’s house looks large only because it was newly built and enlarged; in fact it was formed by buying and combining it with the thatched house where Bongchun-daek lived. I do not know whether it is Jeon Dae-sik’s house, but I only heard that above the well was the place where the Supreme Lord descended. The well referred to here is the well that exists now.

Taking the above testimony together, Yu Jeong-ja had heard that there was a small hut beside the presently located well, and she said that Jeungsan descended there. Considering that lot no. 436 became Jeon Dae-sik’s property only in 1979, in Yu Jeong-ja’s account the spot beside the well—not yet Jeon Dae-sik’s property at that earlier time—corresponds to lot no. 436.

Besides Jeon Dae-sik and Yu Jeong-ja, several others interviewed knew nothing of Jeungsan’s birthplace and said that those who would have known had already passed away. For instance, in late 2012, Kang U-sang (then 90, a paternal great-uncle of Kang Yeong-tak), who was living at lot no. 438-1—formerly Kang Yeong-tak’s house—did not know Jeungsan’s birthplace well and said, “Those who knew are all dead and gone,” and other villagers likewise said they did not know.

Among the various scriptural records, the only source that mentions Jeungsan’s birthplace even fragmentarily is the Dojeon compiled by Jeungsando. That is, the other sources mention only the address of Jeungsan’s birthplace (mostly Sinwol-ri) and record nothing of the appearance of the house. Of course, since the Dojeon is a scripture compiled by a particular order, its character as a historical source requires scrutiny; yet at the level of topographical clues such as the house structure and the well’s location, it can be used for reference. Let us examine the record of Jeungsan’s birthplace as it appears in the Dojeon:

After his birth, the family being too poor, he often moved and lived at the homes of his maternal and paternal-maternal kin. The house in Gaengmang-ri had no brushwood gate; the kitchen was woven of rice straw, and the door was made of woven bamboo.

The house in Gaengmang-ri, without even a brushwood gate, had a single small room and a single kitchen; the kitchen was hung round with rice straw, and the door was made of woven bamboo.

He dug a well in the yard of the family home. One day this year, while playing with his companions at Sonbaraegi, he suddenly began digging one corner of the yard with his little hands. His playmates, not knowing what he was about, asked why; but Hakbong, without so much as looking up, merely said, “I am digging a well.” Hakbong first scraped with his bare hands and then dug the ground with a small bowl, saying over and over, “Come, water, come; come, water.” It was not a place where water might be expected, nor had he dug very deep, yet after a little while spring water truly welled up. The children who saw it all marveled and clapped their hands. Later that spring became the village well.

From these records, Jeungsan’s birthplace had neither a brushwood gate nor more than a single small room and a single kitchen, the kitchen hung round with rice straw and the door woven of bamboo—a house of great poverty. The passage also relates that at the age of seven Jeungsan dug one corner of the house’s yard and spring water welled up, and that this spring was thereafter used as the village well. Assuming this record to be credible, let us combine it with Jeon Dae-sik’s statement that lot no. 436 was originally 6 pyeong wider toward the road, and with Yu Jeong-ja’s statements. Then, since the present well—before it was taken into the road—adjoined the original yard of lot no. 436, the testimony of the two and this scriptural record coincide. Moreover, given the testimony and records that Jeungsan’s birthplace was extremely small, lot no. 436—far smaller in area than the plot of lot no. 435-1—is highly likely to be the birthplace. In the cadastral base map (Appendix 2) drawn up by the Japanese in 1915 as well, among the lots marked as building land in the village, lot no. 436 is the smallest in area, and one can see that the village well (井) lies directly in front of lot no. 436. That the name of Jeungsan’s parents or of Jeungsan himself does not appear in the land register for lot no. 436 is surmised to be because, at the time registration records began in 1914, Jeungsan’s father Kang Mun-hoe owned lot no. 433, discussed earlier. That is, in 1914 the place where Kang Mun-hoe lived (the family home) was not lot no. 436 but lot no. 433. Taking all this information together, one may conclude that lot no. 436 is the most likely location of Jeungsan’s birthplace.

One question remains: why did Kang Seok-hwan, in the “Muo Dongji Chiseong Simgomun” written in 1978, record Jeungsan’s birthplace as the “sacred ground located at 435-1”? Considering Jeon Dae-sik’s interview of 17 August 2013 together with the land-register records of lots 435-1 and 436, one may infer that “the sacred ground located at 435-1” means “lot no. 436 belonging to 435-1.” Jeon Dae-sik said, “The person on lot 436 (of the Gyeongju Yi clan) sold to the person on lot 435-1 and moved to a better place; then the one on lot 435-1, after buying lot 436, sold both to us when moving away.” And in the land register, lot no. 435-1 reads Yu Chi-sun (儆致淳) in 1914 → Jeon Dae-sik in May 1979, while lot no. 436 reads Yi Hwa-baek (李化伯) in 1914 → Jeon Dae-sik in July 1979. Yi Hwa-baek, owner of lot 436, sold to Yu Chi-sun, owner of lot 435-1, and Yu Chi-sun in turn sold both lots 435-1 and 436 to Jeon Dae-sik—though in lot 436’s land register the record of transfer to Yu Chi-sun is missing. Though missing from the record, at the winter solstice of 1978 lot no. 436 was owned by Yu Chi-sun, who lived on lot no. 435-1; and it was for this reason that Kang Seok-hwan, saying “the sacred ground located at 435-1,” was in fact designating lot no. 436. Taking the various points together, it is therefore most reasonable to judge Jeungsan’s birthplace to be lot no. 436.

III. Religious-Cultural Significance of the Birthplace Site

It is well known that many famous tourist and heritage sites around the world are connected with religious culture. In particular, the heritage sites of religions that are still living and breathing and command countless believers are recognized and commemorated as sacred places and function as powerful central spaces that draw people together. Bethlehem, for example, known as the birthplace of Jesus, is a small city south of Jerusalem, yet it is a pilgrimage destination visited by countless believers. In particular, the “Church of the Nativity,” built over the cave traditionally held to be the place of Jesus’s birth, is one of the most enduringly influential Christian churches in the world. For believers it is regarded as a supreme sanctuary (聖所) and a holy pilgrimage site, and in 2012 it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In Korea too, established religions such as Buddhism, Catholicism, and Protestantism are sanctifying or developing into cultural content meaningful places within their traditions—the birthplaces of major figures, sites of their practice, and places where they attained religious awakening.

In the case of Korea’s new religions, however, the discovery and utilization of the archetypal elements of religious culture that could be turned into cultural content is still relatively insufficient. In connection with the state of the new religions, Heo Nam-jin has organized the sacred sites that Korean new religions have consecrated so far and presented their patterns in five categories. The first comprises places connected with the founder’s religious experience (Yeosibawi-gol and Yongdam-jeong of Cheondogyo, Daewon-sa of Jeungsangyo, the Yeongsan Holy Land of Won-Buddhism); the second, places connected with the deeds of founders and saints (the birthplace sites of Choe Je-u and Choe Si-hyeong, Eunjeok-am, Naewon-am, and the Yongdam Holy Land of Cheondogyo; Beomnaet-gol of the Unification Church; the Donggok Pharmacy of Jeungsangyo; and the Yeongsan, Byeonsan, and Iksan Holy Lands of Won-Buddhism); the third, places where the remains of founders and saints are buried (Samcheong-jeon of Jeungsangyo, the great tomb of Choe Je-u, the graves of Choe Si-hyeong and Son Byeong-hui, and the Iksan Holy Land of Won-Buddhism); the fourth, places of religious-historical significance (Bonghwang-gak of Cheondogyo, Cheongpaho of Daejonggyo, and the Yeongsan, Byeonsan, and Iksan Holy Lands of Won-Buddhism); and the fifth and last, sites for building an ideal world in this present age (Cheongpyeong Holy Land of the Unification Church, and Yonghwa-dong and Sindoan of Gyeryong-san of Jeungsangyo).

As the above shows, no renovation, consecration, or cultural-content development has been carried out for the birthplace site of Jeungsan—the founder of the Jeungsan-lineage new religions. In a situation where the Jeungsan-lineage new religions are recognized for their value as an indigenous religion founded not by an imported foreign faith but by a Korean of this land, Jeungsan Kang Il-sun; as an ethnic religion that stressed the people’s distinctiveness and self-determination; and as a people’s religion that sought to heal the pains of the populace—the renovation and restoration of his birthplace is an important task. The religious culture connected with Jeungsan Kang Il-sun is a major cultural heritage of Jeongeup and, further, can become valuable cultural content at the level of Jeollabuk-do and of the nation.

What value and effects, then, might be expected in future when Jeungsan’s birthplace site is renovated and restored? First, for believers the birthplace site can function as a major pilgrimage destination. Religious humans harbor a desire to draw nearer to primordial sacredness, and when it cannot be satisfied they set out for the very space where the sacred being once manifested. Pilgrimage, then, is a journey toward the sacred place, completed through the harmony of the three elements of religious human, space, and sacredness.

Historically as well, Jeongeup, Jeungsan’s place of activity, is a pilgrimage site and holy land that countless believers have sought and visited. When Cha Gyeong-seok, who founded Bocheongyo, made Daeheung-ri, Ibam-myeon, Jeongeup-gun the order’s headquarters, colonial-era Jeongeup was the center of a great order commanding several million adherents. At the funeral of Cha Gyeong-seok’s mother in the seventh lunar month of 1922, tens of thousands joined the funeral procession, and the order issued meal tickets to supply food—said to have totaled some 450,000 tickets. At the end of the fourth lunar month of 1929, worshippers flocked from all over the country to attend the completion ceremony of the Sibil-jeon (十一殿) at the Bocheongyo headquarters in Jeongeup. Newspaper articles of the time report that at Sinanju Station (新安州駅) in the north some hundred believers gathered daily to board trains for Jeongeup; that in Gimcheon too Bocheongyo adherents heading for Jeongeup were rushing in; and that in Jeongju (定州) as well one could see Bocheongyo adherents returning from their visit to Jeongeup.

Mugeukdo (无極道), whose following was the largest after Bocheongyo, also actively unfolded its religious activity, completing a temple complex (dojang) at Taeseong-ri, Taein-myeon, Jeongeup-gun in 1925. The Jeongeup-gunji (Jeongeup County Gazetteer) compiled in 1936 carried a photograph of the Mugeukdo temple complex as one of Jeongeup’s scenic spots and introduced it thus: “On the first-class roadside of Taeheung-ri, Dong-myeon, a splendid two- to three-story pavilion rises high into the air—this is the head temple of Mugeukdo. Its grandeur differs but slightly from that of the Bocheongyo headquarters, and the refinement of its structure is scarcely inferior. … As for the buildings’ names, the central third story is called Dosol-gung and the second story Yeongdae, and there are several dozen annexed buildings; the brilliance of their appointments is truly a magnificent sight. Here too visitors from far and near come without cease.” Thus in Jeongeup, Bocheongyo and its successor Mugeukdo were expanding their followings; and newspapers of the day, mocking this, called Bocheongyo’s leader Cha Gyeong-seok “Cha the Son of Heaven” and Mugeukdo’s leader Jo Cheol-je “Jo the Son of Heaven,” remarking that “a place with two so-called Sons of Heaven in one county was, in all Joseon, probably only Jeongeup.” From such records one sees that in the colonial period Jeongeup was the cradle, focal point, holy land, and pilgrimage site of the Jeungsan faith movement.

The Jeungsan orders, persecuted and dissolved as pseudo-religions during the colonial period, rose again after liberation. Adherents of the various Jeungsan orders, while carrying out proselytizing activity, have made pilgrimages to Jeongeup and its nearby holy sites. In recent times, in particular, the religious activities and pilgrimages of the adherents of Daesoon Jinrihoe—the largest of the Jeungsan orders—have been especially active. Believers make pilgrimage to Sinwol-ri, Deokcheon-myeon, where the birthplace of their object of faith, Jeungsan, is located; to Siru-bong behind the village, where Jeungsan is said to have practiced; and to the house sites of the various direct disciples Jeungsan visited—there recalling his teachings. Jeungsan, then, is not a historical figure confined to the past but a sacred figure who vividly manifests in and influences the lives of believers. In view of this, there is a need to verify the precise birthplace of Jeungsan and, by renovating it, transform it into a meaningful and valuable religious-cultural heritage.

Second, by positioning Jeungsan not merely as an object of believers’ veneration but as a figure open also to non-believers, and by fusing him with the other religious-cultural content of the Jeongeup region, one can produce more universal cultural content. Just as Choe Je-u, Choe Si-hyeong, and Son Byeong-hui of Donghak are seen not merely as figures revered within the Donghak order but as pioneers and great persons who sought to resolve the contradictions of our people, so too Jeungsan needs to be made widely known to non-believers and the general public. As is well known, moreover, Jeongeup is famous as the center of the Gobu Donghak Peasant Movement and is also the place where the annual “Hwangto-hyeon Donghak Peasant Revolution Commemoration” is held. Recently a national commemorative day honoring the Donghak Peasant Revolution was established, set on 11 May, the day of the victory at Hwangto-hyeon—so that Jeongeup has gained still greater symbolic significance for Donghak. By combining Jeongeup’s Donghak symbolism with its character as the matrix and center of the Jeungsan faith, the cultural content of the Jeongeup region can be enhanced and developed. Indeed, Jeungsan witnessed in his own home village the outbreak and the tragic failure of the Donghak Peasant Movement, and thereafter, setting up the great cause of saving the world and its living beings, began the Cheonji-gongsa in 1901 as the religious work to that end. Many of Jeungsan’s disciples, too, had joined the Donghak army before following him; and Jeungsan in particular esteemed Jeon Bong-jun, who led the Donghak Peasant Revolution, as a peerless commander who moved all under heaven. In this respect Donghak and Jeungsan share a major connecting link.

Just as Donghak was not a Donghak confined merely to the Jeongeup region but one that stirred our populace greatly, so too, although the faith movement centered on Jeungsan first sprouted in Jeongeup, that faith spread nationwide; and so, if it is developed into cultural content for the general public, one may hope that its universality can be widely enjoyed beyond locality and particularity.

IV. Conclusion

To the adherents who revere him, Jeungsan Kang Il-sun is a sacred being, an authority, and a savior; to the scholars who study him, he is recognized as a “Religious Genius” who inaugurated a new religious movement, as an ethnic-religious activist who sought to overcome the trials and pains of the people, and as a people’s-religious activist who sought to liberate the populace from oppression and tyranny. In recent times, interest in the Jeungsan orders has been rising in the field of history as well, and in philosophy too Jeungsan is being appraised as a major modern thinker.

Jeongeup, where Jeungsan descended and spent his childhood and youth, is a place that retains his breath and traces. In his youth Jeungsan witnessed the unfolding and development, and then the decline and tragedy, of the Donghak Peasant Movement that took place in his home village. Thereafter he set up the great cause of gwang-gu cheonha and gwangje changsaeng (broadly saving the world and its living beings), and would climb Siru-bong, the low hill behind his birthplace, to practice. The Jeongeup region centered on Jeungsan’s birthplace is a place richly imprinted with his footsteps and abundant in religious-cultural elements worth developing into cultural content.

In this respect the need arises to verify the precise birthplace of Jeungsan and to renovate and restore it. As shown in the main body, lot no. 504, Sinwol-ri, which currently bears the plaque “Kang Jeungsan Sangje Gangse-ji” and is known as Jeungsan’s birthplace, is not in fact the birthplace. There are several candidate sites, but in light of the testimony of key figures and the documentary records, lot no. 436 is the most likely birthplace.

At present this lot bears no marker whatever to identify it as Jeungsan’s birthplace, and no proper management or renovation has been carried out. When this place is renovated or restored and turned into cultural content, considerable significance and expected effects may be anticipated. First, it can become a major pilgrimage destination for the adherents who revere Jeungsan. Visits and pilgrimages to this place have continued from the past to the present, but with more systematic renovation and management it can be developed into a major religious sanctuary of the nation, beyond the Jeongeup region. Second, one may expect a synergistic effect by linking the religious-cultural content centered on Jeungsan with the Donghak content of the Jeongeup region. This place is not confined to being the sanctuary of a particular religious body; it holds the potential to be grown into a local cultural heritage of Jeongeup and, further, into a modern cultural heritage or cultural property. That is, it can be developed into cultural content possessing popular appeal and universality, beyond the particularity of religion and the locality of Jeongeup.

Appendix

Appendix 1. The presumed site of Jeungsan’s birthplace, drawn from Jeon Dae-sik’s testimony.

Appendix 2. Provisional Land Survey Bureau, Government-General of Joseon, “Sinwol-ri, Deokcheon-myeon, Jeongeup-gun, Jeollabuk-do” (held at the Busan Archives, 1915). Lot no. 436 is located in the center of the village. On the map, a well (井) is located immediately to the right of lot no. 436.

Appendix 3. Enlargement of the above map.

Present-day lot numbers of Sinwol-ri (Naver Map).

Appendix 4. “Muo Dongji Chiseong Simgomun” (戊午冬至 致誠心告文), cover (1978).

Appendix 5. Part of the content on p. 17.

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