A Study on ‘Time’ Appearing in the Epic Story of "Woncheongan Bonpuri (Shaman Song)"

Abstract

With <Woncheongang Bonpuri> arranged by Park Bong-choon, which is one of the Jeju Island's special shaman songs, this thesis is intended to clarify the narrative context how the main character, ‘Oneuri’, became the god of time. It is common to understand ‘Oneuri’ as a deified being governing time, but there was no analysis of the meaning of ‘Time’ appearing in the epic story of <Woncheongang Bonpuri> all over the previous researches. Accordingly, this thesis may have significance, in that it clarified the meaning of ‘Time’ in <Woncheongang Bonpuri> and found out the details about ‘Oneuri’ who was appointed the god of time. However, since there was no direct mention of ‘Time’ in the work, and the epic story didn’t embody time, a frame of perception was needed to deduce the meaning of ‘Time’ through the work. Therefore, on the premise that the work readers’ preception of time was closely associated with people’s lives, rather than physical time, as an external condition of the modern times, this study developed this discussion by introducing Nietz's Epistemology in terms of philosophy of life. Upon better consideration based on the methodology above, it was found that the time of Oneuri, Jangsang whom she met, the lotus flower, Maeiri and the fairy all stopped, and when Oneuri solved the other existences’ problems as well as her own problems through her trip, time started to move, which was the epic story of <Woncheongang Bonpuri>. A trip making time move gradually through the expansion of relations and perceptional conquest, <Woncheongang Bonpuri>, is a human story itself which helps readers find enlightenment.