KOREAN COLLECTIONS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 431 



than is re<iuired for lioiiic coiisiiuiptioii and the payment of the. high 

 taxes. Caste is very stioug in Korea. The occupations of the peoi>le 

 are somewhat limited. The pedhirs form a numerous and influential 

 guild, and many children are engaged in this business. (PI. vi.) 



Mechanics, artisaus, and tinkers, each with his peculiar outfit, are 

 numerous in Korea, as in China. (PI. vii.) 



The yearly civil service examinations bring" together great nund)ers 

 of students (PI. viii) to the capital city. The examinations are con- 

 ducted like those of China, and the successful competitors are sure of 

 official promotion. 



"Korean women have neither legal nor social standing."* 



Except servants (PI. ix), who go about bareheaded, the faces of the " 

 women in Korea are invisible. Women of the middle class when walk- 

 ing throw the coat, with sleeves, over the head, concealing the face. (See 

 female costume, p. 450.) 



In the palace there are numerous serving women who also embroider 

 and sew ; their costume and coiffure are shown in PI. x. A Korean 

 lady is shown in PI. xi. It is highly probable that a closer acquaint- 

 ance with Korean laws and customs will show that women, seemingly 

 hampered by oriental ideas, are really of greater imjiortance as a 

 " l)ower behind the throne " than has been suspected. 



"Among other inheritances from China Confucianism has effectively 

 permeated Korea. Buddhism seems not to have gained much of a 

 foothold in Korea and is almost entirely under ban at present. It has 

 often been observed that Koreans have little religious sentiment. 

 Buddhism in Korea is, curiously enough to my mind, much less like the 

 form of that religion obtaining in China, at least in the church cere- 

 monies, if not its dogmas, than is even the Japanese. It presents 

 many curious analogies with the Thibetan form of Buddhism, and in the 

 style of church architecture, painting, etc., it has certainly been in- 

 fluenced by it. Several of the feasts are probably of Buddhist origin; 

 others are Chinese or Japanese; but in most of them a certain indig- 

 enous element is perceptible which makes them worthy of our notice. 

 The prominence given to exorcisms in Korea is characteristic of Lama- 

 isin, but in no wise of Chinese Buddhism, and may have been intro- 

 duced with the Buddhist religion, although I am inclined to believe 

 that it is coeval with the earliest existence of this i)eople."t 



Mr. Carles, in his excellent account of his travel in Korea, says: "Of 

 superstitious observance's there are many, mostly the outgrowth of 

 Taoism. Shrines to the spirit of the mountains, with cairns to which 

 stones are added by passers by, stand at the top of almost every ridge 

 crossed by mountain paths; trees and bushes often have their branches 

 laden with cotton streamers; stones or fossils of unusual shape are 



* P. Lowell : Choson, p. 151. In chapter xv of this work appears a complete state- 

 niorit of woman's position in the social economy of Korea. 



t W. W. Rockhill : L;iws and Customs of Korea, Am. Anthrop. April, 1891. 



