KOREAN COLLECTIONS IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. 485 



Pagoda (Ta])). (Model.) Pieces of white marble, graded in .size, i>iled 

 up on a wooden core and «et on a wooden base. The top repre- 

 sents the lotus. 



Height, 15f iuches. 



Anchu City, Korea. 130888 



Collected by Dr. H. N. Allen. 



A toy for children. The marble in produced in the district of Sungchun. 



Straw man (Tchouug). Bundle of straw tied with hoops of straw 

 into the outline of the head and trunk of a man. Arms and legs 

 fastened to the body. PI. xxxii. 



Length, 28 inches. 



Seoul, Korea, 1885. 77051 



Collected by Ensign J. B. Bernadou, U. S. Navy. 



" When a man feels a longing to be better and to get rid of his sins, he goes 

 to a Buddhist priest and buys a straw figure like this. The priest tells him 

 that he will be absolved if he dresses the image in clothes like his own, puts 

 plenty of cash in the straw man's belly, and tosses it into the road. The poor 

 people tear the image to pieces to get the cash and the man's guilt flies away." 

 (Piu.) This idea is evidently translated into the language of another religion 

 than that of the Koreans. 



"Along the road were numbers of straw effigies, such as are made at New 

 Year's season and sold for a few cents cash. Somewhat hunum in shape, about 

 a foot and a half in length, each is supposed to be the likeness of some one. 

 Inside is a little cash, and accompanying it is a written statement, saying 

 Avhom it represents, with a prayer for the coming year. The object is to rid 

 one's self of this as the Jews did the scapegoat. Sometimes they are burned, 

 but ofteuer are kept till the evening of the 14th day of the lirst month, when 

 wandering beggars come by, calling, 'Give us tchoung.' The mannikin is 

 passed through the partially opened gate, it and the misfortunes of tlie year 

 becoming the i)roperty of the old beggar, who sells his peace of soul for the 

 few cash inside the tchoung." (Rev. .T. S. Gale in the Korean Repository, 

 Seoul. Vol. I, No. 1, Jan., 1892.) 



Astrology is an important science in Korea. It is (|uite ])<>ssible that the 

 true t^xplaiuitiou <»(' the tchoung is astrological. Tlic foiiowing table seems to 

 indicate this: 



Jil SniKj, (pffieUd or riilinf/ utars. 



* Mr. Soli does not know to which planets or heavenly bodies these Korean names refer. 



When a Korean child attains a certain age he comes un<ler the influence of 

 the planets and in the order of the above table he falls under the sway of good or 

 bad stars. The first period (tchoung) is accounted bad and hence recourse is had 

 to the expiation of tlie straw image, tchoung. (Sob.) 



