Korean Ghosts, Shaman Stories and Japanese Ghosts, Shaman stories and their Beliefs

There is an old belief/study that is called "풍수지리(風水地理)"[pung-su-ji-ri]. Simply put, it is about studying nature and envorionment and founding the best spot and bad spot for housing and graves and such. The study is originally from China I believe, asian people have believed that if you live at the "best spot", usually where mountain is shielding the spot from behind and river flows in front of that spot, you will prosper and live peacefully. That is why the kingdom of korea used to hire government officials to find the best spot to build a palace and ancestors' graves. It has been wildly believed among all classes of korea. In the movie, choi min sik's character's job is 지관(ji-gwan). Ji gwan is a profession that finds a "best spot" for people. Many times, to find a best spot for graves nowadays. Why would people care so much about Graves? Because korean people have believed Graves are dead people's home. Dead people don't disappear from this world. When human dies, one part of their soul(魂) goes to heaven while another soul(魄) goes back to the earth. People believe that if you place ancestors' graves at the best spot, ancestors will be at peace and help you and guide you through your life. If ancestors' Graves are in a horrible place, usually where it is dark and wet, ancestors' soul will be in pain and harrass their descendants so that they would move the grave. Pung su ji ri is still wildly believed by koreans. Big companies and even government officials would consult with Ji gwan when there is a move.

There is a funny story about how korean people think graves are sacred. There was a court official in late 19c who was visiting Egypt. A tourist told him to climb the pyramid, which he refused, saying it was disgraced to climb on a king's grave.

Korean shamans are the ones that mediate live people and dead people. They are not some kind of magicians that do magic things. There are other supernatural spirits in korean folklore such as 도깨비, which is not something that dead people become. People believed when a person dies with deep sorrow or unsolved problems or grudge, they become ghosts. Shamans call them, treat them food to appease them, ask them what makes them so sad or angry, listen to their story, empathize with them, and persuade them to forget about grudge and cross over to heaven. In korean folklore, ghosts don't just hunt any people and kill them. They haunt people that caused their death, or they come to a state judge to report injustice that happen to them. They usually go away when living people solve their unfinished problems. Korean people belive if you live as a good person who do good thins, bad things won't happen to your or your ancestors will be your guardian angels and help you avoid bad things.

Japanese ghosts are a little different. They are stuck in a certain place and hurt people who visit their place. It doesn't matter if people are innocent. Ghosts would just kill them. I heard it is due to natural disasters such as earthquakes happening to everyone in japan regardless of how good or bad people lived. Ghosts hurt people like natural disasters. So Japanese Shamans' job is not to solve ghost's problems but to seal the evil ghost so that it can not get out and hurt people. I won't spoil the movie, but I think it is better that you know the difference between Korean and Japanese ghosts.

And you should know that the trauma of japanese occupation is still deeply hurting korean people's hearts and minds. When japan first occupied korea, one of the first things that they did was to investigate land. Japanese would go around everywhere in korea and stuck iron stick in the land to measure it. For early 20s Koreans, that believed pung-su-ji-ju, it looked like Japanese people were hurting korean nature and cursing our land and spirit. Japan had tried to mess up korean culture and spirits. They spread false folklore that they made up to make korean people are savages such as 고려장. They changed the name of beautiful indegineous korean plants to something ridiculous. They said korean history is mediocre. And so many moreThe trauma is still hurting korean society like a ghost. Due to all of these, there are many people who still believe that it was japanese government' intention to hurt korean spirit when they stuck iron stick in our soil as they also believed pung su ji ri. I think it is better you know korean people's emotions and trauma before watching the movie.