Transformations of Sun Wukong in Korea from the 14th Century to Today

• In Event: The Construction of Xiyouji (西遊記) in the Sinographic Cosmopolis and Beyond

Abstract

By unfolding a rich panorama of different media and genres this paper uses the ubiquitous popularity of Sun Wukong in Korea over eight centuries to undermine the authoritative status of the Shidetang edition as Xiyouji.

First, early transformations of Sun Wukong prove that the reception of Xiyouji in Korea began before and did not cease after the publication of the Shidetang edition. Especially valuable in this respect is the allusion to Sun Wukong in the poem Chǒkhu haeng 赤猴行 or Red Monkey, written by Yi Saek at the end of the 14th century, thus being about two hundred years older than the Shidetang edition. No study on the reception of Xiyouji in Korea has ever mentioned this poem, since all studies have clung to the Shidetang edition as starting point.

Second, the multi-faceted transformations of Sun Wukong mirror the structural and discursive variability of Xiyouji. According to the needs of time and context, Xiyouji is often crystallized in the figure of Sun Wukong who conveys various, sometimes even conflicting discursive messages. While Sun Wukong is, for example, portrayed as the obedient disciple of a Buddhist monk in inscriptions on the Ming painting collection Gushi huapu 顧氏畵譜 at the beginning of the 17th century, at about the same time he also came to serve as guardian roof ornament 雜像 on Korean palaces, being totally stripped of his Buddhist pedigree.

Author

• Barbara Wall, University of Hamburg