Sim Usŏng    Nathan Hesselink

Namsadang Sim Usŏng folk entertainment group itinerant troupe perfomance culture P`ungmul

The namsadang represent a professional class of traveling entertainers that flourished during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Korea. With deep roots in ritual practices and itinerant troupe performance culture, the namsadang in many ways served the role of mass entertainment for their rural, pre-modern Korean audiences. These artistic troupes were composed exclusively of males, and during the height of their activity they featured performances of percussion music and dance, bowl spinning, acrobatics, tightrope walking, mask dance, and puppetry. Although the namsadang were mistrusted and despised by the ruling elite, they were largely embraced by the commoner classes who eagerly awaited their visits to the countryside. The namsadang as an institution came to a close in the mid-twentieth century, under the pressures and other contingencies of the Japanese occupation and the Korean War. A revivalist movement, however, took place beginning in the 1950s with the help and concerted efforts of the activist and folklorist Professor Sim Usŏng. His academic and administrative work helped shed light on the poorly documented past of the namsadang, at the same time elevating their status and appreciation among a modern South Korean population. This article provides a critical translation of the first chapter of his seminal book on the topic, Namsadangp’ae yŏn’gu (A study of namsadang troupes). The translator would like to thank the Korea Foundation for a fieldwork grant that helped support the research necessary for this article.