Chasabonpuri, a general shamanic epic on J e ju Island can be regarded as
a material which has a kind of similar contents as Jimgaje-gut, a shamanic
song from Hamgyeong Province, The folktale of a son who was born to
revenge, and Oisechambae, a kind of epic folksongs from Tsushima Island.
The contents of Chasabonpuri i s followed; A bad pe rson who was avid for
the wealth killed his three brothers. To revenge their wrongful death, the three
brothers reincarnated as children of the bad person, the murderer who killed
the three brothers, and they suddenly died at their early age. Then, they
brought Yeomradaewang, the King of Netherworld, to investigate the reason
of their unfair death. The similar kind of epic poem like Chasabonpuri is being
transmitted at the trans-regional and trans-genre level from Shamanic epic
songs and stories that have handed down from mouth to mouth to epic songs
in Japan.
When Chasabonpuri is being compared with other sources having similar
contents as Chasabonpuri has, Chasabonpuri has three different significances
as followed.
First, the being which is called Gangrim who is the one coming back from
the afterlife gets much more highlighted and becomes more important in
Chasabonpuri.
Second, the one\'s pathway to the otherworld and what the otherworld looks
like are significantly well-captured in the shamanic song, which serves a role
as a song to hand over the dead person to the otherworld well and to serve
Divinity who i s in c harge of handing the de ad to the othe rworld.
Third, its contents highlight more on the power and role of Chasa, a kind
of Divinity, who is in charge of death of mankind or questions with regard
to death, all of which are the original concerns which humankind has.
The reason why the death of people is being more focused on in
Chasabonpuri, which is a unique and different feature when it is compared
with o the r source s, i s that the re e xists Ogupuri which serves Barigongju,
Divinity who is in change of handing over the dead person to the otherworld
on land. However, since there is not a similar kind of Divinity like Barigongju
on Jeju Island, Chasabonpuri serves the role and function as Barigongju plays
on land.
Key words:Shamanic Epic Songs, Chasabonopuri, Jimgaje-gut, The Folktale
of a Son Who Was Born to Revenge, Oisechambae, Divinity
in Charge of Handing over the Dead to the Next World, a
Pathway to The Next World, Ogupuri