Han

Han(1) is the mang-bu-sok.(2) Han is the tears, the tears of a sorrowful woman who waited and waited to the good news that of the husband, who left her a long time ago, turned into a rock on the hilltop. Han is a torrent dashing against rocks. Han is the woman who dedicated jong-hwa-su(3) gathered from the primary dew well before daybreak sun to the divine spirit, and prayed the earnest prayer with all her heart because she was an infertile. Although her only wish was to see a baby’s cute tricks, her wish never realized. After she was abused and forsaken by her husband because she couldn’t conceive, she threw herself in deep water bore Han against her own painful memories, the age advanced in vain, the breached word. Han is the Jang-sung.(4) Han stands on the entrance of the village stretching the neck for many decades as if it is a day. Han is the parents though bent with the weight of years, standing in the same spot unchanged: in burning sun, pouring rain, blowing wind, falling snow, waiting a run-away child will never be return as an entrance of a deserted village. Han is the parting. Han is an obituary notice brought by the gloomy shadow the callous man, in the void of heart where the cumulative affection crumbled, where the bond of intimacy fell to pieces. After the man walked out on her, she tossed about in her bed wanting him, she cried and cried to lessen her pain, she sighed her lonely miserable life in the pitiless fleeting time. Han is the tombstone. Han is the woman’s tear-stained deformed name overlapped on the man’s engraved name on the tombstone by an abandoned grave. One day, suddenly, he left her without a word, and she kept herself with endless tears and sighs, she got over her misery, though it is of no use, condemning the world and self-scorning. (1)Han. Although there is no word directly related or can be translated Korean Han to English, the most closely related word for Han may be rancor or grudge. For Han is the result of tragic event semi-fatalistically fell upon an individual the person though submits him/herself to and accepts the event that is the root of Han, it is almost impossible to resign from this deep-seated bitter resentment—because it is semi-fatalistic, and therefore, carries Han throughout his/her life. (2)Mang-bu-sok. Awaiting husband rock. (3)Jong-hwa-su. A bowl of devotional water. (4)Jang-sung. A pair of male and female Korean traditional totem poles at the village entrance.