Pansori “Sugungga (수궁가)” is an epic traditional Korean song that lasts more than four hours. The story is about a sea turtle that goes out in search of a hare’s liver to cure the sea god’s illness. The sea creature ventures up to land for the first time and manages to take the hare to the underwater palace. However, realizing that he is about to be killed for his liver, the hare tricks the turtle into letting him go back to land, where he escapes with his life. There are many amusing scenes throughout this pansori piece, which make it very engaging yet quite tough to perform both physically and mentally. This story also appears in the historical record of the ancient Three Kingdoms titled Samguksagi (삼국사기). In the 7th century, Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje were at war to unify the Korean Peninsula. At the outset of war, the young Kim Chun-chu (김춘추), who later went on to become King Muyeol (무열) and unify the Three Kingdoms, went to Goguryeo (고구려) to ask for help in defeating Baekje (백제). But Goguryeo imprisoned him instead of providing help. So the young Kim Chun-chu bribed a high-ranking official to tell him how to break out of the prison, and the story of Sugungga was what the official told the future Silla king – to tell whatever lie to escape, just like the hare. Taking that tip, Kim made his escape to Silla and the kingdom of Goguryeo fell not long after.
Part of Sugungga/ Sung by Park Cho-wol
The piece you just heard was sung by Park Cho-wol and comes at the beginning of the pansori, where the sea god of the South Sea falls ill. Being a land-bound creature, the hare cannot swim, so how was it able to go see the sea god? Well, the hare rode on the sea turtle’s back. That scene is often portrayed in the murals of Buddhist temples. But what does that story in which one animal deceives another to fulfill its goal have to do to with Buddhism? Well, the story is said to have been a part of a book called “Jataka,” a body of Indian literature about the previous lives of Buddha. In that Jataka tale, a crocodile and a monkey take the places of the turtle and the hare. The two animals were friends at first, but the crocodile’s wife suddenly gets a craving for monkey liver. Here, the monkey represents Buddha and the crocodile’s wife is the evil cousin who wanted to hurt Buddha. This story made its way to the Far East via the Silk Road, and the animals featured in it were replaced with the more familiar hare and sea turtle.
Hare Hare/ Sung by Jeong Gyeong-hwa
That was “Hare, Hare,” the children’s version of “Sugungga,” sung by Jeong Gyeong-hwa and a children’s choir. Characters in “Sugungga” go through one crisis after another. The omnipotent sea god is near death and the sea turtle, which had lived its whole life underwater, risks its life to come aboveground to capture a hare to cure the sea god. The turtle talks the hare into diving underwater to tour the sea palace and meet the sea god, only to be tricked into letting it go. From the hare’s point of view, it has to use all its wits to come out of this predicament in one piece. But its trouble is not over once it escapes to land, because it is caught in a fisherman’s net and taken by an eagle. It’s an endless series of dangers and crises. But “Sugungga” seems to suggest that this is what life is all about – overcoming one problem after another. The last piece for today is ethnic pop group RA:AK performing “Oops,” a modern adaptation of a song from “Sugungga.”
Oops/ Ethnic pop group RA:AK