한국 사회 유희문화의 기원과 성장

Abstract

The “play” of human has been accompanied historical lives of human. Culture of physical bodies, that has been developed and inherited through lives of humankind, has been diversified into traditional play or sports of each race to date. In the Korean peninsula of which history can also date back to long time ago, most of human play are those transferred from adjacent countries, modified or developed further thereafter, as well as the play generated spontaneously. In this respect, looking into the origin and development of “play culture” in the Korean peninsula at each stage of historical development to review the significance of contemporary culture of play would be important. This study thus intends for an examination of the origin of play and the play culture in societies of high class people and of commoners at each stage of historical development including the ages of “Three Kingdoms”, of Goyeo, and of Joseon, as well as of modern times comprising the period under Japanese Colonial Rule and the period of post-liberation thereafter. Through the present study, the play and play culture, developed and inherited in the Korean peninsula, were identified as a valuable asset established on the accumulation of knowledge and wisdom of our ancestors which are to be preserved and inherited for our descendants. The results of present study are thus expected to be valuable for foreigners, students, or researchers who are interested in Korean culture and intend to learn the Koreanology for them to understand actual lives and spirit of Korean people more deeply.