Nam River Blazes with Autumn, Like the Spirit of Non-gae

The seven years of Japanese Invasion of Korea (1592~1598).

The war when Chosun was devastated up to the Ham-kyung Province by the Japanese troops, and the king (King Sun-jo) himself had to seek refuge. While browsing through the history, a fact that we had missed through these years was found. Among the many heroes from this war, there were many young people who had sacrificed themselves.

Kim Shee-min, a minister from Jinju, who was the commander of the victory at Jinju Castle, which along with victories at Haengju and Hansan were the three major victories during the Japanese invasion of Korea, was 38 years old when he died at the end of the battle. The following year, Jinju Castle fell from a second attack, and the heroic Nongae was only 19 years old when she jumped into the water clasping the Japanese general.

Jinju City, that very site of history.

The festival to soothe the many souls who died during Japanese Invasion is in full swing. It is the ‘Jinju Nam River Lantern Festival’. The opening was on October 1 and will continue until October 15.

The Japanese, who were defeated in the victory at Jinju Castle, attacked the following year with 120,000 men. 3,400 royal forces who guarded Jinju Castle collapsed on the eleventh day, and 70,000 people inside the castle were forced out and killed. ‘Gae san sun ui’ is what it is. The lanterns that are set afloat the Nam River started out as to soothe the souls of the dead.

The symbol of Jinju City, Nam River.

This river crosses Jinju from west to east and turn northeast and pours into Nakdong River and is the very river that Nongae threw herself into. During the victory at Jinju Castle, it was the very river that the royal force inside the castle and General Kwak Jaewoo used to set lanterns to communicate, and set lanterns to threaten the Japanese who were crossing the river. It is also the river that the soldiers exhausted from the battle floated lanterns to their families outside the castle who were anxious of their safety.

Lantern festivals can be seen in Buddhism countries like China, India, Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. Jinju hold’s the only festival in Korea. This year’s festival is the debut of Jinju City’s efforts under ambitious plans to expand the festival into an international event. So it is more brilliant and diverse and has many attractions than any other year it was held.

There are many things to be surprised at the festival. You will be surprised by the many shapes the lanterns take: a human, a mandarin duck, a wood post, a goblin, a white heron, a drum, a carp, a running horse, a tiger, a hanging lantern, Chuntae Bell, etc and that is not all of it. The lanterns shaped as a dragon, a phoenix, and a lotus from China, Japan’s cuttlefish and huge garden lantern, Taiwan’s totem lantern, Thailand’s royal carriage lantern, India’s Ganesh lantern, Singapore’s Ma-lion(an imaginary animal which has the head of a lion and the body of a fish) lantern, and Africa’s lanterns shaped with images of the ancient people can also be seen.

Each unique lantern from all over the world brilliantly brightens the night at Nam River. There are also super-large lanterns. One is the Kongbukmun lantern, made to be the exact size of the real front gate of Jinju Castle, and the other is China’s heaven terrace lantern (18m in height). A technician who is a member of China Sichuan Zigong City’s lantern management committee, which holds the largest lantern festival, came to Jinju and made it himself. This international lantern, which has 173 different shapes and sizes, will decorate the waterside and surface of Nam River with brilliant lights and shapes all through Jinju’s nights of the festival.

summer@donga.com