Farewell Party 4

Soo Woo Island

 

1.

Would you take a boat ride to Soo Woo Island? This island faces the calm and sunny sea, and on the far horizon stand small mountains like a folding screen. The landscape is picturesque. You may have a grand idea you want to be buried on this island someday later. Every sailor passing here off the island turns his eyes toward the coastal scenery, which is rarely beautiful and may regard the seaside as a promising site for a tomb. Sure enough, there is a tomb, old and damaged, by the sea on the uninhabited island. Perhaps it would remind you of a piece of the poem titled 'The grave by the seaside' by Faul Valery. The French poet is said to be buried by a seacoast facing the Mediterranean Sea, purely blue and lively, 

".......

When sunlight rests upon a profound sea,

Time's air is sparkling, 

and dream is a certainty

....."

 

The old tomb, exposed to wind and waves, has remained comparatively safe as it used to be for more than a century. For in front of the grave stands a vast mass of blackish volcanic rocks as a kind of substantial breakwater defending it against even tremendously high waves caused by storms. 

By the way, in the end, it has suffered heavy damages twice by big tidal waves flowing over the breakwater. It got damaged 20 years ago by the first wave and again was remodeled. And ten years later, it was half-broken heavily also by another typhoon to be under the condition of partial destruction.

In the tomb is buried the aged man's predecessor six generations back. Since his boyhood, he has visited it until these days every year to pay tribute to it. In the beginning, he did it by following his father as the oldest grandson of the family with a group of relatives and then did it as the next family leader after his father's death.

He has loved the uninhabited island's seaside, about 10 minutes or so away by boat from the quayside, a village near Masan. Compared with any other sea around Masan bay, the shore has stayed relatively unpolluted in water quality, and there he would enjoy fishing in summer. When he took a boat to reach the island, he always would sorry not to get the fishing equipment ready.

In June, he came by boat to this island, accompanied by a village man who has managed the grave since the 1960 s, together with four men more with a purpose: to make the farewell ritual to it.

Jung, a Pansori singer, a local historian named Mr. Park, Tylor, his American friend, and a sundry laborer were the four. 

With a few years of pain of mind, he decided to burn the bones in it to ashes. (P.9)

When the grave was heavily damaged again by a stronger typhoon, inevitably, he had his mind to have to fix it sooner or later, as he had done so together with his late mother present there in the case of the previous damage to it. Then he has put off fix it year after year.

By the way, he was getting too old to keep on paying tribute to it on this island. Most of all, after him nobody could be in charge of it due to this or that reason. 

He was confused about his responsibility. His son living in L.A. and close relatives living in other cities was indifferent to doing the duty. Without him, the tomb would be deserted on the uninhabited island, even though the seaside area's ownership is under his late grandfather. So he had a mind to cremate the remains in it to ashes in place of repairing the damaged tomb. The village man had informed Immun that he could do the job no more.

For a while, he suffered internal conflicts on which one he would take between conserving it or cremating the remains in it to ashes before his final decision to take the latter. He wished to have the tomb stay as it used to remain, for the island with the grave in it has a beautiful seascape beyond description.

A few days before the day of the farewell ritual, he had something necessary prepared for it. Among them was a letter to recite for it as follows:

​Dear predecessor!

Today June 10, 2018, this descendent of yours is sorry to say my last goodbye to you. After this moment onward, there will be no ritual of cherishing the memory of you more. In this relation, I have to spend several years of conflict in my mind. Now you will not be any more in this resting place of the uninhabited island but exist in this direct successor's heart as your long-time faithful attendant and protector of this place. Of course, my heart will be your resting place while I remain alive and, if fortunate, your other direct successors will cherish you in their hearts. 

Dear predecessor! I don't want you to stay alone here without any descendent attending to you here on this uninhabited island. Now you will be an unforgettable legend in this direct successor's heart.

Goodbye!

your 6th successor

 

 

2.

​On the day, after the hard work of the cremation ritual on the Soo Woo island, Inmun, Tylor, and the local historian went to ChangDong, the downtown of Masan, and entered a restaurant familiar to Inmun. Before it, at the pier in the village, seeing her off, The aged man thanked the Pansori singer for her singing pansori-versioned Arirang, a piece of Korean traditional song. It was in the evening. 

"Hello! Inmun. Glad to see you. Would you take this comfortable seat ?" the hostess said, welcoming them.                                              (P.10)

"How are you, Mrs. Lee? Eh, what is the specialty for this evening?" he said to the hostess.

"Oh, boiled crabs and fish are for today," said she.

"This evening, we want drinks, too. Please bring bottles of soju", Immun ordered the menu. 

 

The day's rare work of hardship exasperated the aged man. The sea wind was so strong this day that the small boat in which five men and two women were aboard could barely reach the island's seaside with no well-equipped anchorage. He was there to participate in the ritual there, but she was not present at the dinner because she was exhausted and preferred going home to be in bed for rest. This evening he wanted to have special drinks together with the two whom he invited as special observers at the ritual. He said to them, "Mr. Park and Tylor! Thank you today for accompanying me to the island."  

The local historian said to him, "Oh, I am rather fortunate to get a rare personal experience. It was the first time for me to be present at a private cremation ritual like it. It was unfamiliar to see a tomb getting unburied, and the remains in it cremated before me." 

"Perhaps so. I have done such an inescapable work as this for several times now. Every time I did it, I felt heavily burdensome," the aged followed the local historian.

"Then, what is your feeling for it today?" He said to Tylor, looking at him.

Tylor replied, "The text you recited was a bit difficult for me to understand. But today, you are sorrowful and nervous watching the remains burned. I sympathized with the singer's sad voice and your complicated facial expression. I imagined the psychological conflict in your mind that you would have had before performing today's solemn ritual."

"Sure, you are right. In a sense, today is the very day that let me free from my internal conflict," he said.

 "Dear Inmun! Is the ritual you performed is on the bottom of a Confucian tradition?" said Tylor.

"Probably it could be. Or, a mixture of the two religions, Confucianism and Buddism, could influence it. However, in the case of my family, we just keep the practices that my family has done.", replied Inmun.

 

The three, hungry and tired, were eager to have the main seafood dishes boiled. It smelled to their tastes! They got their fatigue to go away by the day's specialty of the warm seafood enough to keep on enjoying dialogue.

"Dear Inmun! You have a considerably wide area of real estate there by the seaside. Its seascape was beautiful. If I were you, I would build a summer villa there. It would be wonderful."

"Oh. I agree. Were I in my age of 60s now! I love the island with the quiet and sunny coast. The island is exactly owned not by me, but my grandfather, who died 60years ago.                                                                       (p.11)

That is, all my family members, as his successors of the late grandfather, are co-owners of the area, so I cannot do such a thing on my authority."

"I see. At any rate, how happy I would be if I were to have my villa for the summer season!"

 

Twenty more years before, The Island had a couple of storehouses for salted anchovies and yards to dry boiled anchovies in the sun. So the owner was a direct supplier to sell the dry anchovies to the Masan fish market. Before Masan was reborn as an industrialized at the beginning of the 1960s, the city had been originally nation-widely famous as an anchovy-producing district. As you know, many fish merchants living in Masan were said to have enjoyed their comparative affluence compared with the people in the other field of life, thanks to their specialized products of anchovy. "

"Then, concerning the tomb on the island, once my late father said, the predecessor buried on the Soo Woo Island did not live his life in this district. My father added that his father, my grandfather, brought the remains of the predecessor who lived and died long ago in another province named Choong Cheung Do. Until now, I don't know the predecessor's name or what he did in his life. Regrettably, I was indifferent to it."

 

 

3.

"Then, Inmun! I am interested in the Arirang, both the lyric and pansori-versioned rhythm. The song I heard on the island reminded me of the soul music in American jazz. The former was kinds of emotional. As you know, the latter is spiritual. On the island, the pansori singer's voice was attractive, even though I could hardly catch up with the meaning in Korean of Arirang she sang there. Would you tell me about it?". Tylor opened his mouth after a while.

 "Oh, I am sorry not to explain it in-depth. It is like an unofficial national anthem of Korea. Arirang is an ancient native Korean word with no direct modern meaning. But also it is the name of a Korean mountain pass.

 I know that referring to the traditional song, there are many versions of it. It consists of simple words. Below are the lyrics to the commonly known one:

 Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo...

 Crossing over Arirang Pass.

 The one who abandoned me

 Shall not walk even 4 kilometers with his feet hurt."

 <*In Korean (romanization)>

 Arirang, Arirang, Arariyo...

 Arirang gogae ro neomeo ganda.

 Nareul beorigo gasi neun nimeun

 Sim nido mot gaseo balb byeong nanda.

                                                                                                   (p.)12

 No more I can. Eh, as for me, the pansori-versioned voice recalled me of the flamenco song. I have loved The Spanish gypsy songs of Flamenco", said Inmun.

 "Really? I love the flamenco dance but not familiar with the song. I wonder what similar or contrasting points between the two sounds of music there are. Would you tell me about them?" Tylor joined Inmun.

 He replied to the American, "Not easy for me to do it. First of all, Korean Pansori is a traditional Korean musical genre. It consists of hours-long storytelling performed by a singer accompanied by a Jang Gu drummer. The harsh voices of most singers sound profoundly fascinating to the lovers. In the case of flamenco, I don't understand the native language of the traditional Spanish gypsy. I am only profoundly fascinated by the sound. Spanish poet Garcia Lorca said that Pansori's profound song resembled Bach's unaccompanied cello. As you know, Bach's unaccompanied cello notes repeat endlessly. On the other hand, flamenco's deep voice gradually becomes farther away and does not return after disappearing beyond the horizon."

 Now, Mr. Park, the local historian, opened his mouth, "By the way, Dear Inmun! I have been interested in Gu Gang, the old name of a part of Masan district. I happened to read about it in 'Chang Dong in Blue' in a series written by you, and knowing that the village was where you were born and spent your boyhood, I wanted to meet you to talk about the old town. Years of the 1950s, you know, Masan also was not a free zone away from ideological conflicts between the right and the left. I wonder how it was in Gu-Gang."

 Inmun said. "I remember what my late mother told about a left group attacking my house in Gu-Gang right after the year of the Liberation from Japan. The communists' attack on my house happened at the deep night of the very day when my father was fortunately away from home. Fortunately, he went to the island with his relatives to hold the yearly ritual for the predecessor. At the very moment, my mother could have a narrow escape from the crisis by running away through the emergency exit, with her one-year-old baby on her back and with her five-year-old daughter left in the house. Of course, the baby is me. It is an unknown story related to the tomb on the island."

 Mr. Park said, "There is such a secret in your family history. Now I can presume that for this reason, you could not but take over the duty after your father died. Then, how do you feel now that you paid your last ritual today?"

 Inmun replied," Oh, my feeling is very complicated now. I did it after due considerations for a long time. Last year in late Autumn, I had my previous climbing up the Chun Ju Mountain and said goodbye to my 20-year-old grandmother and my parents and grandfather there. As you know, I am too old to walk up there anymore. So I had decided to do it, judging that it can be hardly possible for my son, who lives in as a USA citizen, to fly back here to his hometown to do it. Now I feel exceedingly sorrowful but free." 

And this time, he turned toward Tylor," Oh, Last year, Tylor was present at the farewell ritual in the mountain. wasn't you, Tylor?"                     (p.13)

The American smiled, giving him a nod of assent.

Mr. Park followed Inmun. "Understandable. By the way, many people in Chang-Dong think that you have been a free-spirited writer indifferent to the outside world.'

 "Yes, few of them have known that I was bound psychologically by such a personal duty. For a long time now, I could not get rid of the duty. I dream of getting free from it."

 Sure Enough, Inmun has traveled for some time now many as a backpacker. In the beginning, he liked to go by bus to Tong Youg, a seaside city not far from his residency. With the city's quayside as his starting point, he would visit the several islands one by one with only one purpose: to meet the remote sea from the island he visited. He would go further and further by bus to seaside cities. And after that, he made further travels to the USA, European cities, Russian Siberian. It was as a free backpacker wandering abroad with no particular purpose.

 These days the aged often murmurs a phrase in the Macbeth below.

 He has often done it since he did the cremating ritual for the tomb in Soo Woo Island, a sacred place for his family.

 'below'

 Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

 creep in this petty pace from day to day

 to the last syllable of recorded time.

 And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

 the way to dusty death.

 Out, out, brief candle!

 Life's but a walking shadow,

 a poor player that struts and frets

 his hour upon the stage,

 and then is heard no more.

 It is a tale told by an idiot

 full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

 -Mcbeth-

 

(p.14)