CHANGSUNG

(Korean: long life), wooden or stone pole carved with a human face and placed at the entrance (and sometimes to the north, south, east, and west) of a Korean village or temple to frighten away evil spirits. Among rice-growing peasants, it is believed to be a guardian deity who can dispel evil and cure disease. It may also serve as a signpost showing distances or indicating boundaries. The typical changsung is about 2 m (6 feet) tall, with a red face in which eyes and teeth are prominent. The face may be male or female, and changsung are sometimes set in pairs. A male head wears a crown and surmounts an inscription reading Great General over the Land (Ch'onhataejangkun); beneath a female face appears the title Female General Under the Earth (Chihayojangkun). Similar to the changsung in spiritual significance, the somewhat taller sotdae, usually surmounted by a carved crane or duck, may also be erected before a tomb or a house to commemorate the holder of a civil-service position during the Choson (Yi) dynasty (13921910).