''Mugo'' is a ''jeongjae'',

Korean court dance Dance in Korea began with shamanistic early rituals five thousand years ago and now ranges from folk dance to newly created and adopted contemporary dance. Overview Korean traditional dance originated in ancient shamanistic rituals thousands ...

performed with

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

. It was created in the

Goryeo dynasty Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

era. It also practiced in ritual dance of

Seungjeonmu Seungjeonmu is a Korean court dance to wish for and celebrate victory. It is originated 2000 years ago and is composed of a sword dance and drum dance called mugo. Seungjeonmu or ''Dance of Military Triumph'' was performed to wish for victory from ...

. Its name comprises the two words, ''mu'' (무, 舞) and ''go'' (고,

鼓 Radical 207 meaning "drum" is 1 of 4 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals total) composed of 13 strokes. In the Kangxi Dictionary there are 46 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Polit ...

) literally meaning ''dance'' and ''drum'' in Korean respectively.

Origins

According to ''"Akji"'' (악지, 樂志), two books from ''"

Goryeosa The ''Goryeosa'' (), or ''History of Goryeo'', is the main surviving historical record of Korea's Goryeo dynasty. It was composed nearly a century after the fall of Goryeo, during the reign of King Sejong, undergoing repeated revisions between ...

"'' (고려사 高麗史) which describe the music of

, ''mugo'' originated from a government officer, Lee Hon (

hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The let ...

:이혼,

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, wh ...

:李混) during the reign of

King Chungnyeol Chungnyeol of Goryeo (3 April 1236 – 30 July 1308) was the 25th ruler of the medieval Korean kingdom of Goryeo from 1274 to 1308. He was the son of Wonjong, his predecessor on the throne. Chungnyeol was king during the Mongol Invasions of Jap ...

(reign. 1274 – 1308). While being exiled to Yonghae (영해, 寧海), a coastal region in North Gyeongsang Province, Lee Hon one day made a large drum of a log raft and played it while dancing. Later this dance was transmitted to the

Joseon dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

and was performed at various events of the Korean palaces and local government offices. There has always been changes in the performance of "Mugo" per each time period since the Goryeo dynasty. The performance was played by

Gisaeng Kisaeng (Hangul: 기생, Hanja: 妓生, RR: ''Gisaeng''), also called ginyeo (Hangul: 기녀, Hanja: 妓女), were women from outcast or slave families who were trained to be courtesans, providing artistic entertainment and conversation to men ...

who was hitting the drum and singing the song of

Jeongeupsa ''Jeongeupsa'' (, , "The Song of Jeongeup") is the only surviving ''gayo'' () song from the Baekje kingdom. ''Jeongeupsa'' is the oldest song recorded in Hangul, and is thought to be a popular folk song originating sometime after the rule of ...

(정읍사 井邑詞). As the number of drums changes, the number of Gisaeng also changes. Depending on the number of drums, the name also changed to ''two-drum dance'', ''four-drum dance'' and ''eight-drum dance''.

Forms

Eight dancers perform with one large drum placed on the center of the stage. The main dancers called ''wonmu'' (원무), and the assisting dancers called ''hyeopmu'' (협무). Four dancers hold a drumstick in each hand, surround and play the drum; the others, holding a flower-shaped stick in each hand, form an outer circle. The dancers wear a jacket of which the color represents a certain direction: black-north, red-south, blue-east, and white-west.

Music

Mugo is accompanied with court music Dongdongok (동돈곡) and Muaegok (무애곡) during the Goryeo period.

References

Korean dance {{Korea-stub

Origins

Forms

Music

See also

References