Joseon's white elephant

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Lifestyle

Thu, December 7, 2023 | 21:42

Korean Traditions

Joseon's white elephant

Posted : 2018-02-21 18:16

Updated : 2018-02-21 18:54

A painting of an elephant at Jeongyang Temple in northern Korea circa 1920s / Courtesy of Robert Neff Collection

By Robert Neff

On Feb. 22, 1411, an exotic gift from Japan arrived in Joseon Korea. It was an elephant -- the first on the peninsula. It undoubtedly excited great interest in the capital and people vied for the opportunity to view this wondrous creature. But not all were impressed. In December 1412, former court official Lee Woo, visited the site where the great beast was kept. Mocking its ugliness, he spat on it and yelled insults and the elephant reacted by stomping him to death.

In early 1413, Minister of War Yu Jeong-hyeon petitioned the king to punish the elephant for Lee's death. He reasoned the beast was of no importance to the country, ate too much and was dangerous -- as it had already attacked two people (Lee and an unidentified person). Execution would be the rightful penalty for a human, he argued, but perhaps exile to a distant island would be appropriate for the elephant.

There is no question the elephant had a large appetite and was nothing more than a novelty but why had it killed Lee? Perhaps his yelling and wild gestures had frightened the poor animal and it reacted defensively but its history hid a darker side.

In June 1408, a Western ship drifted into the Ashikaga shogunate of Japan possibly due to a storm. On board were a number of animals including an elephant from Southeast Asia. The elephant was promptly given to Ashikaga Yoshimochi -- the shogun -- whose father had just died a few weeks earlier. This was the first elephant to set foot in Japan and was at first welcomed as a great curiosity but then despised for the trouble it caused. It had an enormous appetite and a nasty temper which it demonstrated by stomping one of its handlers to death. When it came time for the shogun to send a gift to Korea (in appreciation for providing a copy of an important Buddhist canon) the elephant was promptly suggested.

King Taejong, however, didn't appear to have known the elephant's history and took great pity upon it. He ordered it be banished to an island off the coast of South Jeolla Province where it was to be well cared for.

For several years the elephant lived on the island but did not fare well. On May 3, 1414, the governor of Jeolla reported the grass and vegetation did not suit the elephant and it became emaciated and ill. It was also starved for affection; it shed tears whenever it was near a human.

The king was moved and ordered the elephant transported back to the mainland (in the Jeolla area). Unfortunately, I have not been able to find any records describing how the elephant was moved from one place to another. One can image it was not easy to load him aboard a Korean junk and, when moving from the port to the pastures, he must have caused a great stir in the local populations.

As in other places, the local population's curiosity of the elephant was soon replaced with resentment over its great appetite and foul temper. In 1420, the governor petitioned the Joseon government to rotate the care of the animal between Chungcheong, Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces. The king readily agreed.

It isn't clear when, but shortly afterwards the elephant was moved to Gongju in the Chungcheong region where, once again, the novelty of its arrival was replaced with grief. In 1421, the governor reported to the king that the useless creature ate more than 10 times the amount of any other animal and had demonstrated its murderous temper by killing another handler.

The king, still sympathetic to the elephant, commanded that a safe pasture be chosen to raise the great beast and that it be treated kindly and well fed. Unfortunately, what became of the elephant is unclear as there are no further records. Perhaps it died of natural causes or starvation -- lack of food or affection.

The true color of the elephant may never be known (it was probably grey or brown) but, at least to Joseon, it was a white elephant: a useless and troublesome gift that was expensive to maintain and hard to get rid of.

robertneff103@gmail.com