Bujeok — Korean paper talismans, their ink, characters and colors

What is a bujeok?

A bujeok is a piece of paper on which characters, pictures or symbols are written in the belief that it will drive off evil spirits and draw good fortune. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture classes it as a religious term and notes that the range is huge, from easily readable Chinese characters to drawings whose meaning is hard to guess. Because Korean folk religion, Buddhism and Daoism have mingled for centuries, a talisman handed out at a temple, one written by a shaman and one sold by a fortune-teller can look quite different from each other.

The most important thing to understand is that a bujeok grew out of everyday life as a place to rest anxious hopes. Before hospitals and insurance, people faced illness, disaster, exams and childbirth with little they could control, and they put their wishes on paper. This page introduces that history and symbolism but does not promise any effect. There is no scientific evidence that a talisman cures illness or brings money. Please read what follows not as a how-to for improving your luck but as a record of what people in the past did, and enjoy it for fun and self-reflection.

It also helps to know that Koreans use the word in a loose way. A tiny charm sewn into a child's clothes, a printed sheet from a temple and a hand-drawn picture pasted above a doorway are all called bujeok. What they share is the gesture: someone takes a moment to write a wish down, and the paper becomes a quiet reminder of that wish. In that sense a bujeok is closer to a prayer on paper than to a machine that produces results, and many modern readers find this reading the most comfortable one.

Origins and history

Some scholars look for the roots of the talisman in the magic pictures people drew on rocks and cave walls long ago. In Korean sources, the best-known early case is the story of Bihyeong in the Samguk Yusa. Bihyeong was said to have been born to a spirit of King Jinji and a woman named Dohwa-nyeo, and he commanded troops of ghosts. People supposedly wrote a verse and pasted it up: a house of the son of the sacred king's spirit, so wandering spirits, do not linger here.

The story of Cheoyong is also famous. Cheoyong came home to find a plague spirit with his wife, and instead of fighting he sang and danced. The spirit was so moved that it promised never to enter a door bearing Cheoyong's face. From then on, people painted Cheoyong's face and put it on the gate at New Year. The later Dongguk Sesigi, a calendar of seasonal customs, records that a person in a samjae year (a traditional three-year spell of bad luck) would draw a three-headed hawk and paste it above the door. During the Donghak movement, believers also carried a talisman called gungeulbu. Talismans written in Chinese characters show Daoist influence from China, while those from temples reflect Buddhist influence from India.

How it is made: cinnabar, yellow paper and characters

Traditional talismans followed a fixed procedure. Both the writer and the person who would carry it were supposed to bathe and cleanse themselves the day before. On the morning, the writer would place clear water and incense facing east, chant a spell and write, ideally in one continuous breath without lifting the brush.

The paper was classically goehwangji, a paper dyed yellow with the fruit of the Chinese scholar tree. If it was unavailable, clean yellowish hanji of about 10 by 15 centimeters would do. The red pigment was gyeongmyeon-jusa, finely ground cinnabar mixed with oil or sugar water. Cinnabar is a mineral made of mercury and sulfur and can be harmful if it enters the body, so it is for looking at, not for handling casually.

Kinds of talismans and what they stand for

By purpose, talismans fall into two broad groups: those that invite good things and those that keep off misfortune (aek). Records show more talismans on the guarding side, which tells us that what people wanted most was less a great windfall than a quiet life in which nothing went wrong.

The way of using one varied as well. Some were pasted above the main gate or a bedroom door to protect the whole house, some were folded small and kept in a wallet or inside clothing, and some were slipped into a pillow. In every case the name and shape matched what a person was worried about, so a list of talisman types is in effect a list of old worries.

A useful way to read an unfamiliar talisman is to look at three things in order. First the opening characters, which often announce who is giving the order. Second the central picture or characters, which show the wish. Third the closing lines or symbols, which seal the paper. Even without knowing the exact meaning, this reading order helps you see the talisman as a small piece of structured writing rather than a random scribble.

What to keep in mind when you meet one

Enjoying a talisman as culture is one thing, spending a large sum out of anxiety is another. If someone says a disaster will strike your family unless you buy one, or that it only works if you buy today, and asks for hundreds of thousands or millions of won, stop. There is Korean case law that threatening invented misfortune to collect excessive payment can count as fraud.

• Do not pay under pressure: give yourself at least a day and talk with family. There is no evidence that a pricier talisman works better.
• Keep records: if you already paid, gather transfer records, messages and call logs and consult a consumer counseling center or the police.
• Never burn and drink one: some old healing talismans were burned and the ash drunk in water, but cinnabar contains mercury and can harm your body. Do not copy this.
• Do not postpone medical care: if your body or mind is unwell, see a doctor before anything else. A talisman is not a substitute for treatment.
• Treat it as a gesture: if you give or receive one before an exam or a new start, think of it as a keepsake that says good luck.

Regional and tradition differences

Who makes a talisman changes its look. Temples often hand out ones containing Buddhist mantras or Sanskrit-style letters at New Year or on Buddha's Birthday, while shamans may include the name or picture of the god they serve. Fortune-tellers commonly use split-character talismans with chingnyeong at the top.

Some talismans are tied to the seasonal calendar. At New Year people pasted a picture of Cheoyong, a tiger or a rooster on the gate, a custom called munbae. In a samjae year they hung the three-hawk image. On Dano, a spring festival, they attached a red-written Dano charm to a pillar. The ipchun-cheop, spring-welcoming couplets pasted on gates at the start of spring such as ipchun daegil, are strictly speaking not talismans, but the wish to start the year with good words comes from the same root.

Bujeok today

Modern talismans are both objects of belief and design items. Museums display old printing blocks and talismans, and postcards, bookmarks and stickers that borrow the traditional patterns sell as souvenirs. Giving a student a lucky-exam talisman has become a form of cheering.

If you try a talisman block-printing workshop at a folk museum, you can feel why the writing is red and the paper yellow. Looking at talismans as culture shows what people once feared and hoped. At bottom, what a talisman holds is an ordinary and heartfelt wish: may my family be safe.

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