The Seondeok–Jigwi Encounter: A Folkloric and Historical Artifact of the Silla Kingdom’s Religious and Social Landscape

Abstract

In English-language academic publications outside of a small handful of translations, the encounter between Jigwi (지귀 [志鬼]) and the Silla monarch Seondeok (선덕여왕 [善德女王], r. 632–647) has received scant attention, perhaps because of scholarly views that dismiss folklore as an insufficient foundation for a thoroughly objective evaluation of the past. On the other hand, an assessment of folklore as a repository of cultural and societal knowledge can help to justify the use of the Stith Thompson classification system as a way of extrapolating insights on the life of Queen Seondeok and the man who passionately desired to have a personal audience with the monarch. Through discerning reflections on the tale of the Seondeok–Jigwi encounter, one can appreciate the contours of a nuanced and pluralistic world of Silla belief systems, a complicated society partly guided by the powerful attraction of Seondeok’s personality, and a social hierarchy that one cannot carelessly reduce into simplistic dichotomies between privileged nobles and humbler commoners.