From olden times the Korean people have created and developed many cultural heritage items. Seesawing is one of them.
Seesawing is a folk game in which two persons, standing at opposite ends of a long board resting on a pivot in the middle, compete to jump higher, coming down heavily on the board.
During the period of Koguryo (277 BC-AD 668) the Korean people widely used the tread-mill to hull grains. It is believed that they invented the game by applying the principle of the tread-mill in which one end of the beam thumps down to hull the grains on the strength of the foot of a person pressing the other end.
On the lunar New Year’s Day and the First Full Moon Day women in nice dresses got together to play the game.
Seesawing helps the players have stronger legs, increase the capacity of the lungs and improve their physical shape. There are Korean sayings which go “Play seesawing in January, and no thorn will pierce your sole that year,” and “Play seesawing a lot during your maidenhood, and you will have sons after marriage.” These clearly show that seesawing is a good physical exercise.
Seesawing is a game which can be played almost anywhere and anytime if a board of the right size and a pivot are available. The board was 3.5 metres long and 35 to 40 centimetres wide in general. The pivot was an elastic lump which is about 20 centimetres high.
Typical playing modes included high jumping and long jumping. Experienced players played while pulling various stunts.
If a player fell down off balance or got tired, he or she would be replaced. In some regions, the location of the pivot was moved towards the heavier player when the weight of the players differed.
Seesawing rich in national flavour is still widely encouraged as a traditional sports event and has developed as a national acrobatic work.
Jo Il Gyong
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