Naewat-dang shamanic paintings, Religious art collection at Naewat-dang shrine, Jeju Island, South Korea

The Naewat-dang shamanic paintings are ten portraits of village patron gods, six male and four female, painted with mineral pigments on Korean paper with an ink brush, perhaps by one painter. The gods wear varied headgear, robes and shoes and usually hold a fan; one figure in a red patterned robe holds a black staff topped by a round fan with a yellow center and red tassel. The shrine that held them was destroyed in the nineteenth century, and the works are now kept at Jeju National University.

These paintings date back to at least 1466 and survived periods of persecution, including the destruction of shrines in 1702 ordered by Confucian magistrate Yi Hyeong-sang. The works demonstrate the resilience of local religious practices against official suppression.

The portraits show local deities through mineral pigments on Korean paper, featuring Central Asian-influenced clothing and symbolic elements like snakes and birds. These images reflect the belief that these gods protect the village and its people.

The ten paintings are held at the Jeju National University Museum, not at the shrine, which was demolished in 1882. They were designated National Folklore Cultural Property No. 240 on 30 November 2001. Check the museum's opening days before travelling, since university museums often close at weekends and on holidays.

The paintings are unusual because Jeju shamanism generally uses no paintings at all; its physical representations of gods are cut-paper figurines called gime. The Naewat-dang deities also look inhuman and grotesque, unlike the human-like gods of mainland portraits, and the works invoke both snake and bird imagery.