Читать книгу Things Korean - O-Young Lee - Страница 22

The Magic Mat

Dotjari

Everyone has heard of that marvelous carpet in the Arabian Nights. To a Korean, though, there is not really anything so marvelous about it.

Originally, a carpet is not something one carries around, and so to hear about a carpet which travels from place to place would ordinarily excite the imagination. The Korean rush mat and straw mat. however, move about all the time; they were never intended to stay in one place. The basic function of these mats is to The rolled up or laid out as the occasion requires, and to fly through the skies of the mind in creating the spot that is just right for its rider.

Probably anyone who can call himself a Korean has had the experience of flying through these skies on a straw mat. When the long summer sun has finally set and evening descends over the front yard, the fragrance from the bonfire protecting us from mosquitoes settles all around like the soft darkness. It is time to spread out the straw mat. At the instant the mat is spread, this yard of bare earth becomes a highland meadow of old central Asia. We see the Big Dipper through the gaps between the drifting clouds, escape the pull of gravity, and there we are. floating up into the sky. And as long as we keep reflecting on those stars up there, this spot originally imbued with the sweat and tears of everyday life turns into a wonderland of dreams and transcendent repose.

The straw mat, which turns a patch of hare earth into a meadow, and transposes a place where people have been trampling hack and forth all day into a spot where one can recline in peace, is man's creation for outdoor use. In the same sense we can say that the rush mat, ever so much softer and delicate, is man's magic for indoor use. It arranges the space there according to our changing needs and gives new meaning to whatever spot it occupies.

The rush mat creates space of a very different cast as far as it extends. It starts with the physical senses. When we unroll it the combined scent of sedge and the human body fills the air. It gets this scent from its absorbency, which in turn comes from the firm tree and the soft grass which compose its dual nature.

The rush mat has a synesthetic quality to it. in that its invigorating scent stimulates our senses of sight, smell and touch.

In this one space on the floor now appears a floral design, and when we occupy this space we are in a universe to ourselves. No matter how small this rush mat, the continuous weave design under the flower design extends this new universe to infinity.

The beige tone of the mat's underlying weave blends in with that yellowish varnished paper floor covering unique to Korean homes, and ensures that there is no abrupt break to assault the eye where the mat gives way to the floor, as we see happen so often with the carpet. The tone of this basic weave is as natural as nature itself, so that even when we are sitting on its floral design, rather than getting any feeling that we are going to crush those flowers we feel we are sitting in among them.

The rush mat also offers pleasure to the ear. Listen to that subtle sound that is made when you move on the rush mat. A fresh, crisp sound, like rumpling ramie.

The changes caused in the senses are a result of that change in the nature of the spot the mat has created for us. It is an ideal spot, a small miracle. A guest visits, so we roll out a rush mat—in even the most prosaic spot—and that spot is transformed into a banquet for our guest. At another time, a place of work will become a place of rest. One may be playing cards at one moment, but a change of mats can easily change the card game into a memorial service for the dead.

The saying goes, "Whatever you were doing, roll out the straw mat and you didn't do it," which is a rather oblique and not altogether positive reference to the way we have of damping the spirit of an activity if we tamper with the original setting in a well-meant intention to improve things. But it does show the power which the rush mat has to create a spirit or ambience.

To a Korean the rush mat and straw mat are a kind of stage, a setting in which we can experience a totally new life. Spread one of these mats over a spot in life stained with sweat or tears, and body and spirit soar off into the heavens. Like a ride on a magic carpet.