A Well-known Korean Folk Play : Neolttwigi (Korean seesaw)

A well-known Korean folk play : Neolttwigi

(Korean seesaw)

Jumping game similar to see-sawing

Neolttwigi is one of the famous Korean folk play. The people who do not kow well about Neolttwigi can understand the play easily if they come up with seesaw. Neolttwigi is jumping game similar to seesaw so it doesn't matter to name it seesaw. If you visit Korean folk village, you're be able to find seesaw performance which is played around the audience. You will see two of the men who are skilled with high technic jump high up into the air. Let's find out all the things about seesaw which is attractive and splendid folk play of Korea.

<What is Neolttwigi (seesaw) & How to play>
Seesaw is Korean representative folk play and played by women on New Year's day of Dano, like famous holidays. It is easy to understand how to play but it's not just simple performance to all the people. First, roll up the straw mat and put it under the central plank. And then, two people stand respectively at both ends of the plank. If a person on the one side of plank jumps to the height of the sky, the other person of the opposite also jumps high with the same speed. It is the play that two people take run by turns and it's repeated constantly.

<Origin>
There is no apparent and doubtless orign of seesaw but it has been reported ; women played active and vigorous actions of exercise in Koryo Dynasty, considering it, Seesawimg may be started in Koryo Dynasty. Because the ancient women had confined life in a fenced-in place, they felt keenly the necessity of seeing the out of the world through jumping high.

Seeing fancy performance, we may feel and find the same thing with circus. If you see the person who is dexterous in performing seesaw and enjoy that powerful and active performance, you can also get nice feeling from seesawing.

Thank you for reading my article!

editor, kim ga-min