The Origin and the Disappearance of the Korean Lutes

The bipa, a plucked lute with four or five strings, is one of the pan-Asian instruments. Unlike the Chinese pipa and Japanese biwa which are still in use these days, the Korean bipa had flourished for a long time but is now totally lost in Korea. I explore the origin and history of the Korean bipa and the reason why it has disappeared in the Korean culture. The lute has imported into Korea from the Central Asia through Chinese Han dynasty in the 4th century C.E. There are two different routes through which the lute came into Korea. The lute with the round-shaped body, called wanham or wolgeum, came into the northern Goguryeo Kingdom from the Northern Asia with the Daoism. The lute with the pear-shaped body, called bipa, was introduced to the southern Silla Kingdom from the Southern Asia with the Buddhism. The lute had been one of the favorite instruments in court and among the upper class. It was one of three popular instruments along with the zithers such as the geomun-go and gayageum but was disappeared during the Japanese annexation due to the colonial policy. The colonizer attempted to shrink the Korean royal culture. The diminished size of court music institute cannot fully preserve the past heritage. In this context, the Koreans could not but abandon one of their favorite musical instruments, the bipa. Because of its acoustical effect which is similar to that of the geomun-go, the bipa could not survive against the cultural oppression. In other words, it was the political reason and the acoustical trait that the Koreans could not maintain the precious cultural heritage, the lute, during the colonial period.