A Korean traditional funeral features Korean Confucianism as well as centuries of indigenous Shamanism. Numerous anthropological scholars have attempted to discern which practices come from Shamanistic roots, and which are more purely Confucian.
Funeral rituals
Traditionally, the body will stay in the house for three days, however in more recent times, it can (on rare occasions) extend to five or seven days, depending on the season of the year. The time of death is of great importance to traditional Koreans, so much so that a white piece of cotton is often put under the nose of someone who is thought to be near death to ascertain the most accurate account of the time. Immediately after the individual has passed, a white coat or cloak that was last worn by the recently departed is rushed to the roof, and a declaration is made in all four cardinal directions, as Confucian ideals attributed meanings to each. The family of the dead will prepare three bowls each of rice, vegetables, soups and set out three units of money and three pairs of shoes outside the entrance of the house to the messengers from the other world. The eldest son will go find a burial location, often with the aid of a professional geomancer, as the location is very important from a Confucian standpoint. There is an entire school of thought dedicated to the life-energy associated with the perfect physical location known as pungsu-jiri. It is believed that, if all things are not settled correctly, the spirit of the deceased will fail to proceed to the afterlife, and a ‘lost’ soul is thought to bring unfortunate happenings to the village. The perfect location is to have four natural features around it. First, to the front of the burial site, (preferably to the south) a form of water such as a river, stream, or the sea. Secondly, a mountain to the left signifying a protective tiger is always seen as good, along with a mountain to the right, signifying a protective dragon. Finally, a hill or mountain behind symbolizes a lucky turtle.
The wife of the eldest son will be responsible for the food and for the preparations for the main funeral service and can enlist the assistance of relatives of the family who will come to help with arrangements and cook preparation of food for the many guests who will come to pay their respects and gain or maintain some standing with the family, as depicted by the 1996 award-winning film, Chukje (translated Festival).
Also, the corpse will be washed in incense water and dressed in grave clothes. Then, after plugging cotton in the ears and nose of the dead and placing coins over the eyes, the mouth will be filled with three spoonfuls of rice. Each spoonful is given with a statement that it is to represent far more, wishing the deceased an afterlife of plenty. The body will be bound from head to foot with shrouds in seven layers and put in a coffin, which is bound in three places by long strips of cloth, with a mattress under the body, a blanket covering the body, and the deceased's clothes filled in other spaces.
During the Imperial period, for a royal funeral, servants needed to make decorative instruments like thick paper, wood, straw mats, and cotton fabrics for the funeral ceremony.
It is also believed that as the deceased individual is taken in a coffin from their house to the burial site, that the threshold of the door by which they leave the house represents the boundary between this world and the afterlife.
Korea became a colony of Japan in August 1910, and in June 1912 the Japanese Governor-General announced the "Ordinance to control graves, crematories, burials and cremation" (jp. Bochi kasō maisō oyobi kasō torishimari kisoku), which instituted public cemeteries and cremation. As Biontino notes, "These policies aimed at improving health and hygiene, but they were also deemed necessary out of a concern for space: much arable land was occupied with graves," although by doing so, "Japanese authorities challenged not only secular problems, but also attacked the spirituality of the Koreans." As Han also notes, "public cemeteries were incompatible with the burial practices that permeated Korean society at that time," and in fact "this dissonance between the stipulations of the Ordinance and resilient local beliefs triggered the masses’ wish for specially selected graveyards, which facilitated the overall expansion of the Fengshui-related professions."