P'ungsu

The first scholarly book to address Korean geomancy through an interdisciplinary lens.

The first scholarly book to address Korean geomancy through an interdisciplinary lens.

This book is a milestone in the history of academic research on the development and role of geomancy (fengshui in Chinese and p'ungsu in Korean) in Korean culture and society. As the first interdisciplinary work of its kind, it investigates many topics in geomancy studies that have never been previously explored, and contains contributions from a number of disciplines including geography, historical studies, environmental science, architecture, landscape architecture, religious studies, and psychoanalysis. While almost all books in English about geomancy are addressed to general readers as practical guides for divining auspicious locations, P'ungsu is a work of rigorous scholarship that documents, analyzes, and explains past and current practices of geomancy. Its readers will better understand the impact of geomancy on the Korean cultural landscape and appreciate the significant ecological principles embedded in the geomantic traditions of Korea; while researchers will discover new insights and inspirations for future research on geomancy not only in Korea, but in China and elsewhere.

Hong-key Yoon is Associate Professor of Cultural Geography at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and the author of The Culture of Fengshui in Korea: An Exploration of East Asian Geomancy.

Hong-key Yoon is Associate Professor of Cultural Geography at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and the author of The Culture of Fengshui in Korea: An Exploration of East Asian Geomancy.

"…the book is a substantial, well-edited, and scholarly sound collection, which will be the chief reference on p'ungsu for years to come." — Religious Studies Review

"The book is the product of an ambitious project that brought the seven authors together over a series of four workshops between 2009 and 2011 with ample opportunity to consult with each other and with the editor. Yoon himself has written more than half of the chapters yet he has also invited an array of distinctive specialist projects beyond the scope of a single scholar. The culmination of years of planning, the resulting volume was clearly a labour of love, enhanced by a wealth of illustrations of historical sites, geomancy maps, and artifacts … one gains a deeper, richer knowledge of life in the Korean past by reading this volume." — Pacific Affairs

"…a rich reading and learning experience … I highly recommend reading P'ungsu as an appropriate introduction to the traditional theories and practices of East Asian geomancy." — David J. Nemeth, AAG Review of Books