Korean shamanism in the context of "Eastern religion"

Jeju Island (Jeju and Korean: 제주도; Hanja: 濟州島; RR: Jejudo; pronounced [tɕeːdʑudo]) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of 1,833.2 km (707.8 sq mi), which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province.

The island lies in the Korea Strait, 82.8 km (51.4 mi) south of the nearest point on the Korean Peninsula. The Jeju people are indigenous to the island, and it has been populated by modern humans since the early Neolithic period. The Jeju language is considered critically endangered by UNESCO. It is also one of the regions of Korea where Shamanism is most intact.

Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as a ritual. Religious songs have been described as a source of strength, as well as a means of easing pain, improving one's mood, and assisting in the discovery of meaning in one's suffering. While style and genre vary broadly across traditions, religious groups still share a variety of musical practices and techniques.

Religious music takes on many forms and varies throughout cultures. Religions such as Islam, Judaism, and Sinism demonstrate this, splitting off into different forms and styles of music that depend on varying religious practices. Sometimes, religious music uses similar instruments across cultures. The use of drums (and drumming), for example, is seen commonly in numerous religions such as Rastafari and Sinism, while wind instruments (the horn, saxophone, trumpet and variations of such) can be commonly found in Islam and Judaism.

The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western and African religions. Eastern religions include:

• Taoic religions or East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Tengrism, Korean shamanism, Chinese folk religion, and Shinto
• Dharmic religions or Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism
• Southeast Asian religions such as Kejawen and Vietnamese folk religion

The East-West religious distinction (just like the East-West culture distinction, and the implications that arise from it) is broad and not precise. Furthermore, geographical distinctions have less meaning in the current context of global transculturation.

In the study of comparative religion, the East Asian religions, form a subset of the Eastern religions which originated in East Asia.

This group includes Chinese religion overall, which further includes ancestor veneration, Chinese folk religion, Confucianism, Taoism and popular salvationist organisations (such as Yiguandao and Weixinism), as well as elements drawn from Mahayana Buddhism that form the core of Chinese and East Asian Buddhism at large. The group also includes Shinto and Tenrikyo of Japan, and Korean Shamanism, all of which combine shamanistic elements and indigenous ancestral worship with various influences from Chinese religions. Chinese salvationist religions have influenced the rise of Japanese new religions such Tenriism and Korean Jeungsanism; as these new religious movements draw upon indigenous traditions but are heavily influenced by Chinese philosophy and theology. All these religious traditions generally share core concepts of spirituality, divinity and world order, including Tao ('way') and Tian ('heaven').

The traditional culture of Korea is the shared cultural and historical heritage of Korea before the division of Korea in 1945.

Since the mid-20th century, Korea has been split between the North Korean and South Korean states, resulting in a number of cultural differences that can be observed even today. Before the Joseon period, the practice of Korean shamanism was deeply rooted in Korean culture.

Taegeuk (Korean: 태극; Hanja: 太極, Korean pronunciation: [tʰɛgɯk̚]) is a Sino-Korean term meaning "supreme ultimate", although it can also be translated as "great polarity / duality / extremes". The term and its overall concept is derived from the Chinese Taiji, popularised in the west as the Yin and Yang. The symbol was chosen for the design of the Korean national flag in the 1880s. It substitutes the black and white color scheme often seen in most taijitu illustrations with blue and red, respectively, along with a horizontal separator, as opposed to vertical.

South Koreans commonly refer to their national flag as taegeuk-gi (태극기), where gi (기) means "flag" or "banner". This particular color-themed taegeuk symbol is typically associated with Korean traditions and represents balance in the universe; the red half represents positive cosmic forces, and the blue half represents the complementary or opposing, negative cosmic forces. It is also used in Korean shamanism, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.