• Journal of Ginseng Culture
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• v.4
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• pp.59-102
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• 2022

Since there were only few countries that could find wild ginseng grown in nature, the culture of digging wild ginseng was only developed in a small number of countries. In a time when the orthodox head-Simmemani has disappeared, the tangible and intangible culture of Simmemani (wild ginseng digger) is disappearing more and more with the passage of time. So far, the conducted research on wild ginseng diggers was very partial and simplistic as follows: ① Research on the argot of Simmemani, ② Research on the customs of Simmemani, ③ Research on the change of customs of Simmemani, ④ Additional records through interview with Simmemani. Accordingly, no comprehensive study on the Simmemani culture has been done yet. This study supplements the historical materials that were not reflected in previous studies, and discuss on diverse subjects including the definition and classification of wild ginseng, the distribution of wild ginseng and Simmemani, interpretation of wild ginseng digging from a legal and social point of view, the organization responsible for the digging, determination of the date of entering the mountain, preparations, taboos, departure and entry into a mountain, religious events, psalmbook, dream interpretation, search and discovery of wild ginseng, digging, profit sharing, the amount of harvested wild ginseng, and the price of wild ginseng. In addition, Korean wild ginseng digging culture was comprehensively studied by attaching the photos and illustrations of historical documents with the psalmbook of the head-Simmemani.