OLE! WITHOUT MATADORS, PICADORS or BLOOD
In the central region of Korea just southeast of the major city of Daegu, lies the town of Cheongdo and its nearby Iseo Valley farming community. It is in Iseo Valley, at the end of March, beginning of April, where travellers can experience the Cheongdo International Bullfighting Festival. That's Right! You read correctly; there's bullfighting in Korea.
Bullfighting in Korea has a long tradition historically dating back to the Shilla Dynasty era (57 BC - 935 AD), and a long tradition of having a unique style of competition, civilized, humane, and for the most part, bloodless, quite unlike the "El Toro" slaughtering events you might see in Mexico or Spain. Bullfighting in Korea is an exact literal understanding of the term: Bulls Fighting. In the Korean tradition there are no picadors poking sharpened lances into flanks and backs and necks, or matadors flashing polished swords above the heads of weakended animals succumbing to the cries of crowds calling for their blood. Nor is there any lopping-off of ears and tails of the fallen in defeat, or the bravado prancing of toreadores recieiving roses in reigning glory.
Bullfighting Korean style is striaght forward, "Mano a Mano," or I should say 'Toro a Toro.' Six-hundred and forty to well over seven-hundred and thirty kilograms in weight, the bulls face-off one-on-one, snorting, grunting, drooling, pushing, shoving, sometimes charging their massive bodies of muscle and sweat into an opponent's side trying to topple him off guard. Individual battles between bulls can last quite some time, as brutes of 1,400 to 1,600 pounds usually don't give up easily. Although, this traveller has seen matches where one bull or another just didn't have it in his heart to fight on a particular day and the contests ended minutes after their starts. Most fights, however, are generally long and end when one bull goes down on his front knees or simply turns and walks away, signaling that he is "out of steam."
When I first visited the bullfights at the festival grounds along Iseo Valley some years back, the events were held outdoors on a field full of colorful tents and lean-tos, with the grounds noisily exciting and with the smells of meats grilling over charcoal fires, exotic spices spilling through the air, vendors hawking their wares in sing-song cadences, music playing and chilren running and laughing, all in the same spirit as an old European Medieval fair. But, these days that lively farmers' tradition has been replaced with an "upscale" for tourists version of the event, now held indoors in a closed-top stadium style arena - Blah!
But nonetheless, bullfighting Korean style is worth going to see for an afternoon just to experience something that you probably won't experience anywhere else. And besides, you'll have a good time despite the upscale changes.
