Why were wandering performers often treated as social outcasts in traditional Korean society?

In traditional Korean society, wandering performers were often viewed as social outcasts because they existed outside the established agrarian social order, which highly valued permanent attachment to the land.1

This marginalization was reinforced by the strong influence of Confucian teachings, which emphasized stability, filial piety, and the veneration of ancestors through rituals tied to specific locations, such as tending family graves. Because wandering entertainers lacked a fixed place in this community-based structure and did not participate in the essential, religiously sanctioned communal rites that defined village life, they were regarded with suspicion by the ruling classes.1

While court-supported artists and local villagers performing ritual dances held recognized roles, professional wandering troupes—who relied on their ability to draw paying audiences—were considered entertainers of no status. They were effectively relegated to the fringes of society, viewed as rootless individuals who lacked the social standing afforded to those integrated into the rigid, land-based hierarchy of the time.12