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Until before World War II, it was called the Shogun's Marker for Expelling Demons, and the abbreviated name Shogun's Marker was also used. In the past, the Korean Peninsula had a belief in demon gods that brought disease and misfortune, and wooden markers were placed at the entrances to villages to ward off their demons. Wooden markers with Chinese characters inscribed under a human mask of a different shape were installed in pieces, but the ones installed in Japan today are inscribed with the words "General of the Heavenly Generals" and "General of the Underground Women's Army," and are a pair of male and female markers.

In recent Korean, it is called janggungpyo (将軍標標), but another expression is jangseung (장승, jangsun, jangjo). A sacred pole with a bird perched on the pole head is called sotdae (솟대), and a sacred tree carved with a human face is called jangseung (창栍). The bird was deified because it was believed to be a messenger of the gods, coming and going between heaven and earth, and the sacred tree was carved with human masks to make it a personal deity[1].

The most famous Shogun marker in Japan is the one at Kora Shrine in Hidaka City, Saitama Prefecture. There are also those at Seitenin Temple, also in Hidaka City, and in front of Korai Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. There is also one at Tokoin Myokomi-gu Shrine in Hinode-cho, Nishitama-gun, Tokyo. Korean dances are dedicated at the Myoko-in Myoken-gu Shrine's annual festival (May 3).

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"Male" jangseungs usually bear inscriptions in Hangul or Hanja reading "Great General of All Under Heaven," or Cheonha-daejanggun (Hangul: 천하대장군, Hanja: 天下大將軍) and are decorated with headpieces resembling those worn by Korean aristocrats or scholars. "Female" jangseungs, on the other hand, wear less elaborate headpieces and usually bear inscriptions reading "Female General of the Underworld," or Jiha-yeojanggun (Hangul: 지하여장군, Hanja: 地下女將軍) or "Great General of the Underworld," or Jiha-daejanggun (Hangul: 지하대장군, Hanja: 地下大將軍).